Cassiopeia Nyx The first thing I woke up to was warmth on my face. My eye brows furrowed as I yawned and rolled away, trying to bury myself deeper into the sheets. My eyelids fluttered but the heavy pull of sleep clung to me, thick and stubborn. I curled tighter, the blanket cocooning around my body, dragging me further into the weary land of rest. In an attempt to get even more comfortable, I moved my leg. A sharp ache ripped up my thighs, startling me awake. I gasped, eyes snapping open instantly. For a second, everything was a blur of pristine sheets and sunlight—but then the ache spread like a wildfire, up my thighs coiling deep in my lower abdomen. What…? My heart began to race. I blinked, trying to shake the sleepy haze from my head and understand what was happening but every small shift made my muscles protest. My skin was tender, almost like i had been scrubbed raw.I looked down, confusion creeping up my throat—and froze. The sheets had slipped low on my chest. Bare skin
Xeros Romanov The kiss wasn’t gentle—it was a collision. Teeth clashed, mouths parted, breath stolen. I didn’t coax her in; I dragged her, pulling her into me like I’d been starving and she was the only thing that could keep me alive.And she met me there.Her fingers dug into my shoulders, pulling me closer with a force that left no space between us. She kissed me back with the same fever burning in her skin, every rough pull of my mouth answered by hers.Cold water surged around us, sloshing against porcelain, but it was nothing. The faint clink of ice vanished beneath the rush of our breathing—harsh, tangled, greedy.My hand found the back of her neck, holding her to me, deepening the kiss until she shivered. I didn’t know if it was the cold or the hunger. Either way, it undid me.When I tore my mouth from hers, it was only to breathe her in. Her lips were swollen, eyes dark and wide. My thumb traced her jaw, slow, claiming.“Tell me to stop,” I rasped, the words breaking low from
Xeros RomanovI had driven the knife in myself.The words still rang in my skull like a curse I couldn’t undo—"You can’t handle it". I had spent the last hour telling myself it was mercy. Telling myself it was restraint.But as I sat hunched at my desk, fists pressed into my temples, the truth gnawed at me—I’d said it because I was afraid. Afraid that if I touched her while the heat was crawling like wildfire through my veins, I wouldn’t stop. That I would take and take everything until there was nothing left of her but my scent and my ruin.The shame burned deeper than the hunger.My chest was tight, every muscle wound taut as the heat pressed against my control, whispering for me to go to her. To find her. To claim her until I forgot the years of cold, empty silence that had been my life before her.I couldn’t do this anymore. The door burst open, cutting right through my thoughts and a stupid part of me desperately hoped it was her.It wasn’t.Rory stood there, panting, panic i
Cassiopeia Nyx"You can’t handle it."My heart constricted painfully in my chest as I leaned against the wooden door of his office. I wanted to run back into the room and implore him to tell me he didn't mean what he said, but the way he enunciated it, without hesitation… it made me believe that he really meant it.I had assumed that he didn't care that I wasn't strong enough, that his love for me had absolved me from all guilt, but now I see that wasn’t the case. It took a lot for him to slip up and show his true feelings.I thought I knew pain. I thought I had endured everything that could be thrown at me. But this? This felt different.It wasn’t physical, like the scars that marred my skin. It wasn’t something I could fight with persistence or defiance. It was deeper, more personal—a wound to the very core of who I was.I could handle him.But he didn’t believe that.Fuck. Even I didn't believe it. I was trying so hard to be strong, and his support made everything feel easier, but
Xeros RomanovThe moment she nestled into my arms, everything unraveled. The heat of her body, the soft tremble of her fingers as they wrapped around my torso, the scent of her filling my senses—it all became too much. Cassiopeia. My mate.My queen.Immediately, I recognized Nox's desire. I tried to run away, to put some distance between us, but it was futile. She was a force I couldn’t resist, pulling me in, tearing apart every shred of resolve I had left. And now, she was here, standing in front of me, despite me telling her to stay away... looking up with those eyes—filled with longing, trust, and something else… something dangerous.Desire.I could feel the heat radiating off her, searing my skin as if it were my own. My wolf, the primal force within me, roared in approval, clawing at the edges of my mind, desperate to claim what was ours. To mark her, to bind her to me in every way.But I couldn’t.The images flashed through my mind, unbidden and relentless—the scars that marred h
Cassiopeia NyxSomething was wrong.Not with Xeros—but with me.An unusual burning sensation spread through my entire body, starting from my lower abdomen. It was beyond what words could describe. It spread like a raging prairie fire, doubling in intensity with every wave of the wind and every second I remained still, threatening to swallow me whole. I could barely think straight as I watched the elders file out of the meeting hall, still whispering amongst themselves about Xeros's sudden and urgent disappearance.At the thought of him, my body began to ache even more. Hera growled ferociously from her position at the back of my mind. It was more feral than anything she had ever expressed to me, even when she tried to take over my body. The more she growled and pushed at me, the more the pain increased.My knees shook as I pushed myself up from the seat, beads of perspiration trickling down my chest and stomach.Where was Xeros?A groan tumbled from my lips as I forced myself to my fe