EVELYNThe scarred man gestured ahead like a gentleman, but his manners were poor, as if he were a dog rather than a wolf.As I approached, his eyes scanned me, his gaze lingering a second too long on my chest before he grinned and whistled.When I stepped into the hall, he closed the door behind him, and I felt utterly disgusted. Still, I said nothing.I kept my distance from him and noticed that he walked with a slight limp. As much as I didn’t want to get to know him, I wondered who he was. He seemed to have a high status here, as I had seen him chatting lightly with Jack during lunch while the rest of us remained quiet. I wondered if he was a supervisor.Or perhaps he was also a... Crawford?Just like Elsa.The scarred man suddenly stopped and turned to look at me. Alarmed, I tensed and crossed my arms over my chest. My eyes studied him warily, steeling myself for the worst.The man simply grinned, as if I was full of myself or something. “You can relax. I might be a little more l
AIDENFor the first time in my entire existence, I felt utterly useless, trapped an injured like an animal, unable to do anything.As I thought of Evelyn, my jaw clenched, and the mere thought of Oakley being in her proximity… it brought me an anger I’d never felt before, an anger that I couldn’t put into words. It was as if my blood had been replaced with lava, threatening to erupt at any moment with my temper.I kept my head lowered, staring as my actual blood streamed down my pale arms. As much as it should have bothered me or made me feel sick, the truth of the matter was that I didn’t care. The pain in my shoulder was intense, but it wasn’t as strong as the pain and shame in my heart.When Oakley had pierced his shoulders with his strange, long claws and forced me to kneel, he had told me that I’d overestimated myself, that I was nothing more than a simple-minded imbecile.As angry as it had made me at the time, the truth was that Oakley was right. If I hadn’t foolishly taken thi
EVELYNI’m glad my brother didn’t force his mark on you. Otherwise, I would have to chop off his head.My breath hitched and a shudder ran through me. I had heard plenty of empty threats before, enough to know that Jack’s words weren’t a lie. He meant every single one of them and I knew whole-heartedly that if Cole had left so much as a nip on me, Jack would have followed through on his promise.When the elder Elrod brother suddenly traced his cold finger along the curve of my neck, I finally realized how dangerous it was to be with Jack alone in his room. I gulped heavily as fear ran through me.While I didn’t think he would hold me down and force me, sinking his canines into the tender skin of my throat, my heart still clenched. He was taller and stronger than me. More powerful. If he truly wanted to hurt me, he could.I wanted to recoil from his touch.I wanted to cry and run.I wanted to return to my parents as soon as possible. I didn’t want to think about anything else. But I c
JASMINETo our disappointment and annoyance, there were very few records about Sylvia, Cole’s mother, in Hescor, even in the Royal Archives.I had heard once that the late King Theodore ordered everything related to Sylvia to be burned, as if he wanted to erase her existence entirely and pretend that she had never been his romantic partner in any capacity. Her very name was forbidden in the presence of the old king.Anyone who even casually mentioned Sylvia could be punished brutally, depending on why her name was being evoked. Sometimes, if Theodore was even in just a slightly poor mood, he would snap and order the devastating torture or execution of the person who dared utter a word about her.If the strange and beautiful sapphire bracelet I found in the river belonged to Sylvia… it could explain why something so precious had been thrown into the river. It would make sense that any physical reminders of her existence would be removed from the palace and cast aside.Though I had to w
JASMINEIt took me a moment to realize it, but my sister was utterly soaked with blood, her face, identical to mine, was nearly as grim as Flynn’s.Her steely gray eyes were serious and calculated as they met mine and I rushed to her at once as my stomach twisted into knots.The metallic smell of blood blew through the quiet room. I hadn’t seen my sister in such a mess in a long time, not since those bloody fights in the arena.“What’s going on?” I asked as fear rose from my belly. I glanced around at everyone before settling on Addison. “Are you okay?”“I’m fine,” Addison assured me. “I promise, Jaz.”“Addison, you’re covered in blood,” I pointed out with a raised brow, remaining composed externally while internally, I was worried about my twin.“This isn’t the first time you’ve seen me bloody, Jasmine,” she rolled her eyes, and the moment she did, I knew that she was okay. Had she been kind, something would have been completely wrong. But no, she was her usual blunt self, which mea
EVELYNA week.There was a week for me to decide my fate.Mine and Cole’s.Or a week to find a way out of this place and save my mate, the Alpha King suspended in a deep slumber that could span for the rest of his life, ending only from his death.But how?How could I save him? How could I save us? This situation felt impossible and the overwhelming pain of it all threatened to cave my chest in.How could I do this?I had no clue. I supposed the only solution was to kill Jack Elrod, but how would I be able to do that? He was stronger, and faster, not to mention possessed powers that I still didn’t understand. He was able to freeze people, and communicate without words… what else was he capable of?Thinking of how difficult everything was, how impossible and how seemingly hopeless my existence felt, I clenched my fists and winced in frustration.Emma suddenly protested with a small yelp, pulling me back to reality.“Evelyn, you’re holding my hand too tightly,” she remarked, her big haz
EVELYNI remained quiet, guilt filling my entire body with every passing second. I hadn’t meant to blurt everything out, hadn’t meant to speak to him so harshly on the day of our reunion. I didn’t mean to hurt my father’s feelings, but his stubbornness and unwillingness to even try to make our situation better made me release all the grievances I’d held in for years.Mother brought Emma close to her and stepped away from us. My little sister seemed confused about what was happening, not that I could blame her. This sort of moment should have been saved for a more private time, but it was too late now. I had laid down all of my problems and complaints.It was up to him to navigate the situation.“You’re right, Evelyn,” he admitted with a sigh, running a hand through his gray-streaked hair. “You’re right about everything. I made a mistake and it’s my fault that our family is in this situation. It’s all my fault.”He wiped his face and closed his eyes, and I felt a pang of sadness in my
EVELYN“What deal?” I asked, my brows furrowing as I stared at my father in surprise. I wasn’t certain what he meant but the mere notion that he’d struck a deal with Jack Elrod was concerning to say the least, especially given this new revelation about Cole’s mother and her identity as a human wizard. .What had been arranged? Father hesitated for a moment and glanced away, breaking our eye contact. He ran his hand through his silvering hair and then released a heavy sigh, his eyes weary as they met mine again.“Jack wanted House Caddel to show our absolute loyalty to him,” he explained, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke.I blinked in response, trying to understand what such a thing could mean.“Absolutely loyalty,” I repeat back to him. “What does that mean, Father?”Father gazed out past the terrace, his eyes absently searching for anything, likely some sort of point to focus on rather than me.“The closeness between you and Cole was a threat to him,” he continued a