She rolled her eyes and held me tighter. "Fine, fine. I'll feed you before you call your mom and report that I've been starving you within your first hour here. I can already hear her screaming my name."
She winked and led me up the steps.
Once inside, she helped me settle into a cozy guest room. The hot shower I took was short, but it was enough to rinse away two days of road grime and mental weight. Afterward, I threw on some clean clothes and joined Lily and Clara in the kitchen. We shared a few laughs and updates, Clara looking more like herself than I'd seen in years.
But my body was screaming for sleep.
The moment I hit the mattress, I surrendered to the dark, but Luara's words still clung to the edges of my mind. You will never be fit to be anyone's mate. They played over and over like a cruel lullaby.
Then I heard it.
A high-pitched scream sliced through the night, yanking me out of sleep. Before I could register what was happening, shouting followed. Chaos.
