Page 61 of Who Let The Wolves Out?

She nudges her shoulder against mine. My breath catches.

I let the silence stretch between us, warm and steady.

Then I say it.

“I think I’ve got a future here.”

Alice turns toward me, brows lifting just slightly. “You mean that?”

I nod, slower this time. “Yeah. I mean it. For once, I don’t feel like I have to claw my way into a place I already love.”

Her eyes shimmer a little. She reaches for my hand, threads our fingers together.

“I’m glad,” she whispers.

I squeeze her hand once, then smile.

“Me too.”

CHAPTER 21

ALICE

I’ve been avoiding it all day.

Julie’s office door.

It’s like this looming, invisible checkpoint I keep walking around like some kind of nervous deer—casually strolling past, checking the staff bulletin like it might spontaneously explode, pretending I’ve justforgottenthat I’m supposed to give her an answer.

Which is a lie.

I’ve been thinking about it non-stop.

The offer.

The one that’s been rolling around in my brain since the night Mira went missing and Jason went full werewolf in front of me without a single ounce of shame.

A full-time job.

At Camp Lightring.

A life I never pictured, but now can’t seem to unsee.

Still, I hesitate in the doorway like the floor might open up and swallow me whole.

Jason’s voice echoes in my head from yesterday—“I think I’ve got a future here.”

And I want that.

Ido.

But wanting something this much? That’s the scary part.

I knock, once.

Julie looks up from behind a stack of attendance rosters, her glasses perched low on her nose like she’s already seen through every layer of my soul.

“Hey, hon,” she says, setting her pen down. “Come to make me wait another day?”

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