Page 79 of Nikolay

Too insufficient.

I added:

Thank you.

Still not enough.

I chewed the inside of my cheek, deleted nothing, and kept going.

I’d like to speak with you about something important when I get back. I may stay a couple of days depending on how the pack handles the run festivities, but I want to talk.

Then I read the whole thing over.

Once.

Twice.

A third time because apparently I had chosen suffering as a hobby.

The message looked exposed in a way I did not enjoy. Not dramatic. Not romantic. Just honest enough to feel risky. I almost rewrote important to personal, then decided that sounded worse somehow, more loaded, more likely to send both of us into some private spiral before I had even left the house.

So I hit send before I could lose my nerve.

The dots appeared almost immediately.

That alone did something undignified to my pulse. I watched the tiny typing bubble like it held state secrets. Then his reply came through.

Please be safe tonight. I look forward to seeing you when you return, and to whatever it is you wish to discuss.

Measured.

Warm.

Very him.

And yet something in the speed of it, the steadiness, the absence of hedging, made it feel more intimate than a prettier message might have.

I read it once fast.

Then again, slower.

Then I set the phone face-down on the dresser like a woman demonstrating excellent self-command.

Three seconds later I picked it back up and read it one more time.

Please be safe tonight.

The line sat under my ribs with strange, quiet weight. He looked forward to seeing me. He had said so plainly. No dance in it. No retreat. No careful little fence built out of civility and title and species difference.

I pressed my lips together, locked the screen, and finally set the phone down for real.

Keys.

I needed my keys.

I grabbed them from the dish near the door, picked up my small packed duffel, took one last look around my room as if I might somehow have forgotten a crucial part of myself on the desk beside a wrapped first edition, and headed out.

If I stayed still one minute longer, I was liable to either overthink the run or text the vampire prince back something embarrassing. Neither seemed wise.