Susie arrived around lunchtime, carrying a basket full of sandwiches for us all to share. Julian, strangely, arrived ten minutes later with a bottle of wine. He seemed surprised to see so many others. “Thought you might fancy a drink,” he said, holding the bottle high. “I know I do.” I welcomed
My fierce blush gave me away, but still I hushed Susie. I leaned closer to her to admit, “We’ve fooled around but I wouldn’t say we’ve had sex…” “Oh?” “In the woods, I think was ready to, but he’s such a gentleman. He wanted to wait until we could do so more comfortably.” Susie nodded. “I’m no
“Piper,” Nicholas said against my lips as I kissed him and then kissed him again. I felt ravenous again, but this time, instead of food, I wanted this man. I wanted him around me and inside of me. I wanted to claim Nicholas as mine so there could be no more confusion. No more games. The competitio
Nicholas, for his part, only looked more concerned. He wasn’t alarmed. He wasn’t even startled. He just watched me closely. “Talk to me, Piper,” he said. “I can’t understand your growls yet.” I tried to bite back my growl, but I couldn’t manage. It erupted, curling around my words even as I atte
“I’m sorry,” I said. My voice felt raw from disuse. “I’m so sorry.” “Save it for Elva and Nick, yeah?” Julian’s easy smile was back. Truly, he seemed relieved. “Just a second, alright?” He stepped backwards from me and suddenly shifted into his wolf. Then, he threw his head back and howled. An
The next day, Elva and I spent some time with Veronica in the library. Veronica was nose deep in her books. Elva had begun their time together by flittering through the stacks pretending to be a dragon. Now, she was dozing on a big, comfortable, high-back chair. Watching her sleep so soundly helpe
An announcement went out for all the candidates to head to the foyer to receive the results of the most recent event, the ball where we were supposed to look happy. At that same ball, everything sort of fell apart. Joyce declared erroneously that he and I were having an affair. Jane tried to kill
Tiffany stepped in front of me, blocking Jessica from getting too closely. “Her name is clear, Jessica,” Tiffany said. “I don’t care if they didn’t fuck,” Jessica growled. “At the very least, she tricked him somehow. He’s a decent guy. He never would have behaved this way on his own.” “Back of