Chapter 203
I could see where this was going and tried to head him off with a joke.
“How’d you manage to score an invitation?” I said. “You know those Moonstone types–they don’t associate socially with Silverclaws.”
“I’m father of the ring bearer,” he said, and I could still hear the smile in his voice. “Which is an essential position that requires support staff.”
“Does the support staff still get to dance?”
“I’ll have to ask my manager,” he said, and I laughed.
A silence stretched out between us.
“So,” he finally said, “I was thinking… maybe we go together?”
The suggestion landed with a soft thud in my chest.
Part of me wanted to say yes immediately. Because we’d had a good rhythm lately. Because the date had been good. Because Aiden was happy and we were laughing more than we were hurting.
But…
But weddings weren’t casual. Not in this world.
Going to one together as a pair was more than a date–it was a signal.
A message. A declaration.
And I’d said slow.
I’d meant slow.
Logan’s words to Aiden were still echoing through my head like they’d slipped past my ears and settled into my chest: Your mom’s allowed to take her time… Grown–up stuff is complicated.
They were annoying words. Infuriating, even.
But they weren’t wrong.
Because the truth was, deep down, part of me was just waiting for Derek to choose Cassandra again.
I swallowed and shifted the phone in my hand, curling my knees up on the couch.
“Derek…” I said gently.
There was a pause, then his voice–lower, expectant. “Yeah?”
I hesitated, picking at a loose thread on the blanket draped over my lap. “When I said I wanted to take things slow … I meant it.”
There was a long beat of silence on his end. Long enough for me to wonder if I’d hurt him. Or pushed too far back.
“I know,” he said eventually, voice softer. “I just… thought it might be nice.”
He didn’t say romantic or hopeful or right. Just nice.
Which somehow made it worse.
Chapter 203
+25 BONUS
“I’m not saying it wouldn’t be,” I added quickly, trying to soften the edge. “But going to a wedding together—my brother’s wedding that’s going to raise a lot of eyebrows. Especially with everything that’s happened. You know how people talk.”
His exhale came through the speaker, steady but thin. “I get it.”
“I just don’t want to rush something that’s already fragile, I said. “We’ve only just started… rebuilding things. And I don’t want to put pressure on that.”
“I
I get that too.”
There was another pausé–one that wasn’t filled with tension so much as quiet, careful understanding. The kind of silence that holds space for something unspoken. I could tell he was trying to take it in stride, trying not to make it harder for me.
But I could feel it anyway. The shift. The small weight of disappointment behind the words he wasn’t saying.
“So,” I offered, trying to lighten it, “how about we both go stag?”
His response came with a half–laugh–wry, almost amused “Stag at a werewolf wedding. That’s… ironic.”
I smiled faintly. “I know. But safer.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Okay.”
I could hear it in his tone–he meant it. He wouldn’t fight me on it. But I could also tell he was disappointed, even if he didn’t say so.
And somehow that made it worse.
I closed my eyes and leaned back into the couch cushions.
“Derek?” I said, just as I heard the telltale pause of someone reaching for the hang–up button.
“Hmm?”
“I’m really looking forward to seeing you there.”
Another pause. Longer this time.
Then his voice, quieter now, but warm. So warm. “Even if I’m not your official date?”
I smiled. “Even if.”
And then, finally, the smile returned to his voice like sun breaking through clouds.
“Same here.”
We hung up, and I just sat there, staring at the phone in my hand like it might say something more.
He’d been sweet.
Thoughtful.
And I’d turned him down.
But I couldn’t shake the weight of Logan’s words. Couldn’t ignore the truth in them.
Things were complicated. And fragile.
And maybe—just maybe—I was scared of how badly I wanted them not to be.
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Chapter 204
Chapter 204
