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“Carefully,” Carolina corrected.

“Those are frequently the same thing.”

“They absolutely are not.”

Her laugh slipped through the privacy charm, bright enough to make the gargoyle look over his newspaper again.

Tomorrow night, Carolina and I would begin searching for a way to break Jacqueline’s curse. We had no plan beyond a notebook, a library, and the kind of mutual attraction that historically ended in property damage.

It wasn’t much.

But it was ours.

Chapter Six

I told myself I was being careful.

After Midnight Brew, after Carolina’s hand in mine and her warning about her mother’s spies, I swore I’d be smart. Subtle. I’d keep my distance, bide my time, figure out a plan before I got us both killed.

Our first library appointment had fallen through when Jacqueline kept Carolina at coven business until closing. Her apologetic text had promised another chance as soon as she could get away. For two more nights, I waited. Mack used the delay to install the sensor above my stairwell and fill my refrigerator with emergency blood.

The universe had other ideas.

That Thursday night, I went to the grocery store. I needed O-negative blood, the fancy imported stuff that didn’t taste like copper and regret, and I was trying to navigate the narrow aisle without knocking over the pyramid of canned tomatoes that Mrs. Chen had arranged with artistic precision.

I reached for a bag of pretzels on the top shelf, stretching on my toes, and my elbow caught the corner of a cereal display.

The crash was spectacular. Boxes of corn flakes and bran flakes and something called “Werewolf Munch” (high protein, apparently) cascaded to the floor in a cacophony of cardboard and cellophane. I stumbled backward, my feet finding every loose tile, and I would have fallen if a hand hadn’t caught my elbow.

“Easy,” she said.

I knew that voice. I’d been hearing it in my dreams for three nights.

Carolina stood behind me, her fingers warm against my arm, her blue eyes crinkled with something that wasn’t laughter. She looked concerned. Actually, genuinely concerned, like she was worried I might have hurt myself rather than amused by my disaster.

“You’re everywhere,” I breathed.

“You’re predictable,” she countered, but her voice was soft. She let go of my elbow slowly, her fingers trailing down my arm like she didn’t want to stop touching me. “Every vampire in town shops here on Thursday nights. It’s when the fresh shipment comes in.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Now you do.” She stepped back, putting space between us, but her eyes stayed on mine. “You should be more careful, Logan. My mother has people watching you.”

“I know. Mack warned me.”

“Mack Kingston?” She raised an eyebrow. “He’s a good ally. The pack doesn’t fear my mother the way the rest of the town does.” She hesitated, then glanced at the mess of cereal boxes. “Let me help you with this.”

“You don’t have to...”

“I want to.” She was already kneeling, gathering boxes, her red hair falling forward to hide her face. I crouched beside her, our shoulders brushing as we worked, and I felt the bond hum between us like a live wire. Warm. Electric. Impossible to ignore.

We stood at the same time, our hands full of cereal boxes, and for a moment we were close enough that I could smell her: jasmine and ozone, wild and perfect.

“You didn’t laugh,” I said quietly.

She stilled. “What?”

“When I stumbled. When I knocked everything over. You didn’t laugh.”