INICIAR SESIÓNI was probably in my hundredth cookie when I suddenly felt a presence behind me. I knew it wasn’t Naomi because my friend had gone upstairs to get her phone.
“How are you slim like a runway model when you eat like a pig?”
The cookie fell to the floor instantly from my tottering hand, and my heart erratically went over the fence.
What was Adam doing here?
What did he want? Why was he right behind me? And where was Naomi now that I needed her?
I was stiff, rimrod straight on the high kitchen stool, whilst my pulse jumped haphazardly when Adam suddenly started trailing his finger down my arm.
I inhaled sharply the next minute, when he bit my ear lobe, when he slid his hand around my waist, when his kooky breathing slammed into my hearing neurons.
How could someone be so brash? How could someone be so entitled? Did he think he could have his way with me because he was hot, because I was a mere statistic to him?
He must be out of his mind!
I jumped out of my stool without giving him any warning, a smile flashing across my lips a second later, when I heard him gasp harshly. I wish he had fallen to the ground.
Willfully stilling my nervous nerves, I turned around to face him, swallowing down saliva as I took in the fine imagery of his chest which was bare of any clothing. He was only wearing beach shorts.
Damn! Adam was so hot!
Clearing my throat, I awkwardly picked a cookie from the white plate on the counter, pretending it was normal that he was hitting on me.
“What do you think that you are doing,
Adam?” I asked, biting down on the cookie which I knew might get stuck in my throat—my nerves were jumping. Even though Adam had never raised his hand on me, had never joined the bullying gang, he was still a culprit for enjoying my misery. And there’s the fact that he had been the one to kickstart today’s episode of bullying with just a question.
“What do you think I am doing? Don’t you want it? Isn’t that why you wore such an outfit? To bask in the attention of the opposite sex…” Adam stated coldly, perusing my frame. I was still wearing the bikini. I felt naked under the unabashed scrutiny.
“No, that’s not true. I didn’t know you all were coming. Shouldn’t the school still be in session? Why are you people here?” I asked him, mentally slapping myself for mustering up a boldness that I didn't know I had.
If someone had told me that I would be talking with Adam this way— standing in the kitchen, a tray of cookies between us—I wouldn't have believed it, not in a million years.
Seeing as Adam’s gaze had never left me or rather my boobs since we stood opposite each other, I would say Naomi was right. Wardrobe malfunction had contributed to my bullying for so long.
“Well, the principal had told us to go home for playing around with you. Isn’t that so cruel, huh?” Adam queried, his countenance still aloof.
Yet, I scoffed, before I could stop myself.
And then, realizing the misstep, I shut my eyes out of habit, expecting a knock for exhibiting such rude behavior in front of the Prince .
But I heard him laughing—a rich timbre that sent tingles down my spine.
When he stopped, I wanted him to continue. It was the first time I had heard him laugh. It was beautiful.
“You have really grown wings. I don’t know if that is a good idea or a bad one.” He muttered slowly, as he stepped into my space.
His sudden closeness made me a nervous wreck and a mushy fellow at the same time. And when he placed his index finger on my belly and began to trace invisible lines around it, his head dipping low as if he wanted to kiss me, when his eyes met mine in a heart racing melody, I became flabby.
“…But I would let it slide because I want to kiss you so badly. I want to know the taste of my playtoy’s lips.” He whispered smoothly, bringing my attention to his well shaped lips.
God, I was curious too.
For a second, I was tempted to know what the feeling was like, kissing the son of our high and mighty lycan king, even though I knew it was a forbidden territory for me. If Claire should find out…I am dead.
“What do you think?”
His gaze kept dropping to my lips intermittently.
But I was silent.
Foolish me just stared at his lips and kept imagining how those seemingly red entities would feel on mine.
I was beginning to think that letting Adam have my first kiss might not be a bad idea after all.
That’s what his closeness did to me. It got rid of my common senses and reduced the weight of his numerous sins against me.
