Page 22 of As The Shifter World Turns

“Apartment hunting.” Neil’s voice quivered slightly. “Because… you know.”

I did know and I hated it. I didn’t want to move. No one did. There had to be a way to save Sunshine Manor.

If only I could figure out how.

9

WHAT’S WORSE THAN APARTMENT HUNTING? KELLAN

Archer

I can’t do this anymore.

Staring at the sign in front of a dreary apartment building had me wanting to turn tail and run in the other direction.

Ivor, Neil, and I had been inspecting apartments every Saturday and Sunday for the past couple of weeks. Each place we’d looked at had been worse than the one before. Very few of them had three bedrooms, even though that was what they said in the listing. In some, the third bedroom was the size of a cupboard—literally—while in others it was more of a study with no door. And for others, the agent shrugged and said two of us could share a room.

Glancing at my future roommates, I noted the slumped shoulders, the mouths set in a hard line, and their resigned expressions that I was sure reflected my own.

“Maybe this is the one,” Neil told us.

I planted a smile on my face and nodded as we crossed the threshold, the bored estate agent barely glancing at us as he perched on a stool and played a game on his phone.

Nope, not even close. The scuffed walls and peeling paint were cosmetic, and I tried to look at it through Micah’s eyes. He’d mentioned at our latest rooftop barbecue that he always saw the potential in any home he staged.

I tried and failed as we poked our heads into the tiny kitchen with cupboard doors hanging off their hinges and a stove that should have been consigned to the dumpster.

“Ewww.” Ivor shared a glance with me and made a face.

“Nasty,” I agreed.

“Are we ready for the room of doom?” Neil asked, though he appeared to be anything but as he was hanging back behind Ivor and myself.

“Not really.” Ivor shook his head.

“I don’t have a good feeling, guys.” I gulped and we linked arms. Not wanting to grip the bathroom door handle, I nudged it with my shoulder. Even that was too much contact.

I smelt rather than saw the state of the bathroom at first and shoved a hand over my mouth and nose. It should have had the biohazard symbol stamped on the door.

Gross. Even my wolf, who’d whined during these tours that I was wasting my time instead of paying attention to Micah, was repulsed.

“Let’s go,” Neil shrieked and hotfooted it out the front door with Ivor and me at his heels.

“Don’t you want to put in an application?” the agent yelled after us. “I can give you free parking for a year.”

“No!” we shouted, and I got into the driver’s seat of our rented car. With Ivor beside me and Neil in the back hugging a cushion, I merged into traffic.

“I don’t know about you, but I need caffeine and a piece of cake or a chocolate croissant to cheer me up. My treat.” The last sentence was for Ivor, as he couldn’t afford to splash out on a fancy coffee and dessert. “Who’s in?”

“Me.”

“And me.”

We sat outside the café under a large umbrella, sipping our lattes and cappuccino while I licked frosting from my lips. It was a moment of peace, and I relished doing nothing while surrounded by friends. Instead of focusing on what was a hopeless case regarding finding somewhere new to live, my mind wandered to Micah and the kiss I’d snatched. Not the failed drunken one. I still cringed when I rewound that scene through my head.

And whenever I thought of the unicorn shifter, his cock loomed large in my imagination. Yum.

“That chocolate cake must be something else,” Neil noted. “It’s put a huge grin on your face and you’ve been licking your lips for the last minute.”

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