Donovan shuddered, and I felt the movement echo through my soul. “Please don’t do that again. I don’t care what’s going on or how mad we are at each other. Don’t shut me out. Don’t leave. I can’t help you if I can’t connect with you. I didn’t know if you were okay. If the fey had hurt you. I didn’t know where to find you…” The little bit of whine in his voice broke my heart. I’d done this to him.

Being mated to someone so strong was an enormous responsibility. I had the power to upend Donovan’s control, and that was dangerous and more than a little intense.

He pulled away just enough so that he could look into my eyes. “It’s going to take time for us to learn how this works, but I want to share my life with you. So, if I’m mucking up the situation in any way, just give me a moment to calm down.”

“I will. I didn’t know what I was doing.” I stared into his eyes, which still glowed wolf-blue. “But I won’t cut off our bond again.”

“Aye. That would best.” He gave me a half-smile. “I scared a fair amount of people getting here.”

I laughed. “I bet you did.”

He closed his eyes for a second, and when they opened they were back to their usual glass blue. “And now. You want to tell me what happened at the mall? And what you were doing with Cosette when you knew what was going on between us and the fey?”

I sighed. “I didn’t mean to make things complicated.”

“You’re my mate. That means that you act in my place. When I’m trying to make relations with the fey better and you’re doing the opposite, then it makes an already hard job that much more difficult.”

I knew that. I did. With all of my father’s lectures, I knew what it meant to be mate to an Alpha, and especially one of the Seven. “I truly thought that our friendship overrode her being fey. And I didn’t think we’d be recognized… That’s not an excuse. Just an explanation. Believe me, that was not fun for either of us.” I chewed on my lip. “Cosette’s in big trouble, isn’t she?”

“From what I’ve heard, yes. That’s probably accurate.”

That royally sucked. I hadn’t meant to get Cosette into more trouble than she already was. “She told me that your pack is in chaos and that I’m about to make it worse.”

“Aye. There are rumblings along the bonds.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “But nothing more than there’ve been the past twenty years or so. I can’t imagine you’ve changed anything. Our bonding is much too new for all of that.” He shook his head. “No. She must be mistaken.”

I didn’t want to contradict him, but Cosette couldn’t lie. And even if by some loophole she could, why would she risk being exposed to the media again to give me the coin?