That gets me a laugh.
A real one.Loud, bright, belly-deep—cut from the same cloth as moonlight and music.
And, fuck, it does something to me.Lights me up from the inside out.
Because she’s here.Laughing.Letting me take care of her.Letting me be the kind of man—mate—she can lean on.
This?Right here?
It’s more powerful than any damn full moon.Any curse or damnation.
All I know is I’ll be chasing that sound—the sound of her laughter—until the end of this and any other world because as of right now, Megan DiNapoli is my present, my future, and the only thing that means anything to me.Even my Wolf agrees.
Mine.
Chapter18
Megan
It turns out Owen wasn’t lying.
Arrhythmia has legit Korean BBQ.
Not just a dusty roadside fusion joint with three kinds of sauce and one confused waiter, but a real place—hidden behind an unmarked door in what looks like an abandoned feed store on the edge of town.
We pull up in his Sheriff truck, and I eye the faded sign above the weathered brick building.
It saysDry Creek Supply.
There’s no open sign.
No neon.Just the faint hum of an industrial vent and the mouthwatering scent of charred meat and garlic simply drifting into the back alley like a secret invitation.
“This can’t be it,” I murmur, one hand still on my seatbelt.
“Oh, it is,” Owen says, already out of the truck and circling around to open my door like some kind of Southern gentleman hellbeast.“Jun’s not big on signage.Or humans.”
“Wait—so we’re inside city limits, and that makes this a Supernaturals-only joint, right?”
“Yep.Bear Shifter owned.Staffed by a few Boar shifters, one actual Raccoon, and a Banshee who waitresses on weekends.Don’t piss her off.”
“Great,” I mutter as he helps me down.“Dinner and a side of death screams.”
“No worries, Agent.You get scared, you can hold on to me,” Owen teases.
I roll my eyes.The man’s incorrigible, but I admit my senses are tingling.
We move inside, and my breath gets caught in my throat because it’smagic.
The walls are dark wood.The lighting is soft and golden.A warm haze of grilled meat, sizzling fat, and soy-glazed everything dances through the air like a religious experience.
The moment we step through the hidden door in the feed store wall, half a dozen heads turn.All Shifters, if I had to guess.
Big, burly, growly-looking types with sharp eyes, visible scars, and way too much muscle for one dining room.
But nobody says a word.
They just glance at Owen.Then at me.Then look away like the Wolf in the room just made his claim very clear.
