Sienna turns to me as the three of us start walking. “Vampire assholes, am I right?”
Kole peeks over her head at me, and I look up with a smirk. “They’re the worst.”
“And don’t you forget it,” he chirps, turning to us with a smug look before pushing the dining room doors open with his back.
The smell of maple syrup instantly makes my mouth water, and the second I see the stack of French toast, I practically skip to the table.
“Oh, so now you’re a morning person?” Sienna quips, as she pulls out a chair and takes a seat.
“Nooo. I’m just a French toast person.”
“Really?” Kole asks, holding out the plate with the stack of them. “These are your favorite?”
I nod, grabbing three triangles off the top. “Whoever thinks waffles or pancakes are superior is just wrong.”
“Noted.” Kole nods with an odd amount of seriousness.
I flash him a confused look, and he clears his throat, taking a seat. While he and Sienna start talking about some sort of wolf drama, I stuff my face and try to piece it all together. Eventually, my mind drifts off into a daydream about swimming in the ocean, and their voices fade away. I’m so deep in thoughts of summer that I nearly jump out of my skin when Thane bursts through the doors.
“Let me see it,” Kole says, leaning back in his seat.
Thane hands him a stapled packet of papers before grabbing a sausage link off Kole’s plate.
“Is that the contract?” Sienna asks, eyeing the papers Kole is flipping through.
Thane turns to me and pulls out a pen from his back pocket. “You ready to sign?” he asks, clicking the pen and handing it to me.
When I grab it from him, our fingers brush against one another, sending an electric current racing down my arm straight to my chest. For a split second, his eyes seem to dilate, but when I blink, the yellow in them shines bright.
Kole slides the papers over to me with a nod, and even though I made my mind up about this arrangement last night, my heart is still hammering at the idea of making it official. By the time I get through reading the whole thing, I want to sprint from the room, but I can’t keep running. For once in my life, I need to stay right where I am. Even if thatisin a house full of deadly beasts.
Sienna must notice my hesitancy, because she reaches over and squeezes my forearm reassuringly. Thane’s signature is already inked on one line, so it’s just me who needs to sign. I draw in a deep breath and exhale the fear and uncertainty suffocating me.
This is the right choice. I know it in my heart.
Before I can psych myself out of it, I quickly scribble my signature on the line below Thane’s. The three of them seem to relax the moment I lift the pen from the paper, and honestly, it feels like for the first time in a long time, everything isn’t falling apart. Not at all how I would’ve expected to feel after signing a contract linking myself to the only hybrid vampire-werewolf to ever exist, but I guess I’ll take it.
“Alright.” Kole picks up the contract and hands it to Thane, who is still looming over me. “Now that the boring part is over…” He reaches in his back pocket and pulls out a pair of keys, dangling them in front of me. I quickly snatch them up and shoot out of my seat with a burst of excitement.
Sienna is hot on my heels as I race out of the house. I abruptly stop, and she runs into my back, catching me before I go tumbling down the front steps.
“We’ll get you something faster when the snow melts,” Kole chimes from behind us.
I turn to him, not bothering to hide my huge smile. I’m not even sure I’d be able to with how excited I am. I’ve never had a car, let alone one as nice as this.
“It’s perfect,” I say to both Kole and Thane before hurrying down the steps to the midsized white SUV with a gigantic red bow placed on top of it that must’ve been Kole’s idea.
I slip into the driver’s seat, running my hands over the light beige steering wheel while Sienna climbs into the passengerseat. Even though the car was part of the agreement, it still feels like a gift.
“Let’s take her for a spin!” she squeals, reaching back to put her seatbelt on.
“Hey! Not without me!” Kole shouts from the top of the steps.
“Then get in!”
In a breath, he’s sitting beside me, and Sienna’s in the back seat, looking all kinds of pissed off.
“Hey, asshole! That was my seat!” Sienna hisses, kicking the back of the seat she was just sitting in.
