I moaned out, my hips lifting off the mattress. He kissed along my chest as he moved lower. The heat of his mouth scorched my sensitive skin, heightening the sensations I was already feeling. His head lifted, eyes meeting mine as he captured my nipple gently between his teeth. He held my gaze as he
CHARLOTTE“You knew how seriously I took my sales!” Madeline said, walking into the kitchen. “If you made us wait one more second, I probably wasn’t going to get my hands on anything good that day.”I looked up briefly with my mouth still full of food and held up my hand to stop her from rambling ev
We started driving, and Madeline turned on the radio and sang along off-key to the music. I did too and laughed at Madeline’s singing. After a few minutes, the car slowed to a stop, and with a scowl, Madeline realized that we had run out of gas.“Weird,” she muttered as she turned off the ignition.
CHARLOTTEMadeline and I stayed huddled together and watched the smoke rise and darken."Madeline!" Taide yelled, loudly and clearly panicked.He rounded the chaos of the wreckage and came into view a few seconds later, with a frantic look on his face that quickly shifted into relief when he saw us.
CHARLOTTE“Take ‘em off. Shoes aren’t allowed.”As I climbed down the stairs, I heard Taide’s voice, most likely talking to one of the numerous guards stationed at the house.They really weren’t joking.It felt like every time I looked out a window, I saw a man dressed in a pressed suit, a pair of d
I felt like there was more that could have been said, but I didn’t push him. Instead, I leaned back into the couch and ruminated on his words. That was when something else struck me. “Isn’t Sean your dad’s enforcer’s son?”Taide’s smile widened even more as he replied, “He is. Eventually, we all bec
CHARLOTTE“I hate bowling.”I grumbled as I sat down next to Taide.He laughed a little, but his eyes didn’t drift from where Reigh and Madeline were still engaged in a seemingly tense game. Taide and I both seemed to be terrible at bowling given our string of losses, so after being knocked out of
CHARLOTTEThe moment King Auric stepped out, the tension in the room dissipated into nothing.Reigh moved from his spot near Taide and I, and crossed the room to where Caeson stood with Madeline. With furrowed brows, he paused, scanning Caeson from head to toe. Then he lifted a hand, like he was abo
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