SERAPHINA’S POVIt feels nothing like the first time his lips touched mine. Nothing like the sudden, explorative kiss from before. Instead, it’s deep, passionate, wild, and hot. His lips take mine, hungrily devouring every square inch until his tongue pushes through for access. I grant him entrance, casting aside every inhibition.I gasp, tasting him for the very first time. I press further, driven by wanton desire, an undeniable urgency, and let out a sound from the depths of my throat, a primal and raw moan — a sound I never imagined I could make. This seems to be an invitation for him; the perfect fuel to this burning fire.Swiftly, he shifts me, setting me onto his lap in a straddle, and with surprising ease.Suddenly, he pulls back, leaving my lips cold and wanting. Before I can voice my yearning, a soft frown forming on my face, he's trailing fiery kisses down my neck, his teeth lightly scraping my skin, sending delicious shivers of anticipation down my spine.The sensation
SERAPHINA’S POV‘He’s a monster!’The voices – No, my thoughts scream at me. A wave of anxiety hits, and all that cloud nine rush fizzles away, replaced by dread that settles in the pit of my gut. Crippling fear takes over, and I kick him off me before he can get any closer or touch me any further. Before his filth can further taint my skin."Get off me!" I scream, breathing hard. Pulling myself up to a sitting position, I fold my legs protectively around myself. He looks at me with wicked eyes, tilting his head to the side."Sera?" His voice is calm and confused, contrasting sharply with the distorted mania evident in his swirling red eyes that seem to want to devour me‘He hates us.’He approaches, ignoring my whimpers and pleas, taking my hand gently and cradling the side of my face. Fear courses through me, urging me to flee, to escape his grasp before he can inflict any more pain, before the point of no return.‘End him.’A surge of vengeful rage takes over me as he leans ov
ARTEMIS’ POVOlivia literally karate chops Sera right into her delicate neck. Her eyes roll back into her head, and she falls on top of me. One moment, Sera's obsidian black eyes were filled with animosity, craving nothing but death and vengeance. If she could, she would have been foaming at the mouth while pressing down on my windpipe with a strength I never imagined such a petite body could possess. In any other circumstance, her tiny hands wouldn't have had the power to restrain me, but that wasn't the Sera I knew. That version had been enraged, screaming bloody murder, and sobbing from an intense pain that I couldn't – still can't – understand.Her hand, trembling with fury, had remained on my neck, each shudder directed at me. Several reasons she might have been angry came to mind: perhaps it was Ace, the contract, or maybe even the betrayal on my part. I hadn't expected her to be so enraged that she'd smash a globe against my head or stab me in the arm. And still, none of t
SERAPHINA’S POVMy eyes flutter open sometime in the night, observing the ceiling in front of me. I turn, trying to get a sense of my surroundings. Through the window, it's still dark out, making it hard to tell if it’s very late or very early.A movement to the left catches my attention. It's Olivia, quietly rolling up the rug in the room. Weird.Attempting to sit up, a sharp pain hits my head, and I groan, drawing her attention. Her hurried footsteps approach, and I feel her warm hands checking the top of my head.“Are you okay?” She asks, sounding worried.Why? I was just sleeping. Yet there’s an itch in my mind, a sensation of forgetting something important.Unconsciously, my eyes move to the floor, and the sight of thick red liquid triggers a barrage of fragmented memories. Most of them seem incomplete. I remember that Artemis was here, and we were talking. I remember things got hot at some point, really hot. The feel of his skin on mine was electric. Our bodies felt like two
SERAPHINA’S POVIt's been a whole week—7 days, 168 hours of pure agony. Every single time I'd run into Artemis in the hallway, he'd look the other way, as if I were some demented cockroach scuttling about in broad daylight, acting as though I never existed. Each time I approached to talk, he'd promptly stand up and walk away, not even attempting to mask the scowl on his face.He clearly hates me.Artemis Sinclair is giving me the cold shoulder, and it hurts like hell. I have a hunch about why—perhaps it's because I stabbed him or shattered Olivia's glass globe on his head. It's a reasonable explanation – and honestly, I’d run from my crazy ass too. However, he doesn’t seem willing to give me a chance to apologize.For the rest of today, I fixate on the little gold card in my hands. Whenever it's tucked away in my pocket, I still find myself running my fingers over its rough texture. This card holds all the answers I've craved for months. Every. Single. One. I always thought hav
SERAPHINA’S POV"Can we meet?" Those are the three words I text Kamila, along with directions to the place that started it all, the very reason our stupid deal ever came to be: The Obsidian Library. The location was scribbled on the gold card, and I slipped out of the school grounds, sneaking into the lavish compound that surrounds the main building—a grand structure that towers over everything for miles. Despite its cathedral-like beauty, holding untold secrets, I find no room in me for admiration today. I don’t even feel excited.I never imagined I'd need her number, exchanged during one of our passing encounters. Yet, here I am, infinitely grateful for those two seconds I spent saving it.He knows.He knows.He knows.My lower lip is caught between my teeth as I pace frantically, hyperventilating, on the brink of full-blown panic. My heart threatens to leap out of its cage. A chaotic mix of terror, anxiety, guilt, and an overwhelming sense of sorrow holds me captive.He knows!W
SERAPHINA’S POVI'm in an ethereal world of books, stacked into an impossible number of shelves arranged in columns that go on until what looks like infinity. The inside itself is wider than my eyes can depict, with walls taller than twice of Raven Wood High stacked on top of itself. The air even smells different— that addictive woody smell that comes from the pages of the millions of books stored in here. It's all so beautiful and marvelous, a book lover's heaven. Olivia would faint more than once if she could see this right now.I slowly walk between shelves, running my hands across the dark brown, sturdy wood that holds the books, feeling its smooth lamination. Every corner is perfectly labeled, so whoever is in here can easily find what they need. Whoever maintains a place like this definitely knows what they're doing.I stop, curious, at an aisle and reach for a first edition book on "The Technicalities of Wolf Shifting." I have no interest in it, but the vibe in the room pro
SERAPHINA’S POVI make it back to school an hour later, sneaking into the school premises the same way I got out, through a small dog hole in the fence. I don't stop running until I'm bursting through the door of my dorm room, breathing fast and clutching the book to my chest.Olivia looks up at me, startled by my sudden appearance. She gets up from her bed, pulling her glasses out of the way to look at me. "Where have you been all day? School was over like 4 hours ago, Sera," she queries.I move to the center of the room, settling on the rug we have. The blood stains from before are only partially there. After hours of scrubbing, we managed to get some of it out, leaving a dull brown stain shaped like a flower on one end.I settle on it, dropping the book in front of me and looking at it, half-panicking that I actually stole a book from that place. What if I get caught? No one saw me, right? And I wanted to return it, but the door was closed when I got back.Yeah, right. Like any