Page 67 of Violet Moon
“I don’t know,” Parisa whispered, stroking her thumb across Sera’s cheek.
“Don’t know what?”
“If I’m ready.”
Sera placed her hand on top of Parisa’s and leaned into the touch on her face.“We have time.”
“I know, but there are things — Sera, I have so much that I want.”
“But you’re not ready?”
Parisa shook her head and cast her gaze to the side.“No.I’m tense and my stomach’s in knots.I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Sera moved Parisa’s hand and crushed her in a tight hug, burying her face in the crook of Parisa’s neck.“There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“It should be easy.Being around you is always easy.”
“We can take our time.”
Parisa waited a beat to respond.“I don’t want to, but I think I need to.At least for tonight.”
Sera pulled back from the hug to look Parisa in the eye.“Give me a good night kiss before you go?”
“Or —” Parisa started.
Sera held her breath.
“Or you could allow me one more selfish indulgence and stay with me tonight.Just to sleep,” Parisa added.“I don’t want to say good night yet.”
Sera sat back to see Parisa better and let her hands slide down Parisa’s arms to catch hold of her hands.“I’ll need pajamas,” Sera said, and immediately felt embarrassed after.
“Okay.I’ll make sure my room is — that it’s — that you can — that it’s neat.”
Watching her Alpha become more flustered by the second was a new experience.She liked it but it made her own cheeks flush hotter.
“Okay,” she echoed.
Neither of them moved.
The sound of a nearby door creaking open made them spring apart.
“Pajamas!”Sera yelled and rushed towards her room.
twenty-one
Serashutherdoorand leaned against it, feeling a giddy sort of dizzy and hoping to catch her breath.Her gaze fell to her unmade bed where last night’s pajamas were crumpled in a small pile — an old t-shirt she’d gotten as a souvenir when Billie traveled some years ago and some warm socks.
That wasn’t going to be good enough.
Rifling through her drawers, she tried to pick the least threadbare shirt, but so many of them were neon souvenir shirts.Was this a thing with the pack?Did everyone else get them or did they just think their Beta needed twenty different shirts with beaches and weird sayings on them?To be fair, she did wear them every night, but this wasn’t just another night.
Too much time had already passed, so she took out the newest one — a light blue oversized shirt from a brewery downtown — and threw it on the bed so she could hunt for some socks without holes and shorts.Those would no doubt be buried somewhere in the back because she never wore anything besides underwear to bed, but that seemed much too forward, so shorts it would be.
Taking one more steadying breath, she pointed at herself in the mirror and whispered, “You got this.Just be so normal.”Her pointing morphed into two thumbs up.
She burst into the hallway, riding the high of her nerves and anticipation, before remembering it was just past dawn and most of her packmates were still asleep.
“Beta Seraphine?You’re up early.”
