He glares down at me. I’m used to it now so I glare right back at him. “I assume you’ve heard the rumors,” I say. He growls a little. Okay. Yeah. He heard them. And he’s pissed, more than usual. “You have to back out of the fight,” he says. “To hell with the consequences.” “Back out? I’m not
The morning of the fight, Angela knocks on my bedroom door. She smiles when I open it, and I pull her into a quick hug. It’s good to see her, though I’m always a little surprised when she makes time for me. Is this what it feels like to have a friend? “I want to show you my support,” Angela says.
“Archer, Beau, and Steven will be there,” I say. “Me, too!” calls Angela, reminding me of our audience. “Angela too,” I add softly. Neil pulls back, I think because of the mention of Angela. But instead, he only goes so far as to look down into my eyes. “It’s not the same as being there myself
When we reach the door to the gymnasium, everyone stops to look at us. The roar of the crowd dims to more of a purr. I feel like I am in one of those nightmares where you feel like everyone is looking at you. Only I’m awake and everyone is actually looking at me. This isn’t my imagination! “Uh,” I
Wyatt and I slowly circle each other, neither of us ready to make the first move. As I’ve been trained, in part by the women fighters of the underground tournament, I let the background noises, the roars and jeers of the crowd, fade away into the background. Instead, I focus fully on Wyatt. Every
Smaller, we thought, than a ponytail. Unfortunately, for all of his misses, Wyatt catches me here. I jolt back, captured. He roars as he throws me head first toward the floor. I lift my arm to save my head, but my body collides with the full impact of his throw. The breath knocks clean out of me
When I blink my eyes open, I’m in my bed in the Pyramid. Steven is beside me, resting on the edge of the bed. My ribs ache, but the pain isn’t so all-encompassing this time. It’s more a dull thrum, present, unavoidable, but not overwhelming. “You have several broken ribs,” Steven says. He delivers
“Please get back in bed.” “Chloe, please.” “You need to rest.” And finally, “You are as stubborn as Neil is.” Eventually, I make to Neil’s room. The door is open, a nurse and Beau are inside. “What the hell is this?” Beau demands. He jumps to his feet. “Steven?” “She wanted to see Neil,”
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