Page 48 of Trick Me
Sera’s voice cuts through the darkness like a dagger dipped in panic. Her hands are on my shoulders, shaking me hard enough to dislodge memories I didn’t know I had. My head feels like it’s been used to drum out a war chant.
“Five more minutes,” I mumble, which comes out more like “f’mornins.”
“You’ve been unconscious in the woods for gods know how long! This is not a five-more-minutes situation!”
Woods.
Right. The pool. The curse.
Ash.
My eyes snap open, and I immediately regret it. The low sunrise is offensively pretty, allgolden fire and pink whispers kissing the trees like it has no idea what just happened here. My skull pounds in protest.
Sera’s face swims into focus above me, lipstick long gone and her carefully sculpted updo now resembling the aftermath of a stylish lightning strike.
“Oh, thank the ancestors,” she breathes, yanking me into a hug that makes every rib scream. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Rich disappeared, again, because apparently he’s allergic to emotional responsibility, and you weren’t in the mansion, and then I maybe sort of panicked and came out here searching for you.”
“I-I must have passed out,” I croak. My throat is so raw.
She pulls back to examine me, scanning my face.
“Are you okay? You look like death. More than usual, I mean.”
I push myself upright, everything aching. The clearing looks… wrong. The pool is gone. Not drained. Not dried up. Just… gone. Like it was never here. Like the earth closed its mouth over a secret it wasn’t supposed to share.
My heart stutters.
“Where’s Ash?”
The words fall out sharp and too fast, betraying me.
Sera’s face tightens.
“I only found you. I’m sorry, babe. I looked. Iswear. But there was no one else here. Everyone’s left the party.”
“Oh.” The sound is too small, too hollow. I clear my throat. Try again, try for something casual, something cool.
“Oh, well. That’s… that’s fine. One-night stand with a mysterious Alpha in a haunted forest. Classic me. Very on-brand.”
“Erynn—”
“No, seriously, it’s fine.”
I wave a hand like I’m brushing off a bug and not the first real connection I’ve had in years.
I stand, the green dress torn, dirt-streaked.
“These things happen, right? Guy says sweet nothings in the dark, makes you believe in moonlight and magic, and then poof. Gone. Typical fairy tale. With me cast as the girl who gets left behind.”
“If it’s any consolation, he didn’t seem like the type to just vanish,” Sera says.
“I’m sure they never do.” I say it with a sharp little smile.
That’s the trick, isn’t it? They all seem different. Until they’re not.
I brush a few leaves from my dress, tug the hem straight like I can press the dignity back into it. My hand trembles, just once, but I hide it. I always hide it.
“He’s probably halfway back to his pack by now, curled up in some den with his wolves, regaling themwith tales of the cursed party and the dumb girl who thought she was something special.”
