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took off to save you the hassle of dealing with my cranky ass,” Toronto said, shrugging. “It wasn’t going to be an easy few days for me, and you’re always yelling at me to take it easy on your little flock. Since it wasn’t likely, I took off for the full moon.”
     
    “I’m not buying it.” Rafe smiled. He mounted the steps, one hand trailing up the banister. “After all, the full moon was just last night. If it was that bad, you’d want more time. But here you are. “
     
    Toronto scented the anger, but he didn’t care. If thevampire was that mad, he could kick Toronto out. Didn’t matter much to him, one way or the other. He’d returned to the enclave, offered an apology— as far as he was concerned, he’d done what he needed to do.
     
    “You know why else I’m not buying it?”
     
    Sighing, Toronto leaned against the railing and crossed his arms over his chest. Staring up at the ceiling, he said, “I don’t much care, but I guess I’m going to hear anyway.”
     
    “You don’t
care
if I ask you to go a little easy.” Rafe stopped on the same step where Toronto waited and stared at the were. “That’s where the problem is. If I bought this bit, that would mean I have to believe you actually are learning to obey orders and not constantly turn the rest of my Hunters into chew toys.”
     
    “I only did that once. With Dominic. And he asked for it,” Toronto pointed out. Dominic had been an asshole, damn it. Was he supposed to apologize,
again
, over that? “And besides, that was almost two years ago.”
     
    Rafe didn’t look impressed. “You take off whenever the hell it suits you. And you never let anybody know. What in the hell do we do if you’re needed and
you’re not there
?”
     
    “I’m here now, aren’t I?” Toronto said. This time, he couldn’t quite keep the growl from his voice. “And it’s not like I don’t
know
when I’m needed. Something’s in the air, right?”
     
    “Yeah. And you’re good at knowing when there is a need. You’re here now, but you ignore the fucking rules and screw how it looks to everybody else.” Anger flickered in the depths of Rafe’s eyes, red behind black glass. “If I had
anybody
in my house other than Hunters, you know the kind of hell you’d be causing me?”
     
    “Oh, for fuck’s sake—”
     
    But even as he started to explode, he stopped. Damn it.
     
    It sucked that the bastard wasn’t wrong.
     
    What sucked more? Toronto
was
.
     
    Leaving the enclave in Memphis had been necessary.
     
    Coming back had been necessary as well, for different reasons.
     
    Now he was stuck there, waiting for those reasons to make themselves known as he slowly went out of his mind.As added company, in addition to his normally dark thoughts, he had Nessa’s words to torment him now as well.
     
    Your darkest days are in your past, Toronto. Let them stay there. Leave it alone.
     
    Leave it alone… best to not
know
? He couldn’t understand it. What would it hurt for him to know who he was, where he’d come from? He just didn’t get it.
     
    But that was Nessa for you— she practically defined
cryptic
.
     
    Even if she did have her reasons for keeping her knowledge to herself, it made it damn hard for those around her.
     
    Setting his jaw, he met Rafe’s eyes. “I had to leave,” he said again, keeping the growl from his voice, and as hard as it was, he forced the edgy temper back as well. “I apologize, but I can’t explain any more than the fact that I
couldn’t
be here.”
     
    For a long moment, Rafe stared at him. “Maybe you need to think about it for a little while and decide if you
want
to be here, Toronto. I need that commitment. Or I need you gone.”
     
    Toronto didn’t know how to respond to that. He didn’t necessarily
want
to be here. But he didn’t really want to be anywhere. He gave Rafe a short nod and headed up the stairs, his skin prickling and hot.
     
    Whatever had pulled him back here, it would