“Somewhere with fewer crystal-loving exes. And a landlord that isn’tallergicto animal fur.”
He didn’t answer. But for the first time since I’d opened the door, I heard him breathe easy. And weirdly, so did I.
“Well,” I muttered, dragging a hand through my hair, “I guess you’ll be needing cuddling now?”
He let out a shaky laugh, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He slumped onto the couch.
“I’m too freaked out to be emotional,” he said. “That was way too close.”
I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall. “You’re telling me. Doris had that clipboard cocked like a weapon.”
He groaned and buried his face in his hands. “I can’t lose this place, Mags. This is the only space I’ve ever lived in that didn’t make me feel like I was about to crawl out of my skin. It works for me. I love it here.”
I looked around at the worn rug in the living room and the chipped navy cabinets I used to hate but had now grown oddly fond of. The way the light hit the walls in the morning made everything look a little less like a rental and a little more like a life.
I sighed. “You’re right. It’s a very special apartment.”
Roman nodded, eyes still haunted. He looked like someone who’d narrowly avoided being exiled from a sanctuary. In a way, he had.
Which made what I had to say nextreallyunfortunate. “If you love it so much, maybe get some control over your wolf and don’t howl in the middle of the freaking night.”
His head dropped back against the cushion with a thud. “Okay. Fair.”
I yawned and stretched, calculating how little sleep I could function on tomorrow. “If I’m excused from my roommate obligations for the evening, I’d like to get some shut-eye before I turn into the kind of person who cries at commercials.”
I headed toward the hallway, feet padding softly across the wood. Halfway there, I stopped and gave the thermostat a dirty look. The living room might’ve been Roman’s safe space, but it was also the temperature of a glacier. I jabbed the button a few times until it nudged up to a human-rights-approved seventy-two.
“Roman, it’s so freaking cold in here,” I grumbled.
When I turned, he wasright there.
I yelped and stumbled back a step. “Roman, what the fuck? Are you trying to give me a heart attack? You’re a werewolf ninja now?”
He narrowed his eyes at the thermostat and made a grunting noise I didn’t like. “You’re violating the roommate agreement, Mags.Sixty-eight degrees. This is why we have clauses like civilized beings.”
“Oh my god. Did you memorize the roommate agreement?”
He didn’t answer. Which was an answer.
I sighed. “If you’re so committed to having the apartment be an icy tundra, you’d better buy me a space heater. Like, aniceone. Digital. Rotating. Maybe one of those fake fireplace ones with the little glowing logs.”
Roman huffed as he adjusted the blanket around his hips. “Fine. Whatever.”
He turned on his heel and stomped down the hallway toward his room. I stared after him for a second, shook my head, and cursed under my breath. Then I flicked the thermostat back to seventy, whispered an apology to the energy bill, and trudged to my room, already dreading tomorrow’s breakfast conversation.
I flopped into bed, yanking my not-warm-enough blanket up to my chin and groaned. It was so freezing that I was starting to question my life choices. I grabbed the sweatpants draped over the foot of the bed and pulled them on over my shorts.
“I didn’t sign up for cold drafts and drama,” I muttered to the ceiling.
The ceiling offered no apologies. I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes, trying to breathe deep, to slow down. No dice.
My brain lit up as I mentally scrolled through all the things that had recently pissed me off: Seraphina strutting through the apartment like she still lived here; Doris sniffing the door like she was auditioning forCSI: Shifter Edition; Roman hiding behind the kitchen island in full wolf form, eyes wide.
That was not what the listing had advertised.
I flipped onto my back. Then my other side. Blanket off. Blanket on. One leg out. Both legs in. Sweatpants too hot. Blanket not warm enough. If hell was a state of mind, mine came with central air.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to focus on anything but Roman. But of course, that worked about as well as a paper umbrella in a hurricane.
