Novels by Didi Adeyemi

HAYLEY’S P.O.VGrowing up I always thought about what it would feel like to see my mother.My dad had no pictures of her, it had been a stupid fling and she never reached out to him. He could have found her if he did but he never wanted to. He told me that if I still wanted to find her when I turned eighteen then he would.I went through all the stages of grief. There was anger at the fact that she had abandoned me and never tried to come back. There was the sadness and the feeling of not being enough for my own mother. By the time I turned eighteen, I didn’t care anymore and I told my father not to bother. It had always been me and him and that was how I wanted it.Seeing the woman in front of me brought back all those feelings of anger and betrayal bubbling up to my chest“I don’t have a mother,” I said finally. “You should leave.”“Please,” she grabbed my arm. “I just want to talk. I came all the way here to find you.”“I didn’t ask you to come here,” I spat jerking my hand out of

HAYLEY’S P.O.VI sat next to my grandmother in silence.I had her hand in mine and listened to the rhythmic beeping of the machines that were hooked up to her. The doctor said that it was only a matter of time but he had given her something to help with the pain.In the midst of all this, I couldn’t get a grip on my own emotions. There was so much swirling inside of me, too many things that I couldn’t get a grip on them. I hadn’t felt this conflicted in a very long time, probably not since I was a teenager.There was anger and pain and guilt. Guilt that we had all the money in the world and I couldn’t stop this, guilt that I was so focused on my own issues that I didn’t even see that she was dying right in front of me. She came back so we could spend time with her and I barely spent any, I spent it running around with Jake and worrying about Marie and his potential child that didn’t even end up being his.I felt stupid and incredibly foolish to say the least and I hated feeling stupid

HAYLEY’S P.O.VMy hands were shaking but I fisted them by my side until I got home. I needed a minute to myself to catch my breath, what I was not expecting was to find my father and Jake in the living room. They were discussing something but they immediately stopped as soon as they saw me.I was glad that they were getting along again but for fucks sake, I wished they took their business to Jake’s house because I knew that between the two of them, nothing ever went unnoticed.“We had the meeting with Marie,” Jake began as soon as he saw me. “She was pissed to say the least but-”“You should be going home,” I told Jake and his brows furrowed in confusion.I knew I was being rude but right now, I didn’t have the patience to be nice. He needed to go home because I wasn’t sure if the question from the police was mere curiosity or if it was a threat but if they were going to follow the trail then chances were that they might officially ask me who I was with and that would mean implicating

HAYLEY’S P.O.VThe sound of whispers woke me up.I tried to ignore it at first but it only got more urgent and I felt the covers shift as Jake got out of bed. With a small groan, I peeled my eyes open, the room was still dark, the only source of light was from the moon that spilled in through the drawn curtains.“Are you sure?” I heard Jake ask, the urgency in his voice taking away whatever remnants of sleep were left in me.I dragged myself up into a sitting position and my eyes found Jake. He was standing with his back to me, shirtless save for the boxer briefs he wore to bed and he was pacing. That was never a good sign because Jake never paced, at least not when everything was fine.“What’s wrong?”He turned to me, almost surprised and cursed. “Go back to bed, Hayley. Don’t worry about me.”“You’re pacing like a mad man and you look like shit,” I leaned over to turn on the bedside lamp drowning the room with a soft orange glow. “What’s wrong?”“The results are in.”If I wasn’t ale

JAKE’S P.O.VThe bottle of whiskey almost seemed to mock me as it sat on my dining table.A few years ago, I would have drank the entire bottle until I forgot everything and taken the first plane out of the city- maybe even the country. I had a knack for running away from my problems. It was what I did when Marie left me for the first time. I was living in California at the time and I got on the first place to London.I stayed there for a few weeks and by the time I returned, I packed everything up and moved to Las Vegas. I moved around a few times before finally deciding on New York because I remembered that Michael stayed here.Now, however, there was nowhere for me to run. It wasn’t because I couldn’t, I had too much to leave here. I could always leave the office and go to one of the many branches over the country so it wasn’t about work, but I had Hayley. I wasn’t completely sure if I had her, she seemed ready to run but I couldn’t blame her.I had to leave her in bed this morning

HAYLEY’S P.O.VI woke up with the knowledge that someone was in my room.I didn’t know who it was but there was a feeling at the back of my neck that alerted me to the fact that I was being watched. I couldn’t brush it off no matter how hard I tried so I reached out for the nightlight and turned it on casting the room in a warm orange glow. I found the person staring at me seated right opposite my bed.I glanced over at the clock beside me. It read one thirty a.m. “How long have you been here?”“In your room or in your house?” Jake asked not missing a beat.To his credit, he didn’t seem to be drunk but then again, he never drank that much. Even if he did drink at whatever time he arrived here first, chances were that the alcohol was already out of his system and he was sober.“My house,” I responded to his earlier question.“Eleven.”“My room?”“Twelve.”I raised a brow. I wondered how I didn’t realize he was here earlier. I was the kind o child who woke up the minute someone opened m

