I shook my head with a smile before I looked away, biting my lip.
“He was a sixteen-year-old jerk.” Archie shrugged. “We all go through that phase.”
“You didn’t, Chie.”
He scratched the back of his head. “I’m an Alpha with three younger sisters. I don’t have time for any phases.”
“Youknowwhat my family’s like. They’re crazy. Obsessed. Nosy. One of them’s bound to have a heart attack.”
“True.” His chiseled face split into laughter.
I pointed at him. “You could at leastpretendnot to enjoy this.”
“I could. You want me to?”
“No.”
“Did you make a pros-and-cons list when you found out?”
“Absolutely not.” I sighed. “Fine. Yes.”
“You have it with you?”
Ah, he knows me.
I pulled out the folded paper from my shirt pocket and waved it. “Right here.”
“What’s first?”
“His hair is…caressably golden.”
He nodded solemnly. “Fair point. You deserve someonecaressable.Cons?”
“Dark Diamond.”
He arched a brow. “And I’m Black Devil. What’s your point?”
“He’s slept with my pack members.”Probably.
“You have a non-fated mate with benefits.”
“Lachlan hates him.”
“Valid.”
“Chie!”
Fangs peeking out, he only grinned wider, and our conversation drifted on. Old stories, dumb jokes, and the kind of quiet connection only years could build.
There was one thing I was sure of: Whoever his mate turned out to be, she’d be the luckiest girl in the world.
CHAPTER 19
YVAINE
There was something comforting about the campus library at night. The humming silence, the shuffle of pages that told me I wasn’t completely alone, the smell of dried ink on paper.
I strolled through the maze of desks and towering bookshelves, fingers tapping anonymous book spines that I’d never explore, breathing in that calm stillness that always lingered here.
