EstrellaI tug Anwen through the forest. While I do have a map in the bag strapped to my back, I don’t pull it out. The bag is heavy because King Kieran packed us enough fresh water in canteens to last a week. I need a moment alone with my mate.The twisting, winding roots guide my steps deeper. Th
“Close,” I manage to nearly sob.I expect him to let off, to string out this beautiful torture as long as he can like he seems to prefer. He doesn’t even hesitate.My orgasm rattles through me. I clutch his bare shoulder, and the scent of his blood licks the air as my claws extend for a better hold.
Anwen‘Wake up!’ Candace yells through mind-link. ‘Right fucking now!’I shoot up. Candace doesn’t curse. She’s never cursed before.‘I’m here. Who are you, and what did you do with my sister?’‘Shut up. I had a dream. You need to move everyone.’‘Your dreams are bullshit,’ I reply. ‘You can’t see t
The clearing becomes my racetrack, and I’m darting side to side, slaughtering one rogue only to dodge a vicious attack from another.And I haven’t seen Estrella since that rogue knocked me off course. Or Dorian Meadows.She’s not injured, I think as I suck in a deep breath. I would know.The tide of
EstrellaDried blood itches under my fingernails. A few sticks scratch the back of my neck where they’re caught in my hair from sleeping under the moon. I cling to Anwen’s hand as he leads us through a series of underground tunnels back into the castle.I’ve never been in a fight like that before. N
“Good morning.” Candace’s smile is taut. “I’d like to introduce you both to Lady Eva of Snowcrest Canyon. She’s really made a splash here already.”Her words seem strange. I peer at her face, see a little of my own exhaustion within, then look at the redhead again. Sharply pointed nose, high forehea
“There’s no need for that!” I say quickly.“She injured—”Before she can finish her sentence, I reach out to the Goddess. The power springs to my command, easier and easier every time. My hands glow, and so does my ankle under the dress. When the feeling of pain fades, I lift my skirt to show the un
AnwenKieran pauses outside the door to his office and looks at me. “This part’s almost done.”“What part?” I ask.“The bullshit part.” He smiles. “I know the Goddess steers us all to our true mates during the Haze, but people who claim that means you’re perfectly matched from the start are fucking
‘Ah,’ she says like she’s finally cracked one of the secrets of the universe. ‘It wasn’t Blanca, was it?’‘Help!’ I yell to Kieran, Taner, and Finn. The rest of our reinforcements aren’t here yet, so they’re my only hopes.‘It was you.’A finger of wind lashes out and flogs my back, like I remember
CandaceA wolf dives at me out of the screaming, clashing mayhem, its maw drenched in blood. One half of my brain orders a paw to swing. The other shouts, RUN! I manage a hopping scramble that seems more likely to get me killed than anything else.And one of the men Hollis picked to stay at my side
If I don’t admit I love her, maybe the Goddess won’t think to take her from me like She’s taken damn near everyone else.All together like that, it sounds fucking stupid. Like a kid trying to keep the monsters under the bed from becoming real by saying they’re not there. Like screaming into the wind
HollisI stand with my squad at one of the side doors, waiting for the final signal from Father. Pinning Soren’s forces in, making it so their numbers are useless because they can’t get enough of them out to change anything, is the highest priority, so everyone is attacking from different angles. Ca
The doors swing open. We leap to our feet at varying speeds, like Soren could’ve gotten this deep into the castle without us hearing a peep.Kash strides in, an easy grin on his face. “Sorry I’m late.”“I do not believe you were invited,” King Andri says coldly.So his change of heart has its limits
Candace‘He’s in,’ Kieran says through the mind-link. ‘Everyone convene in the main dining room in fifteen minutes.’I look up at Ingrid, painting on the other side of her sitting room. She grins at me. I don’t know what comes next from here, and I doubt she does either, but we won’t be trapped in K
My gaze drifts to Eva. She watches the two of them dully, almost disinterested, but she has her arms wrapped around herself the way she always does when she’s upset. Holding herself together.She and I weren’t supposed to see all the same tutors, I remember suddenly. While I studied government, she
HollisFather and I march in lockstep up to the small door beside the front gates. Early morning sunlight promises spring might actually arrive in the mountains someday soon, as soft and sweet as waking up to Candace slipping back into the room with a sheepish smile on her face. Low conversation and
I close my eyes and try to sort through half-remembered geography lessons. LeClair belongs to…“Starfall Mountain.”He nods. “My sister Luci, my parents, all my younger brothers, burned alive in the temple on her wedding day because Gavin’s invasion wasn’t working. If I hadn’t run off, I’d have been