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“Not a good idea⁠—”

They spoke at the same time, eyes wide like spooked horses.

Amie put a hand on her cocked hip. “It’s not an imposition, at all. Besides, it’s just sharing a bed for a night. What’s the big deal?”

“He snores.”

“She steals the covers.”

Amie laughed. “You’ll be fine. I can’t let you drive home. That would be irresponsible. Do you want the whole forest talking about how irresponsible I am?” She pinned him with a hard stare.

He didn’t want the whole forest talking about her.

But he also didn’t know how he could possibly share a bed with Fee again and not embarrass himself. Or do something incredibly rash. Like fuck her and accidentally claim her without her permission.

Amie took his brief moment of hesitation as agreement. “Okay, perfect. Feel free to come over for breakfast!” She hustled them out the door and Theo’s feet obeyed even as his mind swirled with all the reasons this was an epically bad idea.

He started to wonder if there was more than whiskey in that tea.

Or maybe he just wanted something to blame for his bad behavior. And anything else that might happen tonight.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“How does this keep happening?”

Fee gazed at him from her side of the small bed, a soft smile on her face. Her cheeks were still rosy, and her hair flopped messily over her forehead. She was definitely tipsy.

The bed was too small, meant for tiny nymphs not werewolves. Phoebe was close. She smelled like flowers and tea and whiskey. She smelled like home and comfort and infinity.

“My friends are meddling troublemakers,” she said.

“I like them.”

“I’m sure you do.” She reached out to shove his bare shoulder, but he grabbed her hand, bringing her fingers to his lips. She sucked in a breath. “Theo⁠—”

“Fee,” he hummed, kissing her palm.

“What are you doing?” She was whispering as though someone might hear them, as though they weren’t completely alone, pushed together by Fee’s delightfully meddling friends.

He brushed his lips lower, across the racing pulse in her wrist, the soft skin of her forearm.

“I don’t know anymore, Fee. I don’t know what we’ve been doing all this time.”

“We’ve been friends all this time, Theo.” Even as she said it, she shifted closer to him.

He pressed her hand to his chest, over the ache in his heart, the emptiness only she could fill. Why had he spent so much time fucking around? He didn’t want to be friends with this woman. He wanted everything with her.

What the hell was in that tea?

“Did your friends drug us, Fee?”

She giggled, the sound so perfect he almost tugged her against him. “No, they didn’t drug us.”

“Hmm.” He kept her hand twined with his in the space between them and studied her over the pillow. Maybe he wasn’t drugged; maybe it was just being this close to Phoebe that made him feel this way. This whole stupid search for Lena had done nothing but force them together. Maybe he should stop fighting it. Maybe he was a fool for trying.

“So, you’re going to be a one-woman man now?” she asked after a while. Her tone was teasing, but Theo heard the undercurrent of interest.

“Depends, I guess.”