(Hilda)
As if he can sense the turmoil inside me, my rescuer opens his arms and I collapse into them, resting my head against his wide, strong chest.
The moment he wraps me in a tight embrace, I shatter.
Sobbing into his chest, my body is shaking with the force of my anguish.
He holds me close, gently stroking my hair and whispering soothing words that I can’t hear over the deafening roar of my emotions.
Tilting my head up, my eyes meet his and madness overtakes me.
Without hesitation, I press my lips to his, more than half expecting him to push me away. Instead he hugs me closer.
The kiss is tentative at first, as though we’re testing the waters, but need soon eclipses everything else and I kiss him harder, my hands clutching his shirt so I can pull him closer.
His lips move against mine with an intensity that leaves me breathless.
Hands roam my back, tracing the curve of my spine, igniting a fire within me.
The sound I made was swallowed by his kiss.
Every caress feels like a promise.
Reassurance that I’m not alone, that I’m wanted.
He presses against me, his body warm and solid, and I can feel the steady thrum of energy pulsing between us.
I wrap my legs around his waist, needing to be closer, needing to feel anchored to something, in this case, someone, real.
His hands slide along my thighs, lifting me higher, aligning our bodies so perfectly it steals the breath from my lungs.
When I bite his lip, more out of panic than passion, he groans, and the sound travels through me like a shockwave, fanning flames I thought were long dead.
His hands trail beneath my shirt, brushing my skin, each touch igniting sparks that make me tremble.
Clothes are shed in a blur of tangled limbs and short, desperate breaths.
We crash together like a storm breaking loose, uncoordinated, wild, and inexplicably right.
For the first time in what feels like forever, I’m not cold. I’m not alone.
He holds me like I’m something precious.
Touches me like he knows every piece of me that’s broken.
And somehow, in the middle of all the heat and confusion, I laugh, just a little.
Because of course, only I would fall into bed with some stranger in the woods right after escaping a psychotic Alpha and a notorious Alpha King.
When it’s over, we’re both breathless and quiet.
He cradles me against his chest, his fingers stroking gently through my hair.
There’s a peace in his touch I haven’t felt in ages, a sense of safety I almost forgot how to want.
I drift into sleep before I can think too much about any of it.
***
Dawn breaks far too soon.
I wake with a start, heart pounding, certainty from the night before already dissolving in the morning light.
What have I done?
I shift out of his embrace carefully and slide out of bed, my feet hitting the cold floor.
I take a step back, then another.
Maybe I can just disappear. Again.
But just as I turn to run, a warm hand wraps around my wrist.
“Where do you think you’re going?” His voice is low, still rough with sleep.
Those amber eyes are wide awake though, locked on me.
“I need to leave,” I say, trying to sound braver than I feel.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” he replies, letting go of my wrist, but stepping directly into my path.
My mouth goes dry.
And then, without warning, he drops the bomb.
“I’m Arlo,” he says, calm and casual. “Alpha King Arlo.”
My entire body goes cold.
I blink at him, waiting for the punchline.
“You’re what?”
He crosses his arms, watching my reaction with something dangerously close to amusement.
“Your mate. The Alpha King. That guy you were muttering about in your sleep, calling a warmongering beast and, if I remember correctly, a ‘walking red flag with a crown.’”
Heat floods my cheeks. “I…what…I didn’t know it was you!”
He grins.
Grins.
The smug, beautiful menace.
“Well, now you do,” he says, completely unbothered. “And I’m afraid that means you’re mine, Hilda.”
“Oh no. No, no, no.” I backpedal like the floor is lava.
This can’t be happening.
I’ve already made a mess of everything with Soren, I can’t just… leap into something new with the terrifying Alpha King.
“This was a rebound! You’re the rebound!”
He chokes on a laugh.
“Did you just call me, the Alpha King, your rebound?”
Well…
“I panicked, okay?”
He steps closer, and now the humor fades into something darker.
Intense. Dangerous.
“You don’t get to choose when the bond happens,” he says, his voice low. “You feel it. I feel it. You can try to run from it, but it will always bring you back to me.”
I hate that he’s right.
I hate even more that his nearness is doing weird things to my brain.
“I’m not ready,” I whisper, looking up at him. “And I don’t belong to anyone.”
“You’re not a possession,” he says gently. “But you are mine. Just like I’m yours.”
I stare at him, lost in those infuriating golden eyes.
This is bad.
This is very, very bad.
Because somehow, against all odds… it doesn’t feel wrong.
It feels like fate.
And fate has a wicked sense of humor.