CHARLOTTE’S P.O.V Adamaris and the council were able to break the bond between me and Esmeralda before finally executing her and destroying the talisman. We held Samantha’s burial the next day. It felt wrong to hold it until after Esmeralda was dead. It was so difficult for me to stand next to her body and act like it wasn’t my fault she was dead. Logan assured me no one felt that way, but I felt that way. What made it a lot harder was having to explain to Amelia that her mum was going away. She wasn’t even two yet, she didn’t understand the concept of death, and she just stayed in my arms and kept on screaming the word ‘mummy’ over and over again. Logan tried to take her away from me but she refused to let anyone else hold her. Amelia’s things were moved into our house the day after the funeral. She was a frolicky baby with a terrible sleep schedule. I attributed that to the fact that she missed her mum. Considering each time she woke up, she would ask for her mother. A lot of pe

THIRD PERSON’S P.O.VCharlotte was mingling with the guests with a smile on her face. She had the part of being Luna down to a pat, she was sweet, respectful and paid attention to every little detail.Logan stayed behind her to give her space to talk to the people, but also close enough that he always had her in his sight. He was on edge and for good reason too; they hadn’t heard from the witch in a few days and that probably meant she was waiting for a good time to strike.A little girl walked up to Charlotte and softly tugged at the hem of her hoodie. Charlotte turned her attention to the girl with a smile on her face. She crouched down so she was at eye level with her.“Can I help you?” she asked and the girl nodded. “I was wondering how it feels to be pregnant.” Charlotte was taken aback by the question.“I don’t know; I’ll let you know when I am pregnant.”She started to rise but the girl held onto her arm with a grip that seemed too strong for a girl who looked no older

The next twenty four hours after Adamaris got rid of the brand were entirely uneventful. I guess that should have been my clue that it was the calm before the storm.The day actually started out like any normal day. I woke up with Logan bringing me breakfast in bed, then I lay back while he ran his fingers in circles on my baby bump. I looked up at him and he gave me a small smile but his fingers never slowed.“Are we going to stay here all day?” I asked and he raised a brow. “Shouldn’t you be happy that you have a day off from all the drama?”“I am happy,” I admitted, “I was just curious as to why we haven’t moved yet.” “We don’t have anywhere to go for now,” he explained, “Do you remember the changes you approved for the school music department?” I nodded, “Well they’ve been implemented and today is the grand unveiling.”“I totally forgot about that.” “I told them to go ahead with it while you were,” he trailed off, “While you were gone.”He seemed to close off

CHARLOTTE’S P.O.VWe all sat in silence while Greg sketched. Logan made tea for me while we waited. Adamaris muttered something about how chivalry is dead since Logan didn’t make one for her too. This led Logan to mutter about how witches should get their own mates to do things for them.They kept on trading back and forth quips between themselves until Greg muttered something about how he was close to stabbing his ears with his pencil. I giggled and they both shot me looks as if I had betrayed them.A little over half an hour later, Greg was done with the sketch and when I saw it, I was taken aback by how life like it looked. He got every single feature of her perfectly, from the slight crookedness of her nose to the fullness of her lips and even down to the meanness of her smirk.After staring at it for a while, I passed it on to Adamaris. She took one look at it and cursed.“Do you know her?” I asked and she nodded. “She used to be in my coven,” she said slowly as she fold

CHARLOTTE’S P.O.VI woke up to Adamaris sitting on a chair cross legged and looking bored out of her mind. She had cleared up the circle of salt and moved Kaden and Aubrey to a more comfortable lying position.Logan and Evan were still knocked out on the floor in the same position and I stifled a smile. Leave it to Adamaris to let the men suffer. Aubrey and Kaden began to stir; Kaden stirred first and as if she heard him, Aubrey moved too.Aubrey sat up first and cradled her head in her hands for a few seconds. It wasn’t until she heard Kaden’s whimper that her head snapped up and she rushed to him.He buried his face into her chest while she whispered a few words in his ears, too low for even my werewolf hearing to pick up on. Kaden just nodded and gave his mum a smile.Kaden looked up and saw me and he gave me a small smile. “Hey Charlie, I’m sorry I fell asleep.” I felt my lips curl up at the sides. He turned to Adamaris and gave her a confused look, “Hello, who are you?”“That’s n

CHARLOTTE’S P.O.VIt was Logan who snapped out of his reverie and realized that we still needed to find Adamaris a place to sleep. Thankfully, she has her house (I still don’t understand what the hell she means by that). She said that all she needs is a large expanse of land, preferably in the woods.Logan wanted me to stay home but I’m not going to let him go alone, especially since everyone is in this mess because of me. Reluctantly, he handed me one of his big, warm hoodies and I pulled it over my head.I sat in front with Logan while Adamaris and Celeste sat at the back. The drive was tense and quiet; Logan had one hand on my leg to keep me grounded because my thoughts were going haywire.Adamaris was lost in thought, her eyes were kept fixed on the window. Celeste was staring at me, not in a creepy way, but in a way that kept me alert. Occasionally, her eyes would move from my face to Logan’s hand on my thigh and back.I caught her eye through the mirror and she gave me a smile t