The afternoon on the day of the Homecoming dance, I’m rudely awakened from my nap by banging on my door. Mia had also been napping. She stirs in her bed before opening her mouth and letting out a retched cry. I sweep her into my arms and stagger over to the door. I wrench it open and see a man in fr
I don’t dare ask who Tiffany is and why we have her barrette. I look back at Athena with big eyes. “Thank you,” I say. “I look amazing.” “Well let’s get you ladies dressed,” Gabriel stands, Mia in his arms. “And complete this transformation.” I shimmy into the dress. Athena helps me zip it thi
Archer drags me behind the stage of the auditorium. His grip is strong and bruising on my bicep. He guides me into a chair next to a bunch of other seated people. “Stay here,” he barks. Despite the alpha way he says it, I roll my eyes. He narrows his own at me before darting off. Mia stirs in my l
Beau smirks. “You’ll see.” Back on the stage, Neil is telling the history of the Hayes Court. He repeats what Armanda repeated earlier. The Court used to be slaves and is now full of advisors to the most powerful family of alphas. He lets the audience applaud more before I steps to the microphone
Archer helps me off the stage. He follows behind me as I walk the line of members waiting for me. Each of them shake my hand. A jolt of energy courses through my body as our tattooed hands touch. I’m almost to the end when I run into an younger man. He has kind, green eyes and hair as black as nig
Anger takes over me. I lunge at Laura and tackle her to the ground. I shove her once then twice then dig my hand into her hair. I pull strong enough that I rip a chunk of the fake blonde out and then go back to trying to pummel her to bits. Laura gets the leg up on me and rolls me onto my back so
Beau finds me quickly after my scuffle with Laura. He claps me on the back and tells me good job for fucking her up. Mia squeals in response. I laugh as I tell Beau to stop swearing around Mia but accept the compliment all the same. He asks if I want to dance and I consider for a second before decli
The car speeds off into the distance. I can almost hear the laughter coming out of it. I look down at the brambles around me. My dress is tattered. The once endless midnight blue now looks like shards of stained glass surrounding my legs. My one heel has completely popped off rendering it unusable.
I’m happy because I have four hearts beating alongside mine.“Do you feel it, too?” I ask. “My connection to each of you?”I blink my eyes open once more. I want to see their faces, their reactions.Neil has his hand over his own heart. “It’s strange. It’s like part of you is inside of me.”“Me, too
In the darkness of my mind, I floated, surrounded by the comforting embrace of love. Distantly, I could feel another presence, one that grew stronger and stronger, the more I focused on it: my wolf.As I thought of her, she appeared before me as if I willed her into being. Maybe I did. We are in my
Damn alpha wolves and their heightened senses.“I’ve already made my choice,” I say. “Honestly, I think I made it a long, long time ago.”Archer relaxes marginally. Steven starts to smile.Neil turns to me, worry still on his face. “You say that now, Chloe. But the pull could be strong…”“I don’t ca
The eve of my birthday, I rest in bed and stare at my ceiling. It’s late, near midnight, but I still have my bedside light on.With my feelings shared and grown with Neil, Archer, and Steven, I didn’t expect to spend any night alone, especially the one right before the day that could change everythi
I awake to a sharp knock on my bedroom door. Neil’s arm is still draped over me but some distance had inched between our hot bodies in the night. I’m able to slink out from under his arm without him waking.Naked, I quickly stop by the bathroom to throw on my fluffy bathrobe. Then, after glancing ba
They.Beau glances at me and see my incredulous look. “What do I need to go out every night? Can’t a man just enjoy staying home for a change?”“You can do whatever the hell you want,” I say.“Good, then.” Beau slumps down on the couch. He stretches out, lifting his feet up and into my lap. “Now tel
For the rest of the morning, I desperately try not to think about Neil. Whoever he’s in love with, I won’t be offended by it. The hurt I feel has nothing to do with this new person. She must be great for her to have won Neil’s affections.The hurt is my own loss, my own problem. I let my feelings fo
After Steven and I have cleaned ourselves up with a quick shower, we fall back into bed together, giggling and laughing all the way. My now, Steven has discovered a few of my tickle zones, which he is exploiting. As revenge, I touch the places I now know make him shiver.For a while, nothing seems l
His hands fumbled with the buttons of his own shirt. Such usually steady hands are rendered useless by his nervousness.“Allow me,” I tell him. I lightly bat his hands out of the way before replacing them with mine on his shirt buttons. My times with Neil have served me well. I’m able to undo all th