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He turns, a guilty smirk smothering his features. Jackson Bonner, a man I’ve known since college, has the most unreadable poker face that ever existed. It was a skill used to his benefit during his degrees. Why then, does he look like he won the lotto and a peace prize all at once?

“These fingers have had zero complaints,” he fires back. “In fact, the last lady to enjoy them deep in her pussy whimpered when I removed them. I bet you can’t guess who it was, Eli. Go on, guess.”

“I couldn’t care less who rides your fingers. I want to talk to you about Aspen.”

His face returns to neutral. “What about her?”

“She’s in my biotech lab.”

“I’m well aware. We saw her roster, remember. I’ve got her twice. Once for Plant Physiology and again for Systematics.”

“Okay. And how did your class go? I assume, being day two, that you’ve taught her at least once already?”

He regards me with quizzical caution. He won’t give anything away, nor will I. We go back two decades, and nothing the other does is a surprise. Or is it?

“I have,” he drawls, arms folding on the desk. “Why?”

The pressure of my molars grinding together is almost unbearable. Almost. “I saw her today in the lab and I was… unprepared.”

He spins to face me fully. “Unprepared? You and I orchestrated this scholarship, Eli. We agreed Wyldan was the safest place for her. You memorized her schedule better than mine. How the fuck were you unprepared?”

He’s right, of course. We did all those things. A Wyldan can pull many strings; as chief marionette wielders, this town bows to our beck and call. Jack and I tried to lure Aspen to Wyldan last year with the offer of a scholarship, and she turned it down. That was unprecedented. It showed us she couldn’t be swayed by all things glitzy and shiny, and that, just like her late mother, integrity was important. We monitored her studies from afar, using contacts at CSU to provide us with regular updates on her progress through her studies, both academic and personal. What we didn’t do was access any cameras or obtain recent vision of her, not even the footage from the airport when she boarded a plane to Anchorage en route to Wyldan. Over the years I had imagined how tall she might be, how she might style her hair or the number of freckles dotting her dainty nose. Imagination is one thing; reality is a more dominantboot to the throat.

“She looks just like her. The hair is different, but otherwise, she’s a fucking ghost.”

“I know,” he replies.

He leans back in his ergonomic chair; my ergonomic chair that he stole and entwines his hands behind his head. “They could be twins. Twenty years apart.”

“She’s breathtaking…” My voice trails off as I sink into the most uncomfortable guest chair ever. “Piece of shit chair. I want mine back, you fucking thief.”

Jackson chuckles, his whole torso vibrating with relaxed humor. He’s always been the easy going, affable rogue to my introverted, stuck-up ice-king persona. That’s part of the diatribe my ex-wife hurled my way when she left me, sick of competing with the memory of a ghost. That was only part of the reason. Her long, dark waves and tall, lithe physique didn’t get me hard. I wasn’t attracted to her, and we both realized it. She thought she could bed a Wyldan, that in time her deduction skills and well-timed pouts would get me to cave. I didn’t. Not once did I tell her I loved her the most, because how could I lie to my wife?

“Tell me about Lukaz Vaskari.”

“Lukaz? Why?”

“He was sitting next to her. I need to be sure she’s safe, and until I can vouch for the students in my classroom and laboratory, fill me in.”

“He’s fine. A little dense, but he’ll get there.”

A welcome feeling of relief washes through me, warming muscle, bone, and tendons. The last thing I want is Aspen Aldereyne in danger at my university, in my class, under my nose. Jay must preempt my thoughts because his mouth turns up in a wry smile.

“Did you come to any concrete conclusion regarding the Larch? Last time we spoke, you were unsure about participating. And you know the Dean’s thoughts on faculty⁠—”

“I’m doing it.”

Jack sits forward abruptly, the chair snapping back into place.

“You’re sure?”

Never been surer of anything in my life, other than my sham of a marriage being destined for disaster from the get-go. “I am.”

“Alright then,” he drawls. “That’s both of us.”

That fucker. “You didn’t Larch last year, what’s changed?” A stupid question, but I want him to lay it all out for me. I know why he didn’t Larch last year. It’s because he was still sticking his dick in Amber Donnelyn, a fellow professor. Their on-again, off-again relationship got all twisted up in his head, making him think he had to commit to Amber, when the reality of the Larch being anonymous for Larchers bought him a pass he’d never normally get. Aspen’s arrival has more than my dick perking up with interest.

“Amber and I are done, have been for months. And once I saw Aspen, I realized I had to.”