We reached a park that I had seen from my hotel window. The realization gave me a little bit of relief. If I could get away from this man I could make it back  to my hotel, collect my things. At the very least I knew how to get to a train station from here. The familiarity eased my anxious heart.

But for the time being, I followed Easton into a little coffee shop and insisted on paying for my own food when we got drinks and sandwiches, not that I could really afford it. But I refused to take anything from a man I just met, no matter the circumstances. Easton just smiled and nudged me out of the way when the debit machine loaded. We left the cafe with a drink in one hand and a sandwich in the other. 

"Dear God," Easton hissed when he took a swig for his cup. His body tensed like he was about to vomit, but resisted. "This must be yours."

He quickly swapped out the disposable cups, leaving me with steaming coffee instead of whatever he ordered. "Not a fan of coffee?"

"I can stomach it with a dozen sugar packets and so much cream its white," he said with a shudder. "I have no idea how you can drink that bean water black."

I felt my lungs fill up with something that would have been a giggle. But my mind refused to let go of the fact that he was a werewolf. One way or another he was tied to the man who had sent me on the run, the man who thought that he could become the most powerful being by deriving power from sirens, no matter the cost.

I was doing this to appease him, whatever this was. And once this was over, I was going to do my best to get away from him.

But, before I could reach that stage, I noticed a payphone.

"I have a quick phone call to make," I whispered, then darted away before he could say anything in response.

I pushed two coins into the phone once the door was shut behind me and dialed the landline for the little house we shared. Eddy answered on the second ring.

"Hey," I breathed, melting a little just at the sound of his gruff voice. When I first met him I never thought I would be so comforted by him. 

"I told you to call me every night," he grumbled.

"I know, I know. Things got away from me. I didn't have access to a phone and I didn't want anyone tracking my calls," I explained. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay."

"Kaia, I think it's time you tell me what's going on," he ordered.

"Not now Eddy, but soon. I promise. I'll be coming back to the house soon. We can talk for a little bit then. I think it's time that I go back to Canada."

"Kaia-"

"I'll see you soon, Eddy."

I hung up the phone and took a deep breath. I couldn't understand why I had the sudden urge to cry. I blinked back the tears and did my best to regain my composure before pressing the accordion door open and strolling back to Easton who had parked himself on a bench. I knew he had attempted to look nonchalant, but I had felt his eyes on me every second of that brief phone call.

"You alright, lass?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes as I sat down beside him, keeping good distance between us. "You can drop the fake accent and slang."

"What do you mean?"

"I've been here a while now. Your accent doesn't sound like anyone else's."

"That's because I moved away from Scotland when I was about eleven. I took on other accents as I moved, but whenever I'm here it always seems to come out more," he explained. "Trust me, locals would eat me alive otherwise."

"Why did you move around so much?" I asked, feeling my suspicions prickle. How long has he been looking for me? Is that what Nero does? He sends his men all over in hopes that one of them will stumble onto me, one way or another. It didn't make much sense but it was a possibility.

"I'd rather not talk about that," Easton murmured.

Now full on alarm bells were ringing. "Oh?"

"It's nothing bad, just not first date material is all," he added, sensing my unease.

One of my eyebrows rose and something close to a smirk touched my lips, out of my own control. "Date?"

"Well, yeah. A trip to a quiet park with a drink and some food sounds like a date to me."

To be honest, it sounded like a date to me too. But I wasn't going to admit that. Just like I wasn't going to admit that his big smiles and tame driving had affected me. I didn't need him to know that all he had to do was drive stick and give me a cheek splitting grin to undo me. He already had so much power over me. Whether I thought it was crazy or not, I knew his words were true. Someway, somehow, we had a pull to each other. 

But if I denied it hard enough I might believe that he was lying and he might believe that I hated him for all I was worth.

"Can people pick mates for other people or how does that work?" I wondered.

"If people could pick mates the werewolf realm would be a mess," Easton laughed. "We are designed to find what we need, not what we want. No one but the moon goddess could determine that. Why do you ask?"

Once again, my mouth moved before my mind did. "Would you have picked me? If you could have?" Did I sound insecure? My god, how many men had hit on me in the passed month? And here I was sniveling over this man, a man I was supposed to detest. What was wrong with me? I was the daughter of the god of the sea for Christ's sake!

"That's a lot to unpack on a first date, but if you answer the question I will too," Easton muttered, running his gaze over me.

How was I supposed to answer that? He was cute with his green eyes and brown hair. The way he smiled pulled at my heart strings. However, he represented someone evil. He might be all laughter and smart remarks now, but what would happen when he unraveled my true ability? 

"You're right, it's a lot to unpack," I sighed. 

"I think you've had enough for one day," Easton murmured, sounding like he hated the way the words tasted. "I know that this can be a lot to take in and I'm sorry it all had to come out like this, but I hope you understand my situation a little better."

"I do, thank you."

Easton gave me a timid smile and I wondered if he thought that having this conversation would be enough. He seemed like he wanted me to throw my arms around him and cover his face with a dozen little kisses. To be fair, the idea wasn't exactly unpleasant, but it certainly was unreasonable.

"I know that this might be too forward, but I promise I won't ask for anything else. I would really like it if you spent the night in my house." I opened my mouth to protest, but he just held up a hand. "Rose will be home and you will stay in the guest room by yourself. We don't even have to talk again tonight if you don't want to. I'll understand. I only want you under my roof because seeing you faint scared the hell out of me. I need to make sure you're okay."

For once, my rational mind took over before my feeble heart could grab at the reins. "Do you realize how much you're asking of me? We just met."

"I know and... I understand that you don't want to, but could you at least write down my number. In case you ever want to get a hold of me?"

I couldn't see any harm in it. I would access to him, he wouldn't have access to me. I nodded my head and dug through my purse for a pen and paper. 

"Can we also agree to meet tomorrow? Could you come here tomorrow at roughly the same time? I know it all sees really forward, but I'm worried about you. And maybe you'll have questions tomorrow, after you've had time to go over everything on your own."

"Yeah, sure," I mumbled.

Optimism flitted across his face as he snatched up the pen. Poor guy had no idea that I was clearing out my hotel and hopping on a plane as soon as possible.