The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the university quad as Rayla sat stiffly on the library steps, her phone clutched in both hands like it might explode. The screen displayed a single unanswered message that had been burning into her retinas for the past hour:
"Where are you , kitten?"
Just a few hours ago, seeing that pet name from Asher would have sent butterflies swirling through her stomach. She could still picture herself curled up in her dorm room bed, giggling as she compared passages from her well-worn copy of the mysterious werewolves novel to Asher's mannerisms. The way the fictional werewolf alpha growled when protective, how his eyes supposedly flashed gold in moments of intensity—she'd underlined those sections with highlighter, pressing kisses to the pages like some
