The phone lay on the coffee table like a loaded weapon, Cosette’s number still glowing on the recent calls list. Oneconversation could end all of this. A simple explanation that she was coming home, that the mountain air hadn’t agreed with her after all. Cosette would understand. Hell, Cosette would probably have the moving truck scheduled before Electra finished packing.
It would be so easy.
But as she reached for the phone, her body rebelled. Her chest tightened with something that felt suspiciously like panic, and her hands trembled with more than just caffeine withdrawal. The thought of leaving Blackpine—leaving him—sent a bolt of pain through her that made no rational sense.
Seven days,she reminded herself desperately.You’ve known him for less than two weeks. This is just proximity and attraction and maybe some kind of supernatural pheromones messing with your head.
But even as she tried to rationalize the feelings away, she knew she was lying to herself. Whatever existed between her and Rune went deeper than simple chemistry.
And that terrifies you.
She was afraid. Not of Rune, but of what accepting him might mean. The loss of control. The vulnerability. The possibility that she might discover something worth risking everything for—and lose it anyway.
Her phone buzzed, another call from Cosette, and Electra stared at it with a mixture of longing and dread. All she had to do was answer. Explain that she was giving up on Blackpine and coming home. Return to the safe, sterile world where her biggest worry was meeting deadlines and her heart remained safely locked away.
Electra picked up her phone, her fingers hovering over the glowing screen, Cosette’s name pulsing with each insistent ring. The familiar weight of her phone felt foreign in her tremblinghands, as if the simple device had transformed into something dangerous.
Just answer it. Tell her you’re coming home. End this madness.
But instead of swiping to accept the call, Electra let it go to voicemail. The phone fell silent, leaving her alone with the thundering of her own heartbeat.
Seven days.Seven days of pretending she could logic her way out of whatever supernatural web she’d stumbled into. Seven days of telling herself that what she felt for Rune was nothing more than attraction amplified by isolation and stress. Seven days of lying to herself about everything.
Her thumb scrolled through her contacts until it landed on his name. Just two words—Rune Hale—but they might as well have been written in fire for the way they made her pulse spike.
This is stupid.
But even as the rational part of her brain screamed warnings, her finger was already pressing the call button.
He answered on the first ring.
“Electra.” His voice rumbled through the speaker, deep and steady and tinged with something that sounded suspiciously like relief. As if he’d been sitting by his phone, waiting. Hoping.
The thought sent a dangerous flutter through her stomach.
“Hi.” The word came out breathier than she’d intended, and she cleared her throat, trying for casual. “How... how have you been?”
Brilliant opening, Electra. Really smooth.
There was a pause, and she could almost picture him—those gray eyes, and the way his jaw tightened when he was choosing his words carefully.
“Concerned about you,” he said finally, and the honesty in his voice made her knees weak. “Are you hungry?”
The question caught her off guard. Nothow are you feeling about the whole fated mate revelationorhave you made a decision about usbut something beautifully, devastatingly simple.
“I...” She glanced toward her kitchen, at the untouched groceries she’d bought days ago with the best of intentions. “I haven’t really been eating much.”
“When was your last real meal?”
The concern in his voice was unmistakable now, and it did something dangerous to the walls she’d spent seven days reinforcing. “Define real meal.”
“Electra.” Her name was a gentle reprimand. “When?”
She closed her eyes, admitting defeat. “A week.”
His sharp intake of breath was audible through the phone. “Come to dinner. My cabin. Nothing complicated—just food and company.”
Just food and company.As if anything involving Rune could ever be that simple.
