Page 28 of As The Shifter World Turns

Wrong.My beast was confused. He’d done the wolf version of a happydance when Micah and I had finally stopped the will we or won’t we back and forth. But he didn’t understand how I’d complicated my life and taken the focus off the prize, which was making enough money so I could support my parents.

Having a fuck buddy living across the hall would be great for unlimited orgasms, but that would be all it’d be. A series of one-night stands. As a unicorn, Micah could only mate with another unicorn. He’d told me so himself.

Maybe that was him being kind. His way of warning me he wasn’t relationship material. Being with someone that I couldn’t mate would be living in limbo with one foot in the mated camp and the other unmated.

Not having the courage to tell him I was calling a stop to us, I hadn’t waited until he woke up. Instead, I’d scuttled away.Well done, Archer.

“Owww. Fuck!” I yelled as the water flipped from warm to cold. It could be someone else was awake and taking the hot water. Ryder, perhaps. His love life was more screwed up than mine. Could be Ivor who was constantly worried about his finances? Maybe it was Daire who’d defied his parents? Or possibly Neil, who had a long list of concerns. If I messaged them, would they all respond? We could have a pity party.

Thinking of the phone had me turning it off. Even my boss was asleep at this hour. In the morning, I’d have to check it every five minutes to make sure he hadn’t messaged me, but if I left home early, I’d be at the office and it wouldn’t be an issue.

After tossing and turning for a few hours, I gave up on sleep, made myself breakfast and packed my lunch. With my ear to the door, I held my breath, straining to hear any sounds from the apartment opposite. Nothing.

Go, my wolf demanded. But while I was planning on tiptoeing down the stairs, he expected me to charge into Micah’s apartment and the unicorn would greet me with open arms.Not after I did a midnight flit, he won’t, I explained.

As I’d lived at Sunshine Manor for a while, I knew exactly where the creaking boards were and managed to make my escape without alerting Micah or anyone else in the building. Shame festered in my belly along with sadness as I crept outside and got on my bike. After preventing the sale of the building, I’d looked forward to living at the manor for years. But I’d messed everything up by sleeping with Micah and had no choice but to move out.

Oh joy!After viewing the pits of despair that called themselves three-bedroom apartments with Neil and Ivor, plus my initial battle with estate agents before stumbling onto Daire’s ad, the idea of moving had me leaping off the bike and dry heaving into some bushes.

Micah, my wolf demanded.

I missed him too and it’d only been a few hours. 180 minutes since I’d been in his arms.Who’s counting?Not me. Nope.

As I took a sip of water before getting back on the bike, I allowed myself, just for a moment, to contemplate a future with the unicorn shifter. But no matter how I examined it, I arrived at the same destination. There’d always besomething missing for him and that would eventually destroy the relationship. Peddling to the office, tears flowed across my cheeks and the wind whipped them away, leaving my face achy and cold.

I ignored my private messages all day, only answering the ones on the office communication platform, and it wasn’t until my boss had left that I lay my head on the desk and clicked on the texts that reminded me of a line of toy soldiers.

Neil asked if I wanted a movie night, Ivor wanted to borrow a book, and Daire had sent a message to everyone in the Sunshine Manor group chat congratulating us on our efforts the previous day.

The phone clattered onto my desk. “What?” I yelled.

“You okay, Archer?” a head popped up over a cubicle.

“Fine.” I plastered a smile on my face. “A friend sent me a not-suitable-for-work meme.

“Oh,” he nodded. “NSFW. Right.”

I bowed my head and reread Daire’s message. My first thought was he was saying,Hurrah, at Micah and me sleeping together. I had visions of him and the rest of the tenants outside Micah’s door taking bets as to how many orgasms we’d have.

A lot!My wolf mumbled.

That put the first real smile of the day on my face.Yeah, there were multiple.But Daire had been referring to our efforts to stop the sale. My heart slowed from a frantic gallop to a trot.

My fingers trembled as Micah’s name popped up on the display. Adjectives floated around my head as to how he’d reacted this morning. Angry? Disappointed? Relieved? Bewildered?

I opened the text. It was much worse than I’d imagined.

Did I do something wrong?

His words tugged at my heartstrings, assuming they actually existed. I used work as an excuse for why I couldn’t talk. I wasn’t sure I could ever be honest with him.No.Busy at the office, I texted.

As I studied Ivor’s message, I replied with a quick,Could I stay in Daire’s spare room tonight?

Ivor

It’d been nice having Archer spend the night. Daire didn’t question why he needed the room and mouthed to me, “Trouble with Micah?” The three of us had made a quick dinner together and afterwards, Archer had sat on my bed and we’d laughed over the parrot who’d scared people away yesterday. He hadn’t said why he couldn’t go home.

He was gone by the time I left for class and when I was done with college, I headed to work at Ryder’s office. This was the bestpart of my day. No assignments with deadlines. No worries about making excuses to Daire about being late with my rent, even though he was cool with it.

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