CHARLOTTE I felt warm. And soft. My breathing was light, so light that it was sometimes worrying whether or not I was still alive. I was deep asleep, and that’s good. I needed to rest. After what happened to me… The thought trailed off, tunneling into a pool of darkness. A sudden wave of an
“Morning, sleepyheads,” Reigh greeted. I offered him a weak smile, both as an acknowledgement of his greeting and as thanks for the food. I looked over the spread, pancakes, bacon, toast, eggs and as much as I appreciated it and looked forward to digging in, I couldn’t help but think that it would
CHARLOTTE I pulled down the lever and gave the toilet a minute to flush. Slowly, I moved towards the mirror and lifted my plain white T-shirt to lace up my sweatpants, and in the process, I caught sight of the dainty white line at the side of my stomach. My heart clenched, and a rush of anxiet
CHARLOTTE The day finally came to an end, and I was getting ready for bed. After brushing my teeth, I walked into my room just in time to hear a knock on the door. I lifted a brow, curious to know who’d come knocking at this time of night. I opened the door, catching a glimpse of Reigh and Made
CHARLOTTE “Cara,” my father whispered, as he caressed my face. “Damn, Anton, you bagged us a perfect one today.” “And there was blood everywhere, and you were n-naked,” Madeline sobbed. Tap. Tap. Tap. The click of a gun going off. BANG. A scream ripped out of my throat as I sat up
CHARLOTTE The next time my eyes opened, it was morning. And I was alone. I lay still for a moment, trying my best to center myself after suddenly waking up. My eyes were on the ceiling, but after a long minute, I glanced over to the side of the bed Taide was on, only to stiffen a little when I f
My face went beet red. He was still staring at me, so I looked away to avoid his probing gaze. It was obvious he was referring to me not being there when he woke up. And after a minute of searching for an explanation or justification for my actions, I just gave up. “Where’s Madeline?” I asked inste
CHARLOTTE The sound of water running roused me from sleep. I went still at first, taking in the unfamiliar ceiling and sheets, but it didn’t take long for me to remember where I was and why I was there. I instantly relaxed and let out a small yawn. I lifted my hand to rub the sleep from my eyes,
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