Chapter 73

Addy’s POV

Damien didn’t even pause to gulp air before launching into his little speech. “First off, I was never looking for a platonic mate, as you keep insisting.” He sounded half-defensive and half-exasperated, like he’d been rehearsing this in his head while running squirrel-level laps in his wolf form.

I blinked twice. Okay, that was news. “Uh.” My brain tried to send me an emoji. “Okay.”

He tugged his damp towel tighter around his hips—hello, abs—and waved at the extra bed behind us. “That second bed?” He sighed. “Always Oscar’s… Kieran’s. He decided he wants to be called Kieran now. I still have mental whiplash every time I say it, but trust me, I’ve got zero time to unpack that identity crisis.” He shrugged, and I felt a smidge guilty for glaring at an extra pillow earlier.

He pressed on. “I first caught your scent in the dorms a few months before we actually met. I was helping Lila move boxes and—boom—there it was. But I didn’t know it was you