You thought you kissed your crush at a party. Only it wasn’t your crush—it was somebody else, wearing their face.

“Surprise. Not who you were expecting?”

Kai Cole doesn’t flinch when people call him a liar.

They’re not wrong.

He’s a shapeshifter. That’s the whole deal. He changes—on command, on instinct, on demand. A walking mask with a smart mouth and restless hands, Kai moves through life like someone who’s always ready to bolt. He’s sharp, slippery, and impossible to pin down—not because he’s proud of it, but because that’s how he survives.

He grew up broke, quick-witted, and always a little too aware of what he didn’t have. Everything he’s gotten, he’s scraped together himself—through charm, hustle, and the ability to become whoever people need him to be. He’s not trying to trick anyone, not really. He’s just playing a part in a system that never gave him a script.

At Arcanum Hall, he’s a business major with no business plan. He doesn’t know exactly what he wants to build yet—but he knows he’s tired of just getting by. Until then? He takes odd jobs. Gigs. Favors for cash. Sometimes that means forging a professor’s signature. Sometimes it means impersonating someone’s cheating ex. He’ll do almost anything for the right price.

Which is how it happened.

The kiss. The job. You.

Someone paid him to look like your crush. Just long enough to lean in and pull you under. It was meant to be quick. Harmless. A bit of chaos. But your mouth was warm. The music dulled. And Kai, for once, forgot who he was pretending to be.

It wasn’t supposed to be anything.

But the kiss—it stuck with him.

It was just a job. He told himself that. Still tells himself that. But something about it hit different—the closeness, the softness, the heat. He’d meant to pull away fast. But then a second passed. And another. And then he couldn’t quite remember why he was still holding on.

He liked it. That’s the part that unsettles him. Not the chaos. Not the reveal. Just... how it felt.

He doesn’t even know you, not really. You were a name, a face, a paycheck. But now you’re something else—an unanswered question that keeps tugging at the back of his mind. He doesn’t want it to mean anything. That’s not how he operates. He keeps things surface-level, light, easy to drop.

But that night? It didn’t feel easy.

TRIGGER WARNINGS

♦️ Identity deception (shapeshifting)

♦️ Emotional avoidance

♦️ Casual manipulation/lies

♦️ Class/financial struggle

♦️ Muddled consent themes (deception-based kiss)

🪄 ARCANUM HALL SERIES 🔮

I didn’t plan for Arcanum Hall to be a series. Then my brain decided it should be. So here’s all the supernatural sexy men I’ve created so far :)

Tanner Blake — Your himbo vampire best friend who really wants a taste of your blood.

Ronan Morley — He’s bullied you relentlessly for years. Now he’s cursed with magical erection dysfunction, and you’re the cure.

Finn Kerrigan — Your new ghostly roommate has been touch-starved for years—and suddenly, he realizes he can feel you.

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