I almost jumped. It made my ear turn red, the blood flush up my face. “Rafe, what the hell-!”

Rafe was calm when I turned around, hand clapped to my ear. Flustered embarrassment filled me. He’d taken me off guard and he knew it. When he smiled, he always looked very pleased with himself. Right now, he was looking smug, even if the quirk up came a little late to the expression in his eyes. Something hadn’t sat right with him with the phone call.

“What about these?” Rafe asked, pointing with his chin, before I could ask—or decide if I wanted to. I followed the direction to the candy section. “Kit Kat. Take a break.”

I blinked. “In…selecting food?”

“What? No.” Rafe frowned. He reached over me and waved the massive bar in front of me. It was one of those jumbo packs, the one with like ten in a row. “Don’t you know the slogan? Take a break, take a Kit Kat? You like that, don’t you, babe?”

Something in me grimaced at the pet name again. “It’s…” I wracked my brain, trying to figure out something else to talk about before the conversation tried to get playful. “That doesn’t sound right.”

“Pretty sure I’m speaking English, and I only know basic takeout instructions in Chinese. And when you tell me to keep going.” He smiled disarmingly, but I was not in the mood for handsome, flirting, or chocolate wafers.

I scowled. “No, that’s not it. Isn’t it…‘Have a break’?”

He snorted. “Nobody says ‘Have a break’, Tai. It’s ‘Take a break’.”

“No, no.” I was shaking my head. “That’s not right.” I reached for his Kit Kat before I changed my mind and grabbed another package. There was the logo, there was the image, and there was the King size label. “See? It says…”

It didn’t say shit. Where was the slogan? I flipped it on its back, but didn’t see anything except instructions on how to tear it open.

“It says what?” Rafe said, to be a smarmy shit, over my shoulder. I elbowed him out of the way. He didn’t budge. I panicked a little, and stepped away faster, not at all caring what I looked like. “I’m right. Where are you going?”

“Nowhere, just.” I put my hands down my pockets. I’d left my phone in the jeep somewhere, probably. “Give me your phone.”

“Left it in the jeep.”

“You said you had to make a phone call.”

Rafe didn’t look so much as bothered. “Take your loss, Tai. It’s ‘Take a break’. Nobody says ‘Have a break’.”

“I can have a break. Anyone can have a break. You can have a break, we can have a break—” I coughed. Shit, hearing that come out of my mouth first. I rubbed over it, but Rafe didn’t seem concerned, but the sudden shakiness of my voice.

“Anyone can have a break, sure, but you have words in front of that. ‘Have a break’ on its own?”

“Give me a break,” I told him, tossing my Kit Kat back on the shelf. No Kit Kat for me, if he was going to be like this. No slim jims either. The only thing Rafe was going to get was black, black, black coffee. Actually, screw that, I was going back to the car. I tried to pass the wallet back. “Here. I don’t feel like buying anything anymore.”

Rafe didn’t take it even when I pressed it to his sternum. I had to hold it. “It’s not ‘give me a break’. It’s ‘Cut me a break’.”

I scowled up at him, and turned on my heel. “Now you’re being both annoying and wrong. It’s ‘Cut me some slack’.”

“Slack of what?” Rafe said. Like a shadow, he dogged my steps when all I wanted was some space. “Pretty sure nothing’s slacking.”

“For real?” I demanded, elbowing him back before I spun back to face him. I felt in over my head now, overwhelmed. “I don’t want to argue about this.” I didn’t want to argue at all, which was the problem. I didn’t even know how we’d gotten this far. I could feel my throat constricting. “Now you’re just being an asshole, you know?”

“When I want to be.” Rafe stepped into the instep of my foot, close enough that we were almost chest to chest. I took a step back, only to realize he’d cornered me through this angle. There wasn’t enough room to bring us an arm’s length away. He lowered his head so he could look me in the eye, eyebrows raised enough so they practically went to his hairline. “You like me when I’m being a bit mean, don’t you?” His eyes went down to my mouth, down to—

I flushed. “Here?” I hissed, throwing a quick glance at the cashier who was boredly scrolling through his phone. “Not now, Rafe. Please.”

“Tai.” Rafe’s breath was on my ear again. I bit back the retort, sudden nerves filling my stomach. A shiver of instinctive, aroused attraction spread through me at the heat—werewolves ran hot, temperature-wise—and my throat dried up. I didn’t—I didn’t want—

A clatter brought both our attention to the end of the station snack aisle.

Rafe’s eyes moved slightly, but I felt all the blood drain from my face. “Can we help you?”

She was dressed in grey. Clean. Not specks of scrap, skin, and red body parts.

She couldn’t take her eyes off me. The force of it along was enough to feel like hands wrapping around my neck, over and over again. I felt my breath stutter as my heartbeat ran into overdrive.

Taking a frightened step back from her dropped coffee cup, now spilling down the floor, was the passerby girl who I’d killed.

Even Rafe was getting a sense that something was wrong. In my periphery, I could tell he was glancing between me and her, frowning, straightening. Instinctively, he moved to stand between the two of us. “What—”

“What the fuck,” she demanded, voice cracking. She raised one shaking finger at me. “What the hell are you doing here?”