Novel-novel oleh Calliee

KAYLABy the time the food was gone and the tea had been refilled twice, something in me had unclenched properly for the first time since the plane landed.This… Zara talking with her whole body, both hands moving, nearly knocking her mug off the counter twice. Her laugh filling every corner of the room. I'd missed her in a way I hadn't let myself fully feel until right now.Darius had been quiet for most of it, he laughed when something was actually funny. Asked exactly two questions, both of them good ones. Refilled my mug once without being asked and I told myself that meant nothing and I almost believed it."Okay." Zara stood up suddenly. She stretched both arms above her head and groaned. "We have to go.""Already?""It is… " She checked her phone and made a face. "Kayla. It's almost midnight.""It is not.""It genuinely