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Her thoughts stuttered when she looked up to find Theo staring at her with dark, hungry eyes.

Damn.

He blinked when her gaze met his and right before he tore it away, she saw everything. Everything he refused to say. Everything she’d given up hoping for. Everything she did not have the strength to fight against right now.

She popped back up and grabbed the bag she’d tossed onto the chair when they’d walked in. “I’m going to take a shower,” she said, moving toward the bathroom.

“Wait,” Theo’s voice was strained. “Where are we going to sleep?”

Phoebe’s gaze flitted over the bed to the one rather uncomfortable-looking chair, the small refrigerator, and the old TV sitting on the sole dresser. It seemed ridiculous for one of them to sleep on the floor.

Even when the look on Theo’s face spoke of a hundred ways this could go horribly wrong.

“We’ve shared a bed before. I’m sure we can do it again.” She left him alone then, the shadows gathering across his face.

She closed the door and sucked in a deep breath, letting her shoulder bag slide to the floor.

Pull yourself together, Fee! You cannot fall to pieces every time he flashes those damn eyes at you.

Not anymore. Not this time. This time she had to be strong.

They weren’t kids in the back of a movie theater anymore.

Nothing was innocent. Not between them. Everything was loaded. Every look. Every word was heavy with the past.

Phoebe shucked off her sweater and leggings and turned on the shower. Lukewarm water trickled from the shower head. Apparently, a nice bed and a decent shower were too much to hope for in a place like this, but she got in anyway. Goosebumps covered her body as she stood under the water, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the lack of heat or the memories of the last time she had shared a bed with her werewolf.

She’d held him through the night, until he finally relaxed in her arms. In his feverish state, he whispered words into her skin. Declarations.

Words Phoebe had been trying to erase for the last year.

She stepped out of the shower, shivering. She wrapped herself in a towel, running the rough fabric over her body like she could scrub away the memories. But she couldn’t forget. She couldn’t forget the word he’d called her in the predawn light, his body pressed against hers. The fierce way he’d growled it like he was challenging everyone to deny it. Like he would fight for her.

That word. That thing, that concept that nymphs didn’t even have, was suddenly a real, tangible thing in the early morning hours in her bedroom. And she’d wanted it. She wanted this thing between them. Even though she shouldn’t. Nymphs shouldn’t want forever, but Phoebe wanted it. She wanted him.

But Theo had never said it again. He’d never claimed her in the bright light of day.

And Phoebe refused to think that damn word. That damn werewolf bullshit.

She scrubbed her hair with the towel until it was sticking up around her head. She wiped the fog from the mirror and found herself, wide-eyed and freckled. She plucked the blue contacts from her eyes and flicked them into the trash. She’d put in a new color tomorrow. She pulled a sleep shirt and shorts from her bag, put them on and took a deep breath before facing Theo again.

They’d been lying to each other for a long time now. It shouldn’t be hard to keep going. To add more unspoken truths between them. More pretending. It should be as easy as breathing, and yet Phoebe was having a hard time getting enough air.

She shook her head. Enough. Phoebe had decided a long time ago that having Theo as a friend was better than not having him at all. But she also knew she had to protect her heart. He couldn’t be trusted with it.

She rolled her shoulders back and stepped out into the room ready to remind Theo that they were both mature adults and they could certainly handle sharing a bed for a night.

But her little speech was unnecessary. The room was empty. Theo had scribbled a note and left it on the bed.

Went for a run. Don’t wait up.

Theo needed to shift. A surefire sign he was just as keyed up as she was, but she wasn’t going to dwell on that fact. She was going to tuck herself into this bed and get some sleep. And she was going to remind herself that she was a nymph, a literal descendant of the forest gods themselves and she did not need to put up with a mangy dog-man’s nonsense.

She was here to help her fellow dryad sisters. She was here to save her forest and her little grove of trees.

Quite honestly, Theo ranked very low on her current list of priorities.

She didn’t need him or his broken promises.