ADAMI had been trying to ignore the thought all morning, but it kept circling back like a persistent storm cloud.Sage and Darius.There was something between those two—something sharp-edged, hidden, threaded far too deeply for my liking. Not the softness of affection or the childish cling of old friendship. No. This was something darker. Purposeful. Bound by secrets I wasn't allowed to touch.One of the contestants had reported it to me just before sunrise: He had seen them vault the fence in the dead of night.Vault the fence. Like two shadows. Like two people with something to hide.Where had they gone? When had they returned? How long had they been sneaking around without my knowledge? I had dispatched my men the moment I heard the report. Their message came back not long ago—quiet, irritating, inconclusive:"Sage is in her house.""Darius is in his house."As though that solved anything.My jaw tightened. What were those two planning? What were they in together?And why, in al
I wasn't listening to Darius.I could hear him—his voice flowing beside me as we cut through the brush, his words rising and falling like an annoying chant—but I wasn't absorbing any of it. My mind was far ahead of my body, racing down a darker corridor entirely. I stepped over roots, brushed aside hanging vines, and let my limbs move on instinct alone.He was scolding me. Again."…Makeh could have told us more if you had just stayed," he was saying, his boots crunching against leaves as he tried to keep up with my long strides. "You storming out like that accomplished nothing, cara. We should have pressed her harder… asked the right questions. There are things she was holding back and you know it—"I tuned him out deliberately.The forest shifted around us, alive in that heavy silent way only ancient places could manage. My senses were open and alert, stretched tight across the gloom like fine threads of wire. Every insect click, every dead leaf crushed underfoot, every distant trem
Makeh's words did nothing to reassure me.A replacement. The word curdled in my stomach the longer it sat there.Not heir. Not a successor. Replacement. Something meant to be slotted in when I cracked beyond repair.My mouth pulled into a crooked sneer before I even realized it, the expression carving itself onto my face like instinct.So that was it.All this time—the suffering, the blood, the crawling back from death's throat more than once—and the goddess still kept a spare like a broken shield tucked behind her altar. Just in case.I felt something sour swell inside my ribs. Something ugly. Something dangerously close to grief. I masked it the only way I knew how. With derision."Well," I scoffed, folding my arms. "That's comforting. Nothing says divine confidence like a backup plan with eyes and a pulse. Also gives me peace to go about my other business."Makeh did not scold me. She only watched me with a quiet, uncomfortable patience. "You shouldn't dwell on it," she said. "Your
SAGEVisions?The word sat wrong in my chest. Like a lie dressed in something holy. If what I had seen were visions, then death had a cruel sense of narrative.Because the only time the world had ever opened itself to me like that—the only time reality bent and peeled back its skin—was when I was dying, or felt depressed enough.I laced my fingers together. Visions… No. I had struggled. I had fought my way back from the edge with teeth and instinct and something deeply unnatural screaming inside my ribs.Blood had been the first thing. Always. The thirst. Not gentle. Not poetic. It tore at me, burned me from the inside out until there was nothing but hunger and the certainty that if I did not feed, I would become something far worse than dead.And the dead…I swallowed. They had swarmed me in those moments between breathing and nothingness. Hands dragging. Voices whispering through my bones. Eyes that watched me with the accusation of things I did not remember doing.I had fought them
I sat there while Makeh's words hung in the air like smoke that refused to dissipate, curling into my lungs whether I allowed it or not.You are feeding it.I bared my teeth and felt heat rise behind my eyes. If working with vampires would burn the world, then so be it.If bargaining with monsters made me one too, then I would wear the title gladly. People had died for less noble reasons than mine. Kingdoms had fallen for greed and pride and jealous wars—but suddenly it was my work that would end the world?Then let it tremble.Inside my skull, El sighed like someone witnessing a slow-motion disaster.You're being dramatic, she drawled. Mass extinction is not a personality trait.Shut up, I snapped back in my head. You're not the one being told you're the reason the sun might someday die.Darius cleared his throat.I ignored him.Makeh shifted beside her simmering pot and added something fragrant to the broth, as though she hadn't just accused me of cosmic catastrophe. My hands curled
Silence stretched again in Makeh's hut, thick and uneasy. The fire crackled softly behind her, light dancing across the walls, catching on strange symbols etched into the old stone. Darius sat stiffly on one of the chairs, posture too formal for a place that smelled of herbs and simmering broth. But he was the one who finally broke the quiet."The ones outside," he said slowly, nodding toward the entrance. "The small ones. Who—or what—are they?"Ah. The quafars.Makeh glanced toward the entrance as if she could see through the walls. Her lips curved into something not quite a smile."I told Sage this once," she said. "But perhaps it's time someone else knew."At least she deigned to call me Sage. Maybe not to ruffle my feathers any more than was necessary?She rose and stirred the pot with a long wooden ladle, movements steady and slow, like she wasn't about to unravel some secret. And why was she stirring the pot? It was just soup that was there! But then, one can never know with M







