Chapter 7 Caelan
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Caelan
I had been running into Riley everywhere for the past five days, and it was going exactly according to plan.
The bookstore where she browsed during lunch hours because it was the most empty? I was in the mystery section, two aisles over from romance, close enough to intercept. I had accidentally purchased six mystery novels I had no intention of reading. Thessa said I was losing my mind. She wasn’t wrong.
The park bench where she sometimes wrote?
I was on a nearby bench, pretending to read while actually watching her mutter to herself and stab the air with her pen.
She talked to her characters out loud. She argued with them.
She once shouted “that’s not how seduction works, asshole” at her notebook and then looked around to make sure no one heard.
I did. I thought it was the most endearing thing I’d ever witnessed.
I knew this was borderline unhinged. Thessa had told me approximately forty-seven times. But the alternative was not seeing Riley, and that was simply not acceptable.
Today’s “coincidental” encounter happened outside her apartment building. I had timed my morning walk perfectly, been tracking her schedule for days, and emerged from around the corner just as she stepped out the door.
“You again,” Riley said, though there was no real annoyance in her voice. More like resigned amusement.
“Were you expecting someone else? I can leave.”
“That’s not what I...” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re messing with me.”
“I would never.” I fell into step beside her, matching her pace. “I’m a very sincere person.”
“You’re a very suspicious person.” But she didn’t move away, didn’t speed up, just walked beside me like it was natural. My wolf preened at that. “This is the fourth time this week we’ve run into each other. That’s statistically improbable.”
“Is it? I’m not good at statistics.”
“You said you were interested in statistics last time.”
“Did I?”
“When I asked if you were following me.”
“Ah.” I considered lying. Decided on partial truth instead. “I may have exaggerated my interest in statistics. Sorry about that.”
Riley snorted. It was an inelegant sound, more pig than human, and I found it devastatingly charming. I wanted to make her do it again. I wanted to catalog every sound she made and file them away for later examination.
“So you admit you’re following me,” she said.
“I admit nothing. I’m simply a man who enjoys morning walks.”
“Past my apartment.”
“It’s a nice street, and you know I live a block away. Lysmont is not that big, and I enjoy watching people curse at the pothole in your street. Very amusing.”
She laughed, and the sound settled warm in my chest. We walked in comfortable silence for a moment.
The summer heat was already building, the sun beating down on the pavement, and I could feel sweat prickling at the back of my neck.
Duskmere was a kingdom of eternal winter, so this human summer was actively trying to kill me. I would never get used to this.
“How’s Jade?” I asked, because Thessa told me to show interest in Riley’s friends.
Riley’s face softened. “Disgustingly happy. She won’t stop texting about your sister.”
“Thessa’s the same. It’s nauseating.”
“They’re cute together.”
“Yeah. They’re insufferable together.” But I was smiling. Thessa had been floating around our rented apartment humming songs and sighing dreamily. I hadn’t seen her this happy in years. “But I’m glad. She deserves someone good.”
Riley glanced at me sideways. “That’s sweet.”
“Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation.”
“As what? The mysterious hot foreigner who washes dishes and orders a tall latte?”
I stopped walking abruptly and turned to face her, my heart going a mile per hour as a slow smile spread across my face.
“You think I’m hot?”
Riley’s cheeks flushed. “That’s... I didn’t... it’s true, don’t play dumb. You have a face. It’s symmetrical. That’s scientifically proven to be handsome.”
“So you think I’m scientifically hot.” I stepped closer, enjoying the way her blush deepened. “That’s very flattering. I’ve never been called hot by science before.”
“Now I think you’re scientifically annoying.”
“Don’t be like that. It’s not as if I get called handsome by a gorgeous girl every day. Let me enjoy it. Besides, you are the one who keeps walking with me.” I gestured at the sidewalk stretching ahead. “Every morning. Almost like you enjoy my company.”
“I enjoy the entertainment value. You’re very strange.”
“Strange and hot. I’ll take it.”
She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling, and her cheeks were still pink. I felt victorious.
We reached the corner where our paths diverged. Hers toward the coffee shop, mine toward somewhere. I hadn’t actually thought about where I was going. I just wanted to walk with her.
“See you around,” Riley said. “Probably multiple times. Since statistics are meaningless.”
“Statistics are a social construct.”
She laughed and walked away. I watched her go, grinning like an idiot because she called me hot.
Progress. Undeniable progress.
***
Three days later, I discovered that Lysmont had lakes.
Well, one lake specifically. A swimming spot about twenty minutes outside town where people went to escape the summer heat. Thessa learned about it from Jade, who mentioned that Riley and Sloane visited there sometimes when the weather got unbearable.
The weather had, indeed, become unbearable. I was dying. The heat was oppressive, suffocating, a constant assault on my senses. My wolf wanted to shed its fur. My human form wanted to shed everything.
“We should go to the lake,” I told Thessa at breakfast.
“Why?”
“Because it’s hot. Swimming is a normal human activity.”
“You hate swimming,” Thessa looked up from her phone, she’d been texting Jade nonstop for days, and raised an eyebrow. “But I know Riley likes it, and she will be there.”
“I don’t know what you’re implying.”
“You absolutely do.”
“She might be there. Who knows?”
Thessa sighed the sigh of someone who had given up on her brother’s sanity and accepted his descent into madness. “Fine. But I’m inviting Jade. I’m not spending the day watching you pine.”
So we went. Thessa texted Jade, who confirmed they were already at the lake with Sloane and Riley. Fucking perfect.
The drive took twenty minutes in the infernal metal beast. Thessa sang along to human radio, badly, while I white-knuckled the steering wheel and tried not to think about seeing Riley in a swimsuit.
I was not prepared.
When we arrived at the swimming spot, a beautiful stretch of water surrounded by trees, sunlight sparkling on the surface, my brain short-circuited.
Riley was lying on a blanket near the water’s edge.
She was wearing what appeared to be underwear, tiny triangles of fabric that covered approximately nothing.
Her eyes were closed and her skin glistened with some kind of oil.
She was lying on her stomach, the curve of her back exposed, the swell of her ass pushing against the thin bikini bottoms, the fabric riding up just enough to show the crease where thigh met cheek…
“That’s a bikini,” Thessa said, clearly reading the malfunction on my face. “Humans wear them for swimming. It’s normal.”
“That’s not for swimming.” My voice came out strangled, my blood rushing hot through my veins and pooling low in my groin, cock twitching against the seam of my shorts. “That’s for causing cardiac events.”
Sloane was beside Riley, similarly dressed, eyes closed and white little buds peeking out of her ears, but I couldn’t care less about her.
My entire universe had narrowed to the expanse of Riley’s bare skin.
The dip of her waist where sweat beaded and slid down.
The curve of her hip where the bikini bottom sat low, strings tied loose at the sides, tempting a pull.
My wolf was losing its mind. Mine. Ours. Cover her. No one else should see her. No one else should even look in her direction.
“You’re growling,” Thessa hissed, elbowing me.
“I’m not.”
“You are literally growling out loud. Stop it.”
I forced myself to breathe, air coming in sharp pulls through my nose, unclenching my jaw and not storming over there to wrap her in my jacket and drag her into the trees. My hands flexed at my sides, nails digging into palms to ground myself.
Friends. I was her friend for now. I supposed friends saw each other in swimwear, so this was fine.
I walked toward where Riley was lying, trying to act normal, thinking of random things to battle the fucking hard-on straining against my zipper.
I just needed to not be weird, not let her see how my pulse hammered in my throat.
I positioned myself to block Riley’s sunlight, and her eyes fluttered open.
She squinted up at me and it took her a moment to register who was standing there.
Her expression shifted from recognition to surprise, then a smile bloomed so beautifully it made my heart stutter, lips parting just enough to show teeth.
“Stalker,” she said in a teasing tone.
“Coincidence,” I countered, forcing my mouth to work.
“Sure.” She sat up, and the movement made her tits shift, nipples pressing against the thin fabric of her bikini top, dark outlines visible through the damp material.
My mouth watered at the sight, tongue thick, and I had to look away quickly, staring at the water instead.
She definitely noticed, her gaze lingering on my face, then dropping lower for a split second. “What are you doing here?”
“Swimming. Normal human activity now that it’s very hot outside.”
“Uh-huh.” She glanced at Thessa, who had already made a beeline for Jade and was currently wrapped around her on a nearby blanket. “Your sister seems to have abandoned you.”
“She does tend to do that a lot lately.”