Masuk~Felix~The door bursts open.Time dilates in that terrible way it does just before a car crash, when you know it's coming but there's nothing you can do to stop it.Georgina is standing in the doorway, her overnight bag in hand, mouth open as if to say something.But it’s only half the door that opens.It hits something behind it—Soren’s backpack, I realize distantly— and the momentum makes the small bookshelf beside the door to shake.Books cascade down.One. Two. Five. A whole bunch of paperbacks and textbooks crashing on the floor in a chaotic rumble and that sound just distracts us for exactly 3 seconds.Three seconds that might save our lives.I move on pure instinct.My hand yanks out of Soren’s jeans. She gasps — whether from shock or loss, I can’t tell — and I spin, putting my body between her and the door. Shielding her.My shoulder, my back, the tilt at which I’m standing, it completely obscures Georgina’s view of Soren so she can't see anything.She doesn’t see Soren’s che
~Soren~Holly is straddling Felix.Her bra is red lace and her panties match. She's raking her fingers through his hair, he's got his hands around her waist and the two of them are kissing like the world just crashed and burned.The world is ending for me.I can’t breathe. Can’t move. There’s nothing I can do except stand there, soaking rainwater and feeling my heart shatter from the inside out.Then Felix’s eyes snap to mine.He freezes.For one dreadful moment, we just look at each other. His hands are still on Holly’s hips. His lips are still swollen from kissing her. And I—I make a sound. Small. Broken and sad.“Soren—” Felix begins, but I’m already moving.I turn and run.“Soren, wait!”I hear him throw Holly off, hear her indignant yelp, but I don't stop. I dash down the corridor, the soles of my shoes wet squeaking against the wood, my eyes watering from the tears I won’t permit myself to shed.Not yet.Not until I’m safe. Safe enough to cry.I make it to my room and slam the
~Soren~The place is a nightmare.Bass thuds against the floor as it travels up my legs and into my chest, where it merges with my already frenzied heartbeat. Bodies stumble in the blinking lights, flashing skin, laughing, the acerbic taste of alcohol and sweat in the air.I hate it here.I never been no place like that.Mom would lose her mind. Felix would—Stop. I'm not thinking about Felix tonight.“Relax,” Kai says, his mouth is close to my ear so I can hear him while the music is playing. His hand rests lightly on my lower back, and he guides me deeper into the madness. “You look like you’re about to bolt.”“I might.”He laughs, and the noise does something to my stomach. “Come on. I’ll keep you safe.”Safe. Right. Because being in a club with my fated mate’s cousin who looks at me like I’m something worth fighting for is super-duper safe.We weave through the crowd until Kai finds a spot near the edge of the dance floor. Not too exposed, not too hidden. Perfect.I look up at him
~Felix~I will kill my cousin.Not in the “I’m a little annoyed” way. In the “Soon I will punch him in the face because I want to…” way.Outside the Science building, Kai leans against the brick wall talking to Soren like he has all the right in the world to be in her space. She’s laughing at something he said—actually laughing—and the sound makes my wolf claw at my chest.That’s my mate.Mine. Yeah, and he knows it. I can tell by the way he looks at her, the way he positions himself just close enough to be imposing without overstepping a line. Kai has always been good at drawing lines and then dancing right along the edge of them.“Dude, you’re staring,” Marcus says, elbowing me.I pry my eyes away, my jaw clenched so tightly I might crack a molar. “I’m not staring.”“You have been staring at her for ten minutes,” Carter adds, grinning like this is the funniest thing ever. “At your step-sister. Which is weird, by the way.”If only we knew just how much stranger it actually is .“She
~Soren~I hadn’t seen Felix all weekend.Saturday and Sunday were a haze of retreat forty-eight hours from the world in my room pretending I wasn’t rewinding Friday night on a loop. The kiss. The wait. Holly’s voice over the phone and the way Felix left with her and I was standing there playing dumb in his shirt like an idiot.My wolf kept whining non stop. The mate bond tugged, ached, caused me to feel as hollow as a cave in my chest every time I heard his footfalls in the corridor. He tried texting Saturday night.Felix: We need to talk.”Delete.He tried again Sunday afternoon.Felix: Soren, please.”Delete.I told myself I was done. That there's nothing I'm gonna do about this… this impossible, no way good enough, mate bond mess which was worth humiliation. Not worth watching him pick on some other person over and over again while I hid in the shadows.Except Sunday night at dinner Georgina was telling us the driver situation in that bored “I’m talking to my daughter” voice.“Th
~Felix~"Who is Holly?"Soren's voice was cold.She’s in my bed. Naked. She’s looking at me like I just broke something delicate.I did.Fuck.“She's my ex,” I say, tossing my hair back. “I forgot we had plans tonight.”“Your ex.” Soren sits up, draping the sheet across her breast. “Your ex who calls you 'babe' and who tells you she loves you?”“It's complicated—”“Everything’s complicated with you!” She’s off the bed now, she’s searching for her clothing. “Where’s my shirt?”“Soren, let me explain—”“I don't want to hear it.” She spies one of my t-shirts on the floor – the one I wore that day – and picks it up. Pull it over her head.It’s huge on her. Comes to mid-thigh. And she looks so fucking good in my clothes that my wolf is howling at me to forget Holly, to forget everything and finish what we started.But my phone rings again.Holly. Fuck.“You should probably get that,” Soren says flatly. “Your girlfriend is waiting.“SHE’S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND.”“Could’ve fooled me.” She passes







