I came here to be alone. Loneliness is eating me alive.
If Sheena were here... I sigh. She isn’t. And I have no business feeling sorry for myself when my best friend is going through only the gods know what.
“Pull it together,” I mutter to myself. Just because I tried and failed to fit in on the Fringes doesn’t mean I’ll never belong anywhere. It’s only a setback. One day when I close my eyes, I won’t see red hair, redder eyes, and Luca’s grin.
Unfortunately, that day isn’t today.
Heart racing, I stumble down the hall, following excited whispers to the surveillance room. Gods bless my bestie. Sheena must have known I needed her, because she’s back and causing even more drama than usual.
My eyes find her in the crowded room. Short, wide-eyed, andpale as a fucking ghost. My lips stretch into a grin. “Give it to us straight, Sheena,” I drawl. “Any more urges to join the dark side?”
She squeaks and flies across the room, slamming into me with the force of a much larger woman. My healing ribs throb from the impact, but I hug her tightly, anyway.
The room is packed with people, from the tech squad to all the usual suspects.
And everyone has an opinion.
As we discuss the best way forward, I play the unbothered, flippant jokester everyone expects me to be. Despite my over-the-top delivery, it heals something in me to see Sheena thoughtfully consider my advice.
We leave her alone to talk things over with Idris. So far, having the fae join the enclave hasn’t been as bad as I feared, but I haven’t been around much either.
As soon as I’m out of Sheena’s sight, I rub my ribs.
“You could have told her about the ass-kicking,” Callum says. “She wouldn’t have been rough with you.”
I glance at him and shake my head. After weeks of stumbling around the enclave like the walking dead, my brother’s face has returned to model perfection. Clearly, he’s fed his incubus.
“Damn, you didn’t waste any time, did you?” I ask, waggling my eyebrows.
“Watch it,” he hisses.
I roll my eyes. Callum is touchy these days. And delusional. Sheena tells me way more than I want to know about their sex life.
“She’s okay, though?” I ask, changing the subject.
“She’s here”—he sighs—“and she’s alive. Anything else we’ll figure out. Together.”
I clap him on the shoulder. “I’m glad she’s back.”
“She could use a distraction,” Gideon says, his dimpled grin making an appearance for the first time in days.
I gasp and clutch my chest. “Is that all I am to you? A distraction?”
“Fuck off, squirt.” Gideon grabs my shoulders like we’re eight and ten again and jostles me playfully, making it painfully obvious that he’s holding back. “Come by our room in a few hours. We’ll clear out so you two can talk.”
Callum nods shortly, and I’m torn between thanking Gideon for being thoughtful and telling him I’ll see my best friend whenever I please—their permission be damned. In the end, I settle for a smile and leave. I know how hard the last few weeks have been for them.
Wandering aimlessly, it’s no surprise to me when I end up in the shifter wing, shuffling into the Therion’s apartment like a tired little boy who just got lectured about fear again. The air smells of cookies, and I follow the buttery-chocolate haze to the kitchen with a sigh.
This was inevitable.
I need mom advice, and Sarah has always been better at giving it than my actual mother. She may be a powerful omni shifter and a key part of the reason this enclave is as strong as it is, but she’s also one of the few supernaturals within these stone walls who leads with her heart.
Sarah sits at the kitchen table eating a chocolate chip cookie, a dog-eared paperback in her hand. On the cover, a woman arches dramatically against a shirtless dude with long hair, the top of her dress half undone.
“Good book?” I ask.
Sarah jumps, then looks at me, her mouth curving into a warm smile. “All my boys are home,” she says. “Everything feels pretty good right now.”
