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Marking the page in her book with her granola bar wrapper, Erena checked the time on her phone. It was fucking eleven p.m. and Erena could barely tear her eyes from the pages of this stupid book. Gemma had brought it over after dinner, saying she, Nina, and Margot had all read it and enjoyed it, and maybe Erena would, too.
It had been a peace offering, most likely, but now the stupid thing was torturing her. The fictional shifters in this book were called "were-lions" and they ran a dating agency. Despite the inaccuracies in the shapeshifting world, the story was addictive and she found herself identifying with the characters.
Erena's eyes burned. She definitely needed to sleep, but she first had to find out whether or not the heroine, who owned the dating agency, would continue to go through with setting up the client with other shifters. He was obviously her mate because all this magical weird light happened when they first met, but the guy hadn't seen it and remained oblivious and it was just killing Erena, killing her, to think of him dating other people when he really belonged to the heroine.
She picked up the book again, knowing it was a bad idea.
*
BUZZ. BUZZZZZZ. BUZZZZZZZZZ.
Erena opened an eye and glared at her nightstand where her phone was currently vibrating so hard it was in danger of falling to the floor. She grabbed it with a groan, already knowing who would be calling her when it was still dark outside.
"I just came in yesterday, Margot," she said, answering without even looking at the caller ID.
"I know, I know, and I'm sorry," her sister said. "But Millie's still sick and you know I can't handle the morning rush on my own."
"So hire someone else." Erena was already clambering out of bed, searching for the jeans she'd tossed on the floor last night.
"I'm working on it," Margot said.
Erena suspected Margot would be working on hiring someone maybe a little harder if Erena wasn't around to save her ass every time she was short-staffed. She wondered, not for the first time, what Margot had done for help when Erena had been off following Jake around. Had one of the guys, or Gemma or Nina, come to her rescue?
"I'll post another ad today," Margot said when Erena still hadn't responded. "Please? I need you here in thirty."
"I'm getting dressed now," Erena said. "I'll see you in a few."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, love you, sis!"
Erena ended the call and frowned at her phone screen and whispered, "If I help out this time, will things get less tense between us?"
She guessed the honest answer would be no. Shrugging off the hurt, she quickly dressed, brushed her teeth, and headed outside to her car. Only once she was behind the wheel did she see the time on her dash's clock—4:35 a.m. Cursing under her breath for staying up too late to finish Gemma's worn copy of Dyin' to Be Your Lion, she drove to the bakery.
Margot was already sweating in front of the oven when Erena came in the rear entrance. Erena waited while Margot maneuvered a giant cupcake tray into the oven's jaws and slammed the door shut.
"Thank you for saving my ass," Margot said, her focus already on her next task.
"Sure." Erena set her bag and coat in the office and walked straight through to the dining room of the shop. First thing was turning up the thermostat. As shifters, she and Margot weren't bothered as much by the cold, but their human customers expected toasty heat when they came into shops during winter. For Fox Sake Cupcakes wouldn't be the exception to that rule. Erena listened as the heating system clicked on, then got to work readying the rest of the front counter.
The next couple of hours passed in a blur. It was only when Erena's head began to ache that she realized she hadn't had any caffeine yet, so she chugged a cup that was still too hot and burned her throat.
Staying up to read that "were-lion" book had been stupid, but Erena had been too hooked to set it down. And the sex scenes—whoa. She hadn't felt like that about any man, ever. In fact, she remained unconvinced that those feelings were actually possible. Maybe for some women, but not for Erena.