Novel-novel oleh Blexyn

All That Was LostThe silence hung between them, heavy with things said and unsaid, and for the first time since Victoria had fallen into his life, Kenzo could feel the burden of his past bearing down on his shoulders. Outside, the night was calm, but inside the small apartment, nerves were running high. Victoria perched on the bed, the fabric of his old shirt in her hands, her eyes fastened to him as if she were attempting to crack a code no one but herself could decipher.“If you keep looking at me like that,” Kenzo said, running a hand down his face as he pushed his back against the wall. “Like you think I’m just gonna spill my guts.”Victoria raised an eyebrow, cocking her head to one side as she stared at him. “Maybe because I do,” she said, her voice low but steady. “Kenzo, you carry something heavy. Something that prevents you from opening up to anybody. I want to know what it is."A bitter laugh escaped his lips. “And why should I tell you if I don’t want to? What if it is bet

The Weight of a ChoiceKenzo sat on the edge of the bed, head in hands, breath uneven, as Victoria stirred, her warmth enveloping him in the comfort he'd denied himself for too long. But comfort was a deadly thing.” It made a man weak. It caused him to forget that the world outside this room would not stand still for the fire raging between them. And that fire — it was raging, devouring, drawing them toward a future neither of them completely knew.Victoria moved, resting on one elbow as her green eyes examined him, cutting and flared with something dangerously close to concern. “Kenzo, what’s wrong?” Her voice was hoarse with sleep, but it carried a gravitas that told him she already knew.He blew out, rubbing his palms, feeling the callouses, the roughness of a man too many decades swinging. “What do you do when you wake up to realize that you’re at a crossroads? But no matter how you turn, you’re walking into storm?”Her fingers made slow and soft circles on his back, as if she wer

Victoria lay in the gray light of Kenzo’s small apartment, dazed with the scent of him, which had clung to her, like a second skin. She still felt the way his arms had wrapped around her, the way his breath had hitched as if he were holding back something deep and primal. It wasn’t merely desire; it was something primal, something on fire. And he was fighting himself, fighting the wolf within, and she didn’t know how much longer he could restrain it.Kenzo sat at the window, moonbeams slanting across his face. His jaw tightened, eyes flashing gold in the dark. He hadn’t said a lot since they had lain down, but Victoria could feel the weight of his thoughts against the quiet. She rolled over onto her side and looked at him. “You can’t sleep much, can you?”Kenzo let out a short laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. “Not when my head won’t stop talking.”Victoria looked him over, the way his muscles tightened even in stillness. “You’re thinking about something. Or someone.”Kenzo didn’

The stillness in the darkened room hung over them, loaded with thoughts that neither of them would articulate, the kind that scratched at the base of the brain but would never break the surface. Kenzo lay awake, his arms stretched wide around Victoria’s sleeping body, his breathing steady, his mind far from it. His wolf, starved and erratic, prowled inside of him, demanding, pushing, aching for more. The night had been long, longer than he’d ever thought it would be, but somehow, despite everything — despite the recklessness, despite how insane their union was — he couldn’t feel regret about a single moment of it.His hand brushed against her shoulder, her skin warm and soft beneath his calloused fingers, the shallow rise and fall of his broad chest keeping in time with her light breath as she dozed next to him. And how easily had she surrendered to sleep, as if there had been no doubt, no hesitation, as if she belonged there, in his arms, unquestioningly. And perhaps that was wha

Kenzo didn't fall asleep. Sitting on the edge of his bed, his body tight, his brain keeps wandering some ways he doesn't want to think about. Over to the other side of the room, curled up in a ball, Victoria breathed steadily. But he knew she never slept now. He could sense it in the way she held herself and the fists she made of her hands as she lay there motionless. He wanted to reach out to her, shake her, demand that she tell him how she could still sit there pretending everything was all right when it wasn't. Nothing was now.Finally he couldn't bear it any longer. "How much more are you going to pretend?"His voice was rough, edged like a blade. What did he care?Victoria rolled over, but didn't look at him. "Pretend about?"Kenzo let out a bitter laugh. "That everything's going to be fine. And to a monster you mean you didn't just turn. All that he wanted-look at you handing himself and everything over, clinking it on a silver platter."She let out her breath in a slow, even str

The Border Between Love and WarKenzo didn’t return to the apartment right away. He couldn’t. The blood in his veins was buzzing with rage, his wolf pacing, but there was no stimulus to let all that rage out. He walked the shadowy streets, past the dank alleys----you could smell the damp, crumbling concrete--, and the sputtering neon signs barely illuminating the way. Every muscle in his body was wound tight, his hands itching to hit something, anything, but there was nothing he could hit.Since that battle had been lost the instant Victoria cut that deal.You turn the corner, you go into an old bar —smelling like cigarettes and sweat and fucking regret. He squeezed inside, shoulders tight, the warmth of too many bodies crowding around him, the low hum of conversation by the floor shaking the air. A few gazes lifted to him, realizing who he was, still no one approached. Good. He wasn’t very sociable at this time.Kenzo marched straight to the counter and banged a hand down. “Whiskey. N