Page 46 of Sorrow & Strangers

“And I heard that shifters have hairy balls.”

Alice takes another suck of her lollipop. “I’ve heard that berserkers bang like beasts.”

“You’re a dick,” I say, but the tension has eased from me, and my lips pull into a smile. I can even feel a laugh close to the surface.

Alice loops her arm through mine. “I mean, inquiring minds want to know.”

I roll my eyes and pull my phone from my bag, scrolling.

“Checking those DMs?” Alice asks, peeking over my shoulder.

I quirk a brow at her.

“You know, to ask for another berserker bounce?”

This time I burst out laughing, and Alice does too, but all my humor flees when my phone pings with a message from the stranger.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Summer

@1015

You try my benevolence, little fae. Greatly.

My stomach flips and my heart pounds as I read the message over and over.

@RaysofSummer

Leave me alone.

“Stranger?” Alice asks, trying to peek at my screen.

I lock my phone, unsure what I’m trying to hide. She’s already seen it, or at least seen that it’s from him. I think it’s simply that if she reads what he’s written, she will start asking questions, and I don’t want to talk about him. I want to stay in this moment of laughter and lightness for a little longer.

“It’s nothing,” I say, shoving my phone back in my bag.

Alice lays her head on my shoulder as we near the house. “People with dicks, even ones with four piercings and unmanageable size, are just problematic assholes.”

“I don’t want to talk about him, Al.” My words come out harsher than I mean them to, but I desperately want to nip this conversation in the bud.

Alice shrugs and opens the front door. “We should move to Valhalla. Apparently, there are only women there.”

I nod, trying to relax again.

“I’ve heard they go out to bang and then kill the men afterward. Sounds ideal.”

My lips twitch. “It does,” I say, dropping my bag onto the couch. “I’m going to go take a shower.” I can still feel Max on my skin, and while it’s not unpleasant, I don’t want to bask in my mistakes.

I enter my room, tugging off my blazer. The door closes behind me, and then I am grabbed and pushed back against the unyielding wood, my arms pinned in my jacket. Startled, I yelp and look up to meet the stranger’s shrouded face, his intense gaze boring into me.

“You try my patience.”

My heart pounds in my chest like a trapped bird. “What are you⁠—”

“And my goodwill,” he hisses, interrupting me. “Two things increasingly in short supply when it comes to you.”

“I told you to leave me alone,” I say, my voice even, sensing it is not a good idea to struggle against him right now.