THE LYCAN PRINCE OF WESTSIDE EDEN

Chapter 12

Isabella POV

"You're doing the thing again," Sheila said, snapping her fingers in front of my face. "The staring-into-space thing."

"I'm fine." I locked my phone screen, even though the photo was already burned into my memory ... that girl's face, that caption, that comment. Future Mrs. Kingston. "Just tired."

"Uh-huh." She clearly didn't believe me, but the bell saved me from having to explain, and by the time the final period ended, I'd almost managed to shove the whole thing into a drawer in my head labeled deal with this later.

Marv was waiting by my locker, bouncing on his heels like he had somewhere urgent to be.

"So," he said. "I've been thinking."

"Dangerous."

"Hilarious. I've been thinking that you've officially survived one whole week of Westside Eden, which means it's time for the official welcome tour."

"The what?"

"

The Marv Kingston Guaranteed You'll-Never-Want-To-Leave Tour." He grinned, and it was such an easy, sunny grin that some of the tightness in my chest actually loosened. "First stop: best milkshake in three counties. Non-negotiable."

I let him drag me out to his car, mostly because arguing with Marv felt like arguing with a golden retriever, and partly because I genuinely didn't want to go home yet and sit alone with everything I'd learned at lunch.

The diner was small and a little worn at the edges, the kind of place with cracked vinyl booths and a jukebox that only half worked, and somehow it was exactly what I needed. Marv ordered for both of us without asking, which should have annoyed me and somehow didn't.

"Okay," he said, sliding into the booth across from me. "Rate the milkshake. One to ten."

I took a sip. "Nine."

"Nine? Nine?" He looked genuinely wounded. "This is a perfect ten milkshake. This milkshake has never once let anyone down in its life."

"The whipped cream's a little much."

"The whipped cream is the point, Bells." He shook his head, laughing, and for a second he looked so completely happy that I couldn't help laughing too ... really laughing, the first time all day my chest didn't feel tight.

"Okay, fine," I said. "Nine point five."

"I'll allow it." He leaned back, satisfied, stirring his own shake with the straw. "See? Told you this town wasn't so bad."

"Jury's still out."

"It's not, though. I can tell. You're already thinking about staying." He said it so easily, so certain, like it was already decided. "Everyone leaves eventually, but not, like ... not right away. Not before the full moon, at least. That's when things really..."

He stopped.

Just stopped, mid-sentence, his straw halfway to his mouth, his whole face going carefully, deliberately blank.

"Before the what?" I asked.

"Nothing." He laughed, too fast, too bright. "I meant ... before the, uh, the fall festival. Big deal around here. Lots of stuff happening this month. You'll love it."

"You said full moon."

"Did I? Weird. I've had, like, four milkshakes today, my brain's basically soup." He wouldn't quite meet my eyes, suddenly very interested in the napkin dispenser. "Anyway. You want fries? I want fries."

I opened my mouth to push, because something about the way his whole body had gone stiff made it very clear this wasn't just a weird word slip ... and that was the exact moment a sound cut through the diner from somewhere outside.

A howl. Long and low, rolling across the afternoon sky like it belonged to the middle of the night, not three in the afternoon on a Tuesday.

Every single person in that diner froze ... not startled, not curious, but tense, the kind of stillness that meant this had happened before and everyone already knew what it meant.

Marv's grin vanished completely.

"We should go," he said, already pulling out his wallet, already sliding out of the booth. "Right now."

"Marv, it's the middle of the day. It's probably just a dog..."

"It's not a dog." He said it flat and fast, grabbing my arm to pull me toward the door before I'd even stood all the way up. "We need to get you home. Right now, Bells. I mean it."