Mathilde

“He blinked groggily, focusing on me with a frown. “Moon… friend?” he rasped. I laughed, lurching forward and kissing him on the forehead. I leaned back and his eyebrows raised in surprise. “You saved me.” “Of course I fucking did,” I muttered. With his eyes on me, it was hard not to retreat into my old ways, to pretend I didn’t care about him. But dammit, the mutt was under my skin. I let Caleb’s mind connect with mine, doing it all too easily with my adrenaline this high and the hunt still calling to me. I let him see the man he loved and I swore I could feel his joy washing through me. He’d taken down the Dragon that had been pursuing him and was on his way here. “You called me your moon friend,” Seth said on a gasp. “I don’t think so,” I said, pushing to my feet and pulling him after me. “You did! I heard it,” he said, bouncing upright and hugging me. I hugged him back, letting him nuzzle me too because fuck it was a relief to know he was alive. It had been one damn close call though. “Must have been the wind,” I said with a shrug as we parted. He gave me a knowing look. “Uhuh. And did the wind also say that it loves me?” “I said I like you, not love.” “I know.” He smirked like he was just a cocky little shit in my classroom one again. “I just knew you couldn’t resist correcting me.”
― Caroline Peckham, Restless Stars