Ulric slings his arm around my shoulder.Ulric touches my elbow.Ulric flashes me a seductive smile, and my my, do his eyes sparkle.Ulric likes these kinds of things. Likes being in the spotlight, as I said before, he’s a cover boy.“Hey loosen up Sophia.”Ulric’s hand lands on mine and I snatch it back immediately. Violently even.Ulric frowns.I sigh and take a deep breath. This isn’t working.My plan was for Florian to take these pictures, from afar, of course, just a few of them. The rest will be taken more directly, but my plan was for him to take these pictures, dozens of them, and on different days, I drop them like easter eggs all over the internet.They’ll look genuine. They’ll look real.I’ll handle it. Except,“Don’t tell me you still have feelings for me, Sophia?”Ulric’s breath on the side of my neck makes my breakfast want to come back up and I shudder. He sees that shudder, knows that I only shudder when I'm disgusted.Knows I am disgusted right now because of himHe s
Caelum isn’t home when I arrive, and I'm grateful for it.I slip into the house, then into the room and I collapse on the bed with my thoughts all muddled up and slight panic rising in my heart, because there’s no way.There’s actually no way my heart would be that stupid.I can be delusional at times, yes. Today and how it has progressed so far has literally proven that, but can I be that delusional?Apparently, I can because the world responds to me with a knock at my door, and my heart lurches.My heart does not lurch.My heart never lurches.It can rise in its steady beating, in its erratic pounding. It can do all these things but it never lurches. The tightening of the mate bond tells me that it’s Caelum.“Sophia?”Something in me warms at the deep, warm, velvet of his tone. That thing warms even more when he calls again,“Sophia?” He releases a low growl that has my mind sparking with lust, “I know you’re in there, Sophia. I thought we agreed on a new start.”My eyebrows crease
Caleum’s pov.What….What the fuck?I look at my reflection in the mirror of the flowing water and heave as I curse under my breath, because what was that?What the hell was that?The flow and gurgle of the water are the only thing I get as a response and I curse under my breath again.I could see her.I could fucking see Sophia, I could see her as she lay on the bed, her cheeks a bright red, eyes flushed and everything… I could see everything.What the hell was that?I take a shower, to wash off and wash away all that has occurred in the past few minutes.I could smell her desire.I could sense it getting stronger with each word she said, each time her eyes met mine.Did she think I wouldn't notice?Or has she forgotten I spent quite a while between her legs? The memory is still fresh.I know her scent, her flowery yet spicy scent, like cinnamon rose, or paprika and daisies.Fuck.I feel blood flowing downwards again and my body threatens to heat up once more. Threatens to make me wa
Sophia’s pov.“Explain to me how this goes again?”I raise my head from the cup of tea I'm nursing to look at Alora. She looks dead serious, and I sigh because I did say I wanted to see her. I AM happy to see her.“Remind me Alora, how old are you again?” She scoffs and directs a glare at me,“Old enough to know what needs to be known. I’m not lily pure. I’ve done… things too. I’d just like to know how this works. This particular situation you’re in.”I sigh again, because I did ask for her. I don’t want to make her feel the way I did last time. I need to build trust with her, so here goes nothing.“When two wolves discover they are mates, usually a male and female, but it can be different, no one can tell how the bonds the moon goddess will forge might manifest… but when two werewolves discover they are mates, their bond drags them to make a decision.It’s not like it’s imperial they make one at that moment. No, that decision can be delayed, and it can be one or the other, accepta
Caelum sits and it’s like everything about him is different today….There’s a shine to his skin. A glow to his eyes. A deeper darker tint to his hair.I squirm in my seat until I remember who I am and stop it. Alora is looking from one of us to the other, and when I see what her eyes land on particularly, I feel something in my throat lock up.Caelum raises his phone in his hand and I hear the sound of it unlocking.“That color looks nice on you.”Caleum is leaning into his seat. His posture, one of a typical worried man, shoulders hunched, a frown trying to line his face. He’s looking at his phone so I guess he’s attending to something on there, but he just complimented me, and his compliment sounds genuine, so making sure I pick my words carefully, I respond,“Thank you.Yours looks… not so bad either.”Alora makes an almost choking sound and I give her a side glare, but from the corner of my eyes, I can see the shadow of a smile tickle Caleum’s lips. Just the lightest quirk of th
I do not take them.Caleum leaves the house and goes out to handle his business. I know it’s none of my business what his business is. I still don’t know what he does, I do want to know - because the playfield has shifted quite a bit now. The variables aren’t the same anymore, things aren’t as simple as they once were.At least for me. I don’t know what’s making me act this way. It’s weird, it’s all weird,But I know I can't leave anything to chance now.There’s a bond between us, and I need to run background checks. I didn’t run background checks with Ulric and look how that turned out. Though I am older now and in a different situation, with a totally different man, I know I can't repeat the same mistakes I made.I need to do this right, for all our sakes.I can’t ask about him in his home, he’s asked me not to. I’ll respect his wishes on that.But I can ask about him outside it.“What are you doing?”I jump as a hand pulls me out of the way of an incoming body. It takes me a seco
I don’t take the pills the next day too.This time I'm careful when I leave the house to trail after a maid.I need to catch them alone.And since my particular activity isn’t being carried out on the grounds of the Maximoff villa, that would mean I have a free license to ask as many questions as I'd like regardless of how they might seem to Caelum or not.We had breakfast again this morning, and it was pleasant again - this morning.Caleum was sober yesterday. Today, he was a bit more cheery. We haven’t talked about what happened two days ago. I suppose he’s taking his inhibitors, yet I think we both know the inhibitors aren’t the final solution.They’re more of a temporary answer. He’s using his, but for how long?I stop as the traffic light goes to green and the cars start zooming past. The maid from Caleum’s mansion is on the other side of the road, and I curse under my breath though I have every intention to still make the crossing and follow her.The question I try to ignore r
I sit on a chair and open the laptop in front of me, unable to deny that I am surprised, and a bit ashamed of myself, because I'd totally been avoiding a talk with Ravenna. I’m not scared of talking to her. I’m not scared she’ll not want to speak to me. I’m just scared of losing her. Lying to her does not come to me as easily as it comes to Ulric, and I always feel like one look at me, and my baby would see right through all I've been putting up. The call comes through, and I watch it ring for a while - Caelum’s gaze a hot thing on me. I cannot ignore it, and the fact that he’s sitting right there, unwilling to go out makes me feel something cold in my body I pick up the call and Ravenna’s face comes onto the screen. Immediately I feel my heart melt. My daughter is right there. The picture seems better on this laptop, clearer, her features are so well-defined. And the small smile on her face makes her watery purple eyes crinkle and twinkle in that fantastical way. “Hi, Mummy