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Her teeth release her bottom lip, her tongue licking the corners. “Oh?”
“Yeah,” I continue and pluck the most truthful lie I can. “I promised my grams I’d be taking her to the Strawberry Festival in the morning.”
“Wait? What?” Addy sits up taller, quickly tucking the covers around her chest. “That’s adorable. Oh, I bet she loves the festival! I know I love it. My ma and paps took me every year growing up. They have the best strawberry jam in the whole county, you know? They even were on some fancy food network show and …” She trails off, and starts laughing. “Sorry, I do that sometimes.”
“Do what?” I ask, tilting my head, to which she also matches—a wolf-thing so ingrained in our DNA most of us don’t even realize it. I catch myself before it makes me smile.
“You know, just ramble on about stuff that no one cares about.” She waves a dismissive hand.
“I like hearing you talk,” I say before I can stop myself. I almost curse. My need to wipe away the flash of insecurity on her face had me blurting the truth. I want to know more about this girl.
Because I need to learn about her family, I tell myself grimly.
A sudden spark flashes across her face and without a word, she reaches to snatch my phone. Instinctively I resist, grabbing it first from the bedside table and holding my arm behind my head. Raising an eyebrow, I ask, “And what do you think you’re doing?”
She flicks her hair and lifts her chin, any show of confidence undermined by the fact she yanks up the sheets a little higher. “Give me your phone,” she commands.
“Now—” I nearly call her out for possessing such Alpha energy, tempted to ask if she can keep up with my own Alpha nature before I remember she can’t know who I am. “Miss Addy, why would I do such a thing? If you need me to call you an Uber.”
“I don’t need a ride. I practically live next door and—” her voice fades out as reality wraps its arms around my throat, stealing the air from my lungs.
My stomach spins as the room goes out of focus. I had sex with a murderer—someone who is responsible for my parent's death, my entire family’s death, everything—and I not only liked it, I mean of course its sex, but it was truly the most blissful moment of my life. Sucking in a deep breath, I do my best to ground myself in the current moment…no, not the current moment, that makes the room spin even more …
It’s Addy’s voice that pulls me out of the darkness. “What’s wrong?” her voice is teasing, an attempt to lighten the tone, “Not used to others barking orders at you?”
I chuckle, acknowledging that’s the truth. I don’t have a pack thanks to her family. Eager to get out of here and sort out the mess in my head, I hand her my phone. She begins typing away, a wicked smirk on her face. When she hands me back my phone, she says, “You just sent me a text.” She picks up her own phone, unlocks it to her text messages, and holds it in front of me.
Thanks for the best night of my life.
I laugh, hoping it doesn’t sound strained. What is it about this girl and cutting straight to the truth? “Cute,” I say, before grabbing my keys. “Are you sure you don’t need an Uber? It’s late and dark and—” And she’s a killer. Of course, someone as lethal as Addy wouldn’t want a ride home. She has nothing to fear in the dark because she is the monster in the shadows.
“No, I think I’m just gonna hang out here a bit longer and head back… It was good. This.” She flushes. “I mean, well, you know what I mean.”
“I do.” I pause and look her straight in the eye, baffled how she doesn’t see the danger she’s in. “See you around, Adeline.” A silent threat laces around my gruff voice, something Addy clearly mistakes for lust, leaving her to blush in anticipation as I slip out the door.
Outside, I pause. A cool rain falls from the sky as if it can wash away the guilt and the sins of tonight. Gritting my teeth, I look forward to it. I can’t drop my guard like that again.
I will not melt under the hand of a woman who killed my family.
No, she will crumple under me.
Chapter4
Adeline
I’m still shell-shocked when I step out of the motel shower a few minutes later. I towel myself down and quickly get dressed, noting the way my skin still tingles.
Did I just…?
Straightening, I catch my reflection in the mirror across the room. I touch my lips, blinking. I did.
I just had the most amazing experience of my life!
And the soreness between my legs is proof of that. I’d bled a little, which is one of the reasons for the shower. The other is that I now have to go home, pretending as if nothing’s changed. I don’t know much about sex, being a virgin and all, but I do know one thing—shifters swear they can smell it. One of our more rebellious pack mates, Lindsey, always says to shower, shower again, and then shower some more. So I did, scrubbing with the cheap soap as if my life depended on it.
I find myself smiling, looking a little like a star-struck idiot. Luke’s promise to see me sends a thrill through my spine and a bounce in my step as I make my way to the door. I always expected my first time to be a mess or to be fumbling and awkward, but somehow we fell into place, into each other as if this was something we were meant to do. As if we just fit.
And he wants to see me again.
