“It was good,” I say.
“Good good, or...?”
“Good good.” I pause, let the quiet hang for a second. “Reallyfucking good.”
He laughs, a little more awake now.
“You smell like her.”
I give him a look. “You really had to say it?”
“It’s not a bad thing,” he grins, moving to sit upright. “Ilikeher.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Cam says easily. “I mean, she’s cool, and funny. Smart, and weird—in a good way. Not the… Wes kind of weird.”
I snort.
“She’s not what I expected,” I admit.
Cam’s whole energy is so different from Wes’s. He's lighter, more open. He might be younger than both of us, but he’s never once needed babysitting.
“You really like her?” he asks.
I nod. “I do.”
“Good.” His grin softens. “I’m glad.”
“Yeah, well. Wes isn’t.”
“He’ll come around.”
I raise a brow. “That before or after he bursts a blood vessel from clenching his jaw at me all night?”
“He said he was fine with it.”
“Yeah, well, hesaysa lot of things. But now he’s stomping around like I pissed on his territory.”
Cam shrugs, though not unkindly. “He’s probably just... thrown off. It’s a lot. You know what he’s like.”
“Yeah.” I rub a hand through my hair. “But he’s acting like I slept with his mortal enemy, not our literal scent match.”
“Wes has this thing where he needs to be the one in control or he short-circuits,” Cam sighs. “But he’ll get there. He’ll see she’s not who he remembers.”
“Or he’ll bite someone,” I mutter.
Cam chuckles, then nudges me with his foot under the covers. “I’m serious. He just needs time. You saw how he looked at her.”
“Yeah: like he wanted to kill her.”
“Sure. And then kiss her. And then kill her again.”
I laugh, despite everything, and Cam smiles wider. “Don't worry about it. He’ll get there. He just has to realize she’s not the same girl from four years ago.”
“Maybe he’s not the same alpha, either.”
“Exactly,” Cam nods, sinking back into his pillow. “Which is why it’s gonna work out.”