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“No. It’s almost romantic,” Ethan grumbles. “Go look.”

Peeking into the kitchen, I see Riley looking at something on what seems to be Cooper’s neck.

“Hi,” I announce myself as I walk in. I know they can tell it’s me, but I feel a little awkward because Riley is glaring at Cooper.

“Hey baby,” Riley says, glancing at me. His glare softens as he comes to hug me. He smells like melted chocolate.

“I want to dip you in chocolate and eat you,” I moan.

“Anytime you want,” Riley chuckles. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I think so,” I say. “I keep thinking about how I haven’t had a heat again. I don’t know when I should worry.”

“Never,” Riley says. “Seriously, your body is going to do what it wants, Nina. Give it some time.”

I’m on birth control now and haven’t touched a heat suppressant since I went to Colorado. I guess he’s right. Midterms are soon, I don’t want to borrow trouble and spontaneously worry myself into a heat.

I mean, it could happen.

“Cooper,” I say, smirking as he looks at me. “Where have you been hiding today?”

“I’m starting to reconsider this after Riley’s reaction,” he grumbles.

“Show me,” I insist.

Gazing at me intently, he stalks over and points under his jaw where I bit him during my heat. Grabbing his arms, I tug down so he’ll bend down for me to see better.

There’s a transparent bandage over the area, and I realize it’s a tattoo! My lips part in awe as I see that he had my bite drawn on his body so it no longer looks translucent.

“Cooper,” I whisper, my fingers gingerly touching outside of it. “What made you decide to do this?”

“Do you hate it?” he asks. “The first thing I thought about when you bit me is that I wished everyone could see it.”

“I think this is the sexiest thing anyone has ever done for me,” I admit, squealing as he lifts me into the air to kiss me.

“See, it’s romantic,” Ethan shrugs.

“And mildly insane,” Riley laughs.

“To-may-to, to-mah-to,” Cooper mutters.

Honestly, they’re all kind of unhinged, and it works perfectly fine.

Putting me down, Cooper leads me to our island and lifts meonto the bar stool. I swear, somehow all the furniture was bought for the giants that live here.

“Don’t pout,” Riley smirks, sliding me cake. “Even if you were tall, we’d still pick you up.”

“You’re all lucky I love you,” I grumble as I pick up my fork and take a bite. My smile makes them chuckle as they listen to my obligatory moan.

Cooper sits with me and plays with my hair. He bought me drops to massage into my scalp that’ll promote hair growth, and it’s been working so far. My hair is more pixie-like than fuzz now.

It means I can play with what I have now, and sometimes I curl it into a cute punk look. Even though my mother is dead, I still find myself needing to remind myself of my freedom. The scars run deep, but I’m working through it.

Ethan

“I want to surprise Nina at work,” I tell Dad as I grab my keys.

She graduated about nine months ago and immediately got a job at The Journal as a columnist.