ScarlettIt starts with silence. Not quiet. Not stillness. Silence.The kind that presses on your eardrums like water. The kind that says, you’re not alone, but whatever’s here doesn’t want you to hear it coming.I’m in the library. Signe’s, technically, though she lets Cerelia and I come and go as we please.There’s a stack of books open in front of me. Histories of magical bloodlines, half-deciphered Weaving diagrams, and Erik’s notes from his last tethering trance.I was reading. I’m not anymore.Because the room feels wrong now.Too quiet. Too still.There’s no outside wind. No crackling from the hearth. No sound from the floorboards where Erik always paces when he thinks I don’t notice.I straighten. “Hello?”My voice doesn’t echo. It doesn’t carry. It doesn’t even seem to exist.The pages in front of me turn to ash. And then the world bends.Not violently. Nothing too obvious. Just... wrong. Like I blinked, and the library rearranged itself.The books are gone. The shelves stret
ChrisHe’s laughing when I pin him.That kind of half-choked, breathless sound he only makes when he forgets we’re supposed to be careful.We’re in the room behind the inn. Meant for training, or meditation. But right now it’s filled with the sharp scent of sweat, wolf heat, and the impossible thrum of want beating through both of us.I shouldn’t be doing this. We shouldn’t. Especially not here.But I have him flat on his back, panting, his wrists caught in my hands, and I’m straddling his hips like it’s the most natural thing in the world.And gods help me, it feels like it is.“Chris,” he murmurs, voice hoarse. “You’re not being fair.”“You kissed me first.”“You tackled me after.”“I regret nothing.”He smiles, and it breaks something open in my chest.I dip down and kiss him hard, tongue sliding over his like we’ve got nothing left to lose. He groans against my mouth, biting my lower lip as he presses his hips up into mine.The friction makes me gasp.“Fuck,” he breathes.I loosen
Ashkeeper - OmniThe Loom is humming again. Not in song. Not in rhythm. It shudders.The Ashkeeper kneels in the Vault of Threads, hands spread wide above the weave, palms hovering over strands that stretch endlessly in every direction.A thousand stories. A thousand fates. None of them still.The fire-born girl pulses like a spark in the tapestry. Blazing through the future, slicing across possible paths like a comet.Scarlett.She doesn’t say the name aloud. Names are powerful things, especially here.But she knows the girl well now. Watches her. Listens to her echo in the strands.She should have burned out by now.That’s what the patterns said. That’s what the past promised.A creature born of dusk and starfire was never meant to survive her own choosing.But she has.And worse, she keeps choosing both.The Court of Fire should have devoured her. The Weavers should have unraveled her The Circle should have silenced her.None have succeeded.The Ashkeeper’s breath is slow. Measured
ScarlettThe world pulls sideways.I’m not asleep. Not dreaming. One second I’m reaching for a cup of water in the kitchen. The next, the cup crashes to the floor, and the walls of the house dissolve around me like ash in the wind.No warning. No magic circle. No familiar pull like the Loom or the Weavers.This is different. This is a summoning.I hit the ground hard.It’s not Raventon beneath me anymore.It’s obsidian.Smooth, black stone rippling with golden veins, warm beneath my hands.I scramble upright. The sky above me is starless and red. Heat rolls in waves off the ground. I smell smoke, salt, something sharp.Then I hear them.Voices.Not one. Many. Layered like flames licking over each other.“Daughter of dusk.”“Child of flame.”“Blood-born. Bound. Buried.”A shape approaches me from the shadows. A tall man cloaked in crimson and gold, skin glowing faintly, like there’s fire trapped beneath the surface.Just like mine.But it’s not his face I’m drawn to. It’s the crown.Fl
ElliottThe punch isn’t supposed to land.It’s just a drill. Something I’ve done a thousand times. Slow, measured, practice. But something inside me slips, snaps, and my fist connects with the training pad hard enough to send Chris flying.He hits the mat with a sickening thud.“Shit!” I’m on him in seconds. “Chris! Chris, I didn’t mean to-”“I’m okay,” he groans, voice strained. “Just… winded.”His face is pale. He sits up, rubbing his shoulder and doesn’t look at me right away. He’s the warrior prince, I’m the thinker. I have no idea how that just happened.I sit back on my heels, breathing hard. My hands are shaking. I didn’t mean to hit him that hard.I didn’t know I could. If I did I wouldn’t have. I never want to hurt him.“Elliott,” my mother says gently from the sideline, “Take a break.”“I’m fine.”“You’re not.”Chris waves her off. “It’s okay Aunt Cerelia. Really. I shouldn't have dropped my guard.”“No,” I snap. “This wasn’t your fault. I fucked up.”And I hate that the fir
ChrisI can feel him behind me before he speaks.The rooftop is cold beneath my palms, the night pressing against my skin like a second coat. I don’t turn. I don’t have to.The weight of Elliott’s presence is enough. His scent is sharp and familiar, a mix of fresh pine and something wild I don’t have a word for.I don’t look at him because I know what I’ll find. Eyes too full. A mouth I’ve already tasted.Hands I haven’t let go of since the night we decided to stop pretending we weren’t already his and mine.He sits beside me without a word.We’re close enough that our shoulders touch, but not enough to settle the ache coiled low in my spine.“I didn’t know where you went,” he says finally.“I needed air.”“You always need air when something’s wrong.”I shrug. “Maybe I just like rooftops.”He doesn’t call me on it.Instead, he leans back on his elbows and tilts his head to the sky. His throat stretches tight under his jaw. The moon catches in his lashes.I want to kiss him.I want to