One

My best friend and I loved ridiculous pranks, but this time I pushed it further than usual.

I planned to propose to my boyfriend at the airport.

It was a regular Friday afternoon, our last class finally over. I’d just told Ria my plan. I was going to propose to Donovan the moment he walked out of the arrival gate.

“Are you insane, Vespa?” Ria stared at me like I’d announced I was joining a cult. “Women don’t propose to men. That’s not how this works.”

I laughed and zipped up my simple ivory dress, then ran a comb through my ash-blond pixie cut.

“Don’t jinx it. I’ve been hinting about marriage forever. I want to get married young, and Donovan knows that.”

“You’re twenty-one,” Ria said, dragging a hand over her face. “And why would you marry a werewolf? Let alone have his babies? That’s bestiality.”

I leaned against the desk and laughed until I had to grab the chair for balance. Telling me not to do something only made it better.

“Come on, Ri. Donovan’s human most of the time. And honestly, in the grand scheme of things, aren’t we all just animals trying to survive?”

I stepped closer and nudged her shoulder.

“You need to sleep with a werewolf. Trust me. After that, normal guys feel like broken appliances. I bet you haven’t had decent sex since—”

“Vespa.” She straightened in her chair and pointed at me. “Stop talking.”

I grinned and grabbed my purse.

“I’ll set you up with Donovan’s friend. You’re overdue for a proper, life-altering orgasm.”

When I asked if she was coming with me, she groaned, grabbed her phone, and followed like someone walking toward a public execution, muttering about my terrible life choices.

By the time we reached the airport, the place was packed with travelers, luggage rolling across the floor, announcements echoing through the terminal.

Donovan and I were solid. We met last year outside the journalism building. He was new to campus and completely lost, standing on the stairs with a map in his hand. I ran straight into him while rushing to class. My coffee spilled down his shirt. He laughed instead of getting angry, and that was it. We’d been together ever since.

When I spotted him walking out of the gate, I pushed through the crowd and hurried toward him, the ring box pressing against my palm inside my purse.

He stopped when he saw me.

Then I dropped to one knee.

“Vespa,” he said, staring down at me. “What are you doing?”

I pulled the cheap silver ring from the box and held it up while people around us started slowing down to watch.

This had started as a prank idea.

Now it felt like something else entirely. Love, adrenaline, stupidity. All of it mixed together.

“Donovan, my love, will you marry me?”

Phones lifted around us. People gathered in a loose circle. Behind me, I heard Ria whisper something while filming.

Donovan didn’t smile.

He looked around the crowd, then back at me, panic spreading across his face.

“Is this a joke, Vespa?” he asked. “Because if it is, it’s not funny.”

I forced a laugh and held the ring a little higher.

“Of course it’s not a joke. What are you going to do, reject me in front of all these people?”

Ria had lowered her phone. She stood a few steps away, watching Donovan with a tight expression.

Donovan wasn’t looking at me anymore. His eyes had shifted past my shoulder.

His face changed.

The panic turned into pure horror.

I followed his gaze.

A young woman with ginger hair twisted into a messy bun marched toward us in a yellow sundress, her blue eyes locked on Donovan.

“What’s going on here, baby?” she asked as she slid her arm through his.

My brain stalled.

She looked me over, her lip curling.

“And who’s this sad little stray kneeling on the floor?”

Donovan scratched the back of his neck and avoided my eyes.

“She’s… just some girl from college who’s obsessed with me,” he muttered. “Nobody important.”

The words landed harder than any slap.

The woman stepped closer and looked down at me.

“Hi, bitch. I’m Nebula,” she said with a bright smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Donovan’s fiancée.”

She rested her hand on her stomach.

“And the mother of his baby.”

People around us started whispering.

Nebula tilted her head.

“So if you could take your little performance somewhere else, that would be great. You’re making a scene.”

Ria grabbed my arm and tried to pull me up.

“Vespa. Come on. Let’s go.”

I stayed where I was.

“Vespa, I’m… sorry,” Donovan said, rubbing the back of his neck again. “But you were out of your mind pulling something like this.”

Then he turned and walked away with Nebula.

He never looked back.

Ria tugged harder.

“We need to leave.”

I pushed my hands against the floor and tried to stand, but my legs refused to cooperate. The crowd blurred together while Donovan and Nebula disappeared into the stream of travelers.

“Vespa, please,” Ria said, her voice tight.

I pushed again, trying to get up.

Then three tall men cut through the crowd and moved straight toward me.

They were big enough that people stepped aside without being asked. Their eyes locked on me as if the entire airport had disappeared.

The noise of the terminal faded into a dull hum.

I tilted forward.

Strong arms caught me before I hit the floor.

Then everything went dark.