MasukSAGEEvery eye in the tent turned toward me, after Adam's question, after his defense of why he had given me a choice to choose. The silence was almost alive—breathing, waiting. Even the night air that filtered through the open canopy felt charged, trembling between curiosity and fear. A beautiful something.I liked that feeling. It was power. It was control beginning to take shape. It was plans beginning to fall in alignment.A soft smile curled on my lips as I let my gaze wander lazily over the crowd—faces stiff with expectation, a few turned away as if unwilling to meet my eyes. Their discomfort was delicious, sating, arousing. Then my gaze found him.Adam.For the first time that evening, I really looked at him. Like really appraised him. The real King of the entire region—his brothers were just lame figure heads, the male who had been watching me like a challenge wrapped in silk since the games.He looked… annoyingly good. But then, was there ever a time he wasn't? Ever a time
ADAMThe moment she stepped into the tent, everything else seemed to blur.Sage.Every inch of her commanded attention—the fluid grace of her movements, the way the light from the hovering crystals caught in her hair, spilling faint gold across her shoulders. The gown she wore was soft blue, shimmering like moonlight over water, and it clung to her curves as if it had been stitched onto her skin. Every step she took was deliberate, confident, unhurried, yet every muscle in my body tightened as though I were standing before prey and temptation all at once.My wolf stirred immediately.Mine.The word was quiet, dangerous, and primal—echoing deep within me, rising with every breath she took. It was ridiculous. I clenched my jaw, forcing the beast back, but the pull only deepened when her scent reached me—warm, a mix of lilac and faint smoke, an intoxicating contradiction that I couldn't seem to shake since the first time she had stood before me.She was beautiful, yes—but that wasn't w
SAGEI had expected a bigger crowd.A full house, loud and heavy with whispers, envy, and curiosity—the perfect theatre for drama. But as I stepped through the soft golden veil of the canopy, what I saw instead made me pause.Just the royals. Nobles. Elders.And Darius. Sitting directly after Daniel on the long high table.What in the goddess's cursed name was this?My irritation was a steady, pulsing thing, simmering beneath the calm mask I wore. My eyes moved through the gathered faces, cataloguing them—too polished, too quiet, too expectant. This wasn't a celebration. It was a controlled setting. A test. A stage prepared not for honor, but for observation. I didn't like it one bit.When my gaze landed on Adam, I saw him standing—his tall frame a mix of composure and contained restlessness. His brothers followed his lead, chairs scraping as they rose in tandem. Then the rest of the evil family.A ripple of confusion swept through the room. They didn't know why they were standing fo
SAGEThe woman in the mirror wasn't a stranger—she was a contradiction.Me naked. Me unhidden. Unmasked.No wig. No lens. No pretenses. Just my own reflection, the kind that would even make the gods hesitate. My skin gleamed like warm honey beneath the soft candlelight, smooth and unblemished, with a faint shimmer where the light kissed it. My body was a sculptor's rebellion—curves where delicacy should've been, strength where fragility was expected.My hair, white as moonlight, fell in a loose cascade to my waist, fine strands threaded with streaks of gold instead of black. It shimmered with every movement, alive almost, like it remembered the hands that once blessed it—or cursed it.And then there were my eyes.Gold, with flecks of silver and blue swirling like galaxies caught in an endless storm. I held their gaze for too long, as if daring them to blink first. "A freak of the gods," I murmured, the corner of my mouth curling upward in bitter amusement. "Their little masterpiece o
SAGEIsla hadn't stopped talking since we got back to the quarters."Come on, Sage," she whined, flopping dramatically onto the sofa, her braid bouncing over her shoulder. "You have to tell me what really went down between you and Darius! One second you were about to burn him alive, and the next—boom—you stop. Everyone saw it. You just stopped."I didn't answer immediately. My thoughts were still in that field—still tangled around what had happened, what I had seen, and what it meant. The whispers, the heat, the look in Darius's eyes when he realized I wasn't what he thought I was.Worse, he was really an ancient.That word still tasted strange on my tongue. It made my heart flutter uneasily each time it crossed my mind.And now there was tonight—the banquet. I wasn't sure what to expect. The royal family would be there, of course. Adam would be there. The thought of it made me draw a slow breath, my pulse quickening despite myself. I had plans for that banquet. A carefully laid move
ADAMThe silence that followed my declaration was thick enough to cut through. No one moved. The fire crackled quietly in the hearth, a single flame popping and dying as though even it feared to disturb the stillness that had settled over the room.But the heaviest silence came from Claire.I didn't have to look at her to feel the rage pouring off her in waves. It was the kind of silence that screamed, the kind that bled in the space between breaths. I could almost picture her—her slender hands tightening around my neck, nails digging in, wanting to strangle me. She wouldn't, of course. Fear wouldn't let her. Not if she loved her life. For a brief, reckless moment, I contemplated mentioning the priest's words, the doctor's confirmation—that Sage was my mate. But I thought better of it. No sense in adding coals to the fire already burning in this room. My declaration alone was enough to stir the hornet's nest. No need to set the whole place ablaze.It was Daniel who broke the silenc







