LOGINI 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 paced the common room until the floor beneath my boots felt worn thin by my steps. Back and forth. Back and forth.The space was large, meant for councils and celebrations, for laughter and raised cups and the easy noise of a pack at rest. Now it felt too open, too empty, every sound echoing back at me like an accusation.Three days. Three days since Sage had vanished into thin air.I dragged a hand through my hair, breath coming harder than it should have. Confusion sat heavy in my chest, tangled tightly with anger, worry, and a fear I refused to name aloud. I had sent warriors across the land—scouts, trackers. I had called in favors, debts owed from years past. I had ordered searches in places I had sworn never to involve my pack.Nothing.No scent. No magic residue. No whisper of her trail. It was as though she had never existed.The thought made something inside me splinter.I had seen this before. Felt it. Lived it.Maya. Dora.Women who had existed once, vividly, brightl
ADAMI paced the common room until the floor beneath my boots felt worn thin by my steps. Back and forth. Back and forth.The space was large, meant for councils and celebrations, for laughter and raised cups and the easy noise of a pack at rest. Now it felt too open, too empty, every sound echoing back at me like an accusation.Three days. Three days since Sage had vanished into thin air.I dragged a hand through my hair, breath coming harder than it should have. Confusion sat heavy in my chest, tangled tightly with anger, worry, and a fear I refused to name aloud. I had sent warriors across the land—scouts, trackers. I had called in favors, debts owed from years past. I had ordered searches in places I had sworn never to involve my pack.Nothing.No scent. No magic residue. No whisper of her trail. It was as though she had never existed.The thought made something inside me splinter.I had seen this before. Felt it. Lived it.Maya. Dora.Women who had existed once, vividly, brightl
“What did you say happened,” I demanded, my voice rising despite myself. “Start again.”Isla flinched like I’d struck her.She stood in the middle of the room with her hands clenched tight against her skirts, knuckles pale, eyes too bright. She still looked shaken, like she hadn’t fully returned to herself after whatever horror had unfolded hours ago. That alone should have warned me—Isla didn’t rattle easily.Something had happened to Sage.The thought had been coiling tighter in my chest since the first wave of pain had hit me in my study.I’d been reviewing reports, half-listening to the rain against the windows, when it struck without warning. A sudden, scorching agony ripped through my insides, so sharp it stole my breath. It felt as though something deep within me had torn in two.I’d lurched to my feet, chair skidding back, one hand braced on the desk as I sucked in air through clenched teeth. I’d checked myself instinctively—no wound, no blood, no visible cause. Confusion had
Where were we?The words scraped out of my throat weakly as my eyes fluttered open. The world swam, darkness bleeding into shape slowly, reluctantly, like it resented being forced into clarity. Stone loomed overhead—jagged, ancient, slick with moisture that caught faint, wavering light. A cave.Not a small one.This place was vast, cathedral-wide, its ceiling stretching so high it disappeared into shadow. The mountain itself felt like it had swallowed us whole. Cold air pressed against my skin, heavy with the scent of earth and minerals, threaded with something sharper beneath it. Old smoke. Older magic.My body felt wrong. Heavy. Empty. As if something vital had been torn out of me and replaced with fire and ash.I tried to move, tried to push myself upright, but my arms trembled uselessly, barely responding. I was still in Darius’ arms.“Why…” My voice barely carried. “Why do I feel like this?”The question never finished settling before pain slammed into me.It ripped through my
SAGEThe pain came in waves sharp enough to steal breath, then thought, then language.It felt as if my insides were tearing themselves apart and rebuilding wrong, like bones grinding to find new places, like veins unraveling and being threaded again by hands that did not care how much it hurt. I screamed until my throat went raw, until the sound fractured into something animal and humiliating, until even that was swallowed by the agony."What is happening to me," I sobbed, nails scraping uselessly against the floor.No answer came.I cursed the goddess first, loud and vicious, words spat with all the bitterness I'd swallowed over the years. I cursed Malek next, hope flaring stupidly that she might hear, that she might intervene.Nothing.I reached for her anyway, desperate, flinging my mind outward, searching for that familiar resistance, that divine pressure.There was nothing to grasp."Cowards," I gasped, the word ripped from me as another convulsion bent me nearly in half. "All
SAGEI woke up craving blood.The awareness slid into me before my eyes opened, before my breath even found rhythm. It sat on my tongue first—metallic, sharp, a taste that wasn't there and yet was. My mouth watered in a way that had nothing to do with hunger as I knew it. Not bread. Not fruit. Not even meat.Blood.The word pulsed through me, unwelcome and undeniable.I lay there staring into the dark, my sheets twisted around my legs, my skin damp as if I'd been dragged out of deep water. My heart thudded hard enough to bruise from the inside. I swallowed, once, twice, trying to scrape the sensation away, but it clung—thirsty, insistent, alive.The nightmare unraveled itself in pieces when I blinked. Naked fellows, bodies pale and wrong, their mouths red, lunging hands, tearing teeth. I'd woken just before they reached me, a scream trapped behind my teeth.I told myself it was only that—the dream, the panic, my mind playing tricks in the hours before dawn.But the thirst didn't fad







