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“That doesn’t mean you owe me answers.” She shifts the bottle against her chest. “Occupational hazard. I teach biology, and apparently my brain handles inexplicable phenomena by trying to turn them into data.”

Ezra’s expression eases. “Most people start with what’s wrong with me,” he says.

Pepper’s brows pull together. “I was wondering how it works.”

Ezra looks at me, and this time I understand the delight that spreads across his face. “She’s fun.”

Pepper laughs, breathless and pleased. “I have follow-up questions.”

“You can ask them at the house,” I tell her.

She looks toward the road, then at the house beyond the graves. Her perfume deepens again. Vanilla folds around the sharper rosemary, and the ache beneath it makes it feel as though my alpha paces inside my skin.

Pepper raises her chin. “Are any other semi-transparent people living here?”

“Only this one. And he’s alive.”

“Cursed dolls?”

“Ezra bought one at an estate sale.”

“It was vintage,” Ezra says.

“It bit me.”

“The spring was damaged.”

Pepper’s eyes gleam. “You kept it?”

“No,” I say at the same time Ezra says, “Garage.”

She grins. The smile changes her whole face, rounding her cheeks and revealing a small dimple near the corner of her mouth.

Attraction is a dangerous word. I learned that before I learned to drive. My body doesn't care. Neither does the alpha inside me, already measuring the distance to the house, the temperature of the rooms, and whether the sheets in the guest bed are clean.

I take Pepper’s bag before she can protest. The strap catches briefly against her hip, and I pause rather than tugging. “May I?”

Her gaze settles on my hand. “Yes.”

I lift the strap over her head without touching her curls. The bag is heavier than it looks. Glass vials knock softly inside.

Pepper’s expression goes tender in a way I don’t understand. “Thank you.”

I settle the strap across my chest.

Ezra looks between us, openly pleased.

Pepper points at him. “You’re trouble. I can already tell.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to, your face said it for you.”

“He’s a beta,” I tell her. “They come pre-built for mayhem.”

Ezra presses a hand to his chest. “After all we have survived together.”

His body flickers again. This time, Pepper reaches for him. Her fingers pass through the edge of his sleeve before finding the solid warmth of his wrist.