INICIAR SESIÓNRyan
James scribbles on a piece of paper as people file into the pack house out of the rain. The two-story community building I had built three years ago, when I established Silverhide, is built in a traditional style I forced Sydney to help me plan out. The walls are made of thick logs burnt a deep black. The first story is just a giant room with several long tables and enough chairs for everyone–all hundred or so members, including a few babies born this summer&nd
FallonI grip his wrists, staring into his eyes, trying to piece together the last three years of my stupid life to make sense of what he’s telling me. “Blake knew?”He nods, still braced on his elbows, his body flush with mine. “My dad knew?”“I am certain he did, yes.”“Are you fucking serious?” I am, rightfully, I might add, fucking furious. Beyond livid. The works–whatever stupid adjectives my brain refuses to conjure. “Everyone knew except for me?”“No, I don’t think everyone knew. Any shifters like your father or Blake–high ranking, Alpha blood, yeah. They would be able to sense it. And… those who knew, other than Blake, that one time, never brought it up again or said anything about it to me.”I sit up so quickly I nearly knock him in the nose with my forehead, but thankfully, his reflexes are like quicksilver. He rises on his knees, looking down at me with an infuriatingly blank expression. “You bastard!”“Fallon, I need to explain why–”“Why you knew, from the very second
ZaynFallon searches my eyes. Her brows pinch together, and a look of uncertainty paints her expression in shadow. I’m still inside her, hard again. It’s been so long since I’ve done this–touched someone like this. It’s my first time touching her like this.My mate. I have her wrists pinned above her head to stop her from moving. I just needed a moment–a single slice of time to decide the best way to go about this. “How long?” she whispers, her voice breaking. “Fallon–”“How long have you known?”I slowly pull out, both of us wincing, both raw and torn open emotionally. Her, because I’ve lied for three years. Me, because I’ve known the truth for that long. I let go of her wrists, but she makes no move to shove me away again. She doesn’t bare her teeth or hurl insults. She grabs my hands before I can pull away completely, and we stay there, tangled, slick with perspiration, our hearts still rattled. “How long?” she begs in a tone I’ve never heard her use. It’s quiet, sad but susp
FallonZayn’s hands are warm but coarse, steady, and so much larger than mine. His power radiates through his skin–an electric kind of warmth that causes a tingling sensation to erupt over my flesh. Pearls of rainwater slide between our joined hands, hovering just above my fingers. More droplets appear, shimmering like starlight, before Zayn lets out his breath, and the raindrops race into the sky so quickly that I lose sight of them. But his power buzzes all around me, cloaking me in an electric heat that burrows into my bones. It’s so different from my powers. So foreign and unique. A crackle of lightning tinged a strange blue expands overhead as clouds suddenly appear. A boom of thunder rolls over the beach, and for a moment, I feel like I’m home, watching the storms roll over the lake in Moonrise. “Did you make the storms in Moonrise, too?” I ask.His smile is soft and wanting. “No. I did not. But I would have.”“Why?”“Because I know you like them.”I’m insane. He’s not looking
ZaynTali walks at my side down the stretch of narrow dirt road weaving across the private royal island. It’s a fine day. It was, at least. I spent the majority of it avoiding Fallon at all costs, which meant tiptoeing through the house, occasionally catching glimpses of her talking to the maids, the chef, or the messengers who travel to and from Eurye. I’m staying out of her way for good reason. I almost lost my grip on the situation this morning. Tali whistles low, drawing my attention back to the moment instead of lingering on the way Fallon’s hair shimmered across the pillows in the morning light. “When’s the last time you shifted?” he asks. I kick a pebble of pumice, squinting into the sun drifting between the palm fronds overhead. “When I was challenged. Yesterday.”“I mean, when was the last time you got it out of your system?”“What?” The guesthouse comes into view. Tali halts, touching my arm in a silent request for me to stop walking. “Tali–”“You smell like a wolf on e
FallonI wake to full sunlight dusting the domed ceiling. It reflects off the chandelier, painting the room in rainbows. Groggy and unsure what time it is, I close my eyes again, wiggling under an immense amount of pressure gluing me to the mattress. Warmth like I’ve never known pins me down. It’s cozy. The coziest thing I’ve ever felt. The most comfortable and secure I’ve ever been. It’s likely that I’m still hovering somewhere between reality and the dreamworld. I feel full and slightly dizzy from what might be the longest stretch of real, deep sleep I’ve had in a long while. I’m not sure what woke me up, but I quickly assume it’s my senses blaring in warning, and with a start, I open my eyes again and realize the weight keeping me pressed to the bed is not the dreamworld or my body’s slow roll into awareness. Nope. Zayn sighs so deeply his body rattles. It hums through me because the man is draped over me in a way that’s so damningly intimate I have to suck in a breath and pore
ZaynI was twenty when my father found me on the beach, sopping wet and covered in sand. It was a strange day, to put it lightly. The weather was terrible, roiling and violent, though I suppose I was used to that. I couldn’t remember how I ended up there. I have hazy memories of him kneeling in front of me, clutching my face between his hands and shouting my name over, and over. But that was the moment. The night the stars aligned, deciding my destiny. The night everything about my upbringing ceased to matter. Father’s tenure in Meridem was supposed to be life-long. That was the rule for governors–one step below the Principate in hierarchy of wizardry. He was supposed to keep Meridem and the shifters who called it home in check, to ensure the laws of the wizards were followed, and beat into submission anyone who disagreed. Meridem was a gift, so to speak, when he became an adult. The Alexandrite mines in Meridem were the main source of the precious stone that allowed lower wizards a
*Isla*The puddle of water sinking into my carpet is the least of my worries as Sydney is panicking. She grabs onto my arm and squeezes, her nails digging into my skin.“What? My water broke?” she shouts. “That means I’m having this baby right now?”“Well, soon,” I tell her, prying her fingernails out
*Maddox*Blood coats the floor in the entryway. I could see it before I even kicked in the door. My warriors, still in their human form, join me as I walk into the house.The body of a young maid, legs prone, arms over her face, is positioned off to the side of the door. This blood is hers. She has bi
*Isla*All the information that Mystica is giving me is too much for my mind to process all at once. I’m going to need a few moments to get it all into my brain. For now, I’m still stuck on trying to grasp the idea that I'm pregnant.I’m pregnant, and my child was not only exposed to the wolfsbane tha
*Isla*I’m underwater again.This time isn’t like the last time, though. I know immediately that things are different.This time, I’m more angry than I am afraid, but I don’t feel the same pressure that I did last time either. I feel like I am storming off, running away, riding my white horse off into







