hm.
CHARLOTTEI stifled a gasp at the feel of his hands on me. Trailing down the column of my neck. Reaching down to cup one of my sensitive breasts in his large hands. The calloused digits grazing against my heated flesh. His voice, raspy and deep, as I felt it right by my ear, “Charlotte…” I let
I slowly nodded, drumming up the courage to say what I had to say. I couldn’t beat around the bush anymore. I couldn’t… pretend. So instead of hiding behind a wall, I decided to bite the bullet and speak my truth. I’d been put in worse situations when it came to the person standing in front of m
CHARLOTTE At the point of contact, my knees damn near gave out on me. It was soft, and gentle. Just like the feel of his lips on mine. I reveled in it. But it still didn’t stop me from noticing how rigid Taide had gone. He remained frozen and immobile. Part of me understood it; I caught him o
I couldn’t help but remember who had caused me to end up sleeping in that car that day. Why I ended up there. The party, the events that sent me running out of the house, the look of shock and horror on Vance’s face when he saw my mark, the anger and sorrow I felt after everything. It all kept com
CHARLOTTE I vaguely realized this morning that I needed to try putting myself back together after the absolute insanity that was spring break. The school would be back in session in two weeks, and it felt almost unbelievable that two weeks from now, I was expected to just slip back into my old r
Mads pulled away from him slightly to look into his eyes, about as curious concerning Sean’s destination as I was. “And why are you going to the palace?” “I bet your brother is trying to get your other brother out of a really shitty situation. And my dad wants his pound of flesh too. Your dad’s ho
CHARLOTTE I crept down the stairs and to the basement, pausing to listen to the sound of screws tightening the closer I got. I landed on the floor and immediately fixed my eyes on the person I had come here to see. Taide, bent over a dismantled, vintage-looking car as he toyed with something un
CHARLOTTETaide had his hands cinched around my waist, and as much as I loved the contact, I was desperate to jump down from the table and bolt out of the room. Reigh’s expression, for some reason, lacked all the amusement I’d initially expected to find once I turned to look at him. My cheeks were
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