A Game

[Denali’s POV]

I kneel in front of Elise as she sits quietly with a gentle smile on her face. As I take her in, that feeling from earlier begins to claw its way up once again, but I ignore it while beginning to clean up the scrapes that she sustained while being mugged.

When I finish, I sit back and continue to take in her face. It looks so much like mine that it is impossible to think that we are simply two strangers who happened to cross paths on the street.

“Can I ask you something?” I ask, fixing my blue gaze with hers.

“Sure,” she beams. “As my savior, you can ask me whatever you like.”

“When is your birthday?”

It was a silly question, but it would confirm or deny my suspicion. This was too coincidental to not be planned out, and if that was the case, what exactly was this woman up to?

“March thirty-first,” she responds without missing a beat.