Page 51 of The Cuddle Clause
I stared at him, jaw dropping open.
He coughed. “I mean… the moon. I really love the moon. On nights like this.”
We both nodded, pretending that hadn’t happened. That he hadn’t just said what he said. But my heart was thudding against my ribs like it wanted out.
Below us, Doris’s binoculars snapped straight up.
“Shit,” I hissed.
We ducked like teenagers caught making out. Giggling, we crept back inside and bolted down the stairwell. By the time we crashed through our apartment door, I was breathless—not from running but fromfeeling.
We stood in the dim hallway between our rooms. The air shifted, becoming thicker, seemingly moving slower.
He was close. Too close. My back brushed the wall.
He looked at my mouth. I looked at his. He didn’t say anything, and neither did I. I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear and cleared my throat.
“Night, wolfboy.”
He stepped back. “Night, Mags.”
We went into our respective bedrooms. Neither of us closed our doors all the way.
I dreamedI was standing in a field that didn’t belong to any real place. It was like it had slipped between worlds and gotten stuck there. A thick fog curled around my ankles and laced between my fingers, clinging to my skin like regret.
Everything shimmered under a soft silver light, even though there was no moon in the sky. The grass was cold and wet beneath my bare feet. Each step I took made a squishing sound, until I suddenly couldn’t move. My body was a statue carved out of confusion and quiet fear.
Shapes moved in the mist. I didn’t hear them approach. One moment I was alone, the next I was surrounded.
They weren’t men. They weren’t wolves. These creatures were something in-between. Hulking shoulders and animal eyes, fur that shifted in and out of form, too-long limbs, and teeth that glinted even when they weren’t smiling.
They circled me like I was prey. A curiosity. A threat. A mistake.
“She smells wrong.”
“Human.”
“Weak.”
Each syllable sliced through my skin like a scalpel. My breath caught. I didn’t look at them. I knew if I met their eyes, I’d see what they saw. I’d see everything I wasn’t.
I had no magic. I had no ability to shift. I was just flesh and flaws.
They saw me. Not the version I’d curated with eyeliner and sarcasm. Not the polished mask I kept on for other people’s comfort. Just… me.
Raw. Too soft. Too small.
And then, like he’d been summoned by the worst parts of me, Roman strode out of the fog.
He didn’t emerge so much asarrive, like he’d been there all along, waiting for his cue. His expression was locked on me with that same intense, laser focus he had when he was pissed off on my behalf. He was real. The weight on my chest eased the second I saw him.
Relief warmed me like sunlight cracking through cold glass. My legs buckled under the weight of it, and I stumbled toward him.
Seraphina appeared behind him, so smooth it felt choreographed. Her arms slid around his waist like they belonged there. The curve of her body folded into his effortlessly and possessively.
Roman let her touch him, hold him, keep him.
He turned his attention to her and never looked back at me. Seraphina smirked at me in triumph. She didn’t need to gloat. Her presence alone said enough:He is mine. You never had a chance.
