Chapter 40 Kieran

• In the living room, I sat in one of the recliners with Frannie on my lap and I reached to tilt her head up so that I could look into her eyes. “I'm sorry, Shug. You weren’t meant to see that, please forgive me,” I said just above a whisper. The fear was gone from her eyes, but in them I could still see a storm of emotions.
• “You were here, then you were gone and all I could sense was rage and hate. I won’t say that it didn’t terrify me, but there’s really nothing for you to apologize for. I know how protective you can get, it took me by surprise is all,” she murmured in reply.
• “I knew what happened to Jeni before the ball, I didn’t see it with my own eyes, but I had already put things in motion to grant her leave from the pack and help her get established in the human world. When I woke, I had a moment that made me wonder if I had only dreamt of you and that felt pretty terrible. I wanted to mind-link you and find out where you were, but I wanted you to have the space you requested too. Then I came down the stairs to see you consoling Jeni and I just snapped,” I explained. It was a weak explanation, but it was the best I had at the moment.