“You fit too,” I said before I could stop myself.
Seth looked surprised.Then something quieter crossed his face, warmth faded slightly around the edges.
“It’s different,” he said after a moment.
“How?” I asked.
He shrugged lightly, eyes still on the crowd. “This is permanent for you guys.”
There it was, the thing underneath was not discomfort but distance.
Like he’d already decided he was temporary here. The realization unsettled me more than it should have, because suddenly I didn’t like the idea of temporary, at least not with him.
I knew that was a dangerous thought, because at the end of the day, we were both just playing pretend. Seth looked over at me then. For a second, neither of us said anything.
The air felt heavier somehow, charged. Then Pampi barked furiously somewhere behind us, immediately ruining the moment. Seth laughed under his breath.
“Guess I’m being summoned,” Seth said.
“Yeah,” I said, smiling despite myself. “You’re her favorite now.”
We started walking back toward the cookout together, not touching but close enough that our shoulders brushed once. Neither of us moved away.
And somewhere deep down, my wolf settled with dangerous, terrifying certainty. Like this was beginning to feel less like pretending and a lot more like something real.
6
SETH
Iusually liked slow evenings at the café.
They weren’t great for tips, and the quiet shifts always had a way of stretching time, but there was something comforting about the way the café settled after the dinner rush.
Soft music drifted through the nearly empty space while Janine and I moved between small, pointless tasks just to keep ourselves busy until closing.
Tonight should’ve been one of those easy nights, if I hadn’t made the mistake of mentioning the pack cookout to Janine.
“Okay, but what was it actually like?” Janine asked for what had to be the tenth time.
I didn’t even look up properly this time, just kept refilling the napkin dispenser as I answered. “It was exactly what it sounds like. A cookout.”
“Was it huge? Like, were there only shifters there? Was the food good? Were the people nice?”
“Yes,” I said, not bothering to clarify which question I was actually answering.
Her grin only widened. “Were there a lot of hot guys?”
The napkin dispenser clicked shut harder than I intended.
“Janine.”
“What?” she asked, all innocence that absolutely wasn’t innocent.
I let out a long sigh, hoping to end the conversation, but she was already leaning in closer.
“I couldn’t exactly spend the day checking out hot guys,” I muttered. “I was there with a date.”
Her eyes lit up instantly, like she’d been waiting for that exact crack in my resistance.
