CHARLOTTE My mind felt groggy. As the fog of sleep cleared, I blinked my eyes open slowly, squinting at the bright light seeping in through the open curtains. I was somewhere I didn’t recognize. My gaze drifted from the white ceiling slowly, taking in my surroundings. My body shifted over the
“Sit down,” he commanded, gesturing to the sofa he had previously relaxed on. Ever so slowly, my feet moved, dragging across the floor with scary levels of trepidation coursing through me. I sat, keeping my hands tucked underneath me. I had no idea where his car could possibly be by this point
CHARLOTTE“Oh my gosh!” Madeline exclaimed, leaning out the open window to get a better view of the beach resort. “Mads!” Sean said worriedly, eyeing his girlfriend as he drove. I laughed at her antics, but I couldn’t help leaning out the window a little as well. The beach resort looked like every
CHARLOTTENot a word was exchanged between the three, but I could practically taste the displeasure hanging in the air. I didn’t know Macrieve, other than the incident at the restaurant, but going by that and the way everyone acted at the mere mention of his name, I’d say it wasn’t too much of a st
CHARLOTTEEven though my eyes were shut, the glare of the sunlight somehow managed to gleam through my closed lids. I let out a loud groan and opened my eyes to squint at the open window. My head hurt, and my mouth was dry. If I didn’t feel like my headache was going to split my head in half, I’d p
CHARLOTTEWhen I finally had enough energy to open my eyes, I was met with darkness and a violent headache.Bile climbed up my throat quickly, hurried on by the odours that irritated my senses the moment I sucked in a breath.I’d gag, but I felt like I was underwater, my reflexes weren’t mine and I
I was rolled onto my side just in time for the vomit to shoot out of my mouth. I was rolled at a poor angle so most of the vomit stuck to my face, my eyes drifted shut again and my body shook a little from the way my body retched.Anton’s hand was still on my breast.“So we gotta move to the couch n
CHARLOTTE I was crashing, and I was crashing and I was crashing. I felt myself going under again. “We need a blanket! Someone get me a fucking blanket. A sheet, something, fuck.” And then I was swallowed whole. I didn’t feel myself being lifted up. I couldn’t tell what was happening around
CHARLOTTE I didn’t want another surprise. I just wanted them to stop acting so weird. “Reigh told me what happened at the palace wasn’t serious when I asked him,” I pointed out as the memory hit. “How could your dad finding out about Madeline not be important?” Taide sighed before parking both h
24 HOURS BEFORE JUNIOR YEAR GRADUATION CHARLOTTE The sound of Reigh’s door closing softly woke me up. I blinked into the darkness, looking for him. He didn’t come into the house with me yesterday. All he did was drop me off. Initially, I didn’t want to be alone with Caeson, knowing Taide w
He suddenly frowned at me before asking, “How can you be so stupid, Charlotte?” My head reared. “Excuse me?” “What exactly do you think is going to happen between you and these boys? Or you know what, I’ll do you one better. How could you even let things get this far?” I cut him a stern warn
CHARLOTTE Shopping wasn’t as fun or eventful as I’d hoped. I spent most of my time between clothes racks, barely fascinated by the colors or cuts of the dresses I picked. Instead, I kept wondering where Taide was and tried to understand what had happened with Caeson. Unaware, my hand lifted to
I reached up to loosen his grip, my vision growing watery, but he just pressed down harder. “I’ll never let you forget who you are, harlot,” he spat, venom dripping from his tone. The words hit me with such hatred that I was taken back to the moments when I was nothing more than a victim of his and
48 HOURS BEFORE JUNIOR YEAR GRADUATION CHARLOTTE I leaned against the railings of the balcony and stared at my phone, trying to summon the courage to hit the little icon that would dial Caeson’s number. I had been up for a good four hours now—it was 9 a.m.—but the boys weren’t back yet. Neithe
72 HOURS BEFORE JUNIOR YEAR GRADUATION CHARLOTTE To say I was bored would be an understatement. Since the boys left that morning for the palace, I’d been all alone in the house with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company. And my thoughts weren’t doing anything to dispel the anxiety I was fee
But then, I wasn’t half as exhausted as I expected to be—or as I probably should have been—given this was only my second time making the change. Maybe it was different for me because now I was older than he was when he started shifting. Maybe my body could adjust more easily because I was more mat
CHARLOTTE Taide, still looking up at my wolf, backed away slowly, lifting his hands as he spoke. “I think we all need to calm down.” His gaze briefly drifted from me to Caeson. “What happened?” Before Caeson could respond, Reigh cut in. “I don’t know what you think this is, but Char’s wolf attacke