He strokes it rhythmically, slipping to either side now and again to toy with my breasts and tease my nipples to peaks. The agonizing memory alchemizes into something sweeter under his touch. There is so much to be grateful for—too much to simply lie here and receive.I roll us over, pressing his ba
CandaceFour months after Anwen left to become Alpha King of Sundrop, I struggle to focus on the embroidery in my lap as the carriage bounces along a rutted road.“She was here for a week!” Ingrid laughs. “You can’t be that excited to see her again.”I stick out my tongue at my younger sister. “How
Eva blinks and turns to Hollis. Through the angle of the sun, I didn’t even realize he was standing next to her. He doesn’t look at me—he’s always a tough nut to crack, but he’s got a nice laugh when I do—and his face is as impassively unimpressed as usual.I don’t want to hear their thoughts. While
Anwen“Wish you could still be my Beta.” I fix my hair in the mirror again. “I was looking forward to being able to boss your ass around.”Baz grins. “How do you know that wasn’t why I changed packs in the first place?”I snort. I should’ve known he was gonna move with me when I saw him at that part
My chest tightens. King Isai was an incredible man. Someone who would’ve been really helpful to have around while I figured out how to deserve his daughter.Estrella releases my hand to throw her arms around Castor and whispers something to him that I can’t hear.“I know,” he replies. “I love you.”
HollisBy the Goddess, I feel like shit. My head aches, my skin burns, and I am far too hot. I told Father sleeping in the carriage away from Escuro wouldn’t work out for any of us—if I feel like this, I can only imagine how he’s doing this morning. We could’ve left this morning without losing any f
The scars on Luna Estrella are enough to prove it.“I—” She shakes her head. “What does this have to do with the Haze? Why are you running away?”“Because you’re not my mate.” This time, my shoulder sears like my arm is about to fall off. More memories of last night leak in. Someone’s teeth in my ar
HollisEva shakes her head. “I just don’t know how we didn’t find each other.”“It’s strange,” I agree, my mark burning.When I found her, asleep in the nook of a tree, I looked her over for a mating mark before I even woke her up. All the way over. Not a single sign of the snowflake shape. Not even
Kash frowns. “Then how’d she find out? See a mark?”“In effect.” Hollis stares at the rocky floor.“He’s softening it.” I bite my lip. “We didn’t not pursue as much as we intended to, and she caught us. We made a terrible, selfish mistake that’s caused a lot of problems, and we just want to fix them
Candace“This is a bad idea.” Ingrid crosses her arms and glares at her door, like Hollis is just outside of it.He’s not. He’s in my room, waiting for me to come back after I told him his idea was a bad one and that I needed to get someone else’s opinion first.“Is it a bad idea because it’s Hollis
“Lord Soren,” Candace says numbly. “Where is he?”I grimace at the memory of our return home. Soren greeted the caravan at the gate, redder than Father with rage. His bellowing was hard to follow, threading together fights from their childhodbetween him and Father with ancient slights between our fa
Hollis“Come in?” Candace calls hesitantly through the door of one of the lesser guest rooms.I suck in a deep breath. I can smell her even through the door, blackberries and sunshine. Knocking—rather than just tearing down the door like I wanted to the second Lord Gunnar told Father about the addit
“Coming up!” the driver on the front of the carriage calls.Ingrid presses her face to the window. I try to look and almost end up tumbling into Taner’s lap. But finally, the carriage pulls to a stop, and someone opens the door for us to exit.According to protocol, Kieran exits first, with Taner ri
CandaceWhen the sun rises the next morning, it finds me crouching in the stables, sandwiched between one of Finn’s favorite stallions and Ingrid. It lights the wild grin that’s barely left her face since I barged into her drawing practice yesterday and declared Kieran didn’t control me. She immedia
That leaves me with Kash as company. He likes to walk through the castle with me while I point out places where different things happened. And to eat every meal together. And to spend almost every second that I’m not asleep by my side–making up for lost time, always. By the second day, I’m making up
CandaceI fold dresses into my trunk and listen to the commotion of the rest of the encampment breaking down outside. Kieran decided that letting King Andri cool off would yield the best results, so we’re leaving just as quickly as everybody else. This weird pocket of time with so many people in one
“What?” Ingrid scowls. “You’d think assassinating your own father would be enough to prove that you didn’t agree with him. Throw Mother in the dungeon with Hollis, when we get around to that stage.”Anwen winces.“We’re not throwing Hollis in the dungeon,” Kieran says tightly. “Not least because, in