His hand drifted low, and then he spoke out words with a raw, buttery drawl, his voice so deep it sent a tremor down my spine, “Or is it my brother?”He plunged two fingers into me as soon as the words hung in the air, and I rose up on my tiptoes, a low gasp falling from my mouth as he curled them i
CHARLOTTE I rolled over to my left side and attempted to rub the sleep out of my eyes. My brain was foggy and my thoughts were clouded by sleep, but even in that state I quickly sensed someone leaning over me. My eyes opened, then widened in question when I saw Madeline sitting at the edge of th
CHARLOTTE The commotion got louder. I followed them out with wide eyes darting from one brother to the next. They pounded into each other with murderous intent. Taide’s head was forced back suddenly, as Caeson landed a swift blow to his face. Blood spilled from his mouth, and I clasped my hands
Taide let go of my hair and returned his attention to everything in front of him. He shook his head and muttered with a slight bite to his tone, “You call that keeping it light?” I slapped my hands down my thighs and let out a breath of frustration. “You just don’t want to play.” Taide shot me a s
CHARLOTTE To stay true to my promise to visit Da’ana more frequently, I was back at her care home a week later. Only… I had a plus one this time I strolled about the hospital hallways with Taide at my side. He’d decided to tag along when I told him where I was going, something about ‘meeting t
Taide let out a sound of protest, but I didn’t look at him. “I told you about him already, remember,” she signed, looking between Taide and me as if she could sense the turmoil between us. “He’s the nice guy who buys me toys and stuff.” I looked away from her, my jaw clenched in anger. When my eye
CHARLOTTE Taide had left me alone with Da’ana. To gather myself. To track down his brother, I didn’t know. He was just as shocked as I was when we got to the bottom of who the culprit was. The word ‘culprit’ left a bitter taste in my mouth though. Caeson hadn’t necessarily done anything to ha
CHARLOTTE I pulled away from Caeson, stumbling back in the tight space, my hands clutched against my chest. My heart was racing, and my mind spun as I stared at him, taking in every small detail. His hair was shorter now, buzzed down to the scalp, and the similarity to Taide was so striking that
GRADUATION DAY CHARLOTTE I didn’t get much sleep last night. Or any sleep. I looked around my room, taking in the space again. It didn’t look as bad as it was a couple of days ago. All the glass had been swept away, and all the damage left was broken doors and a non-functional shower. Not the m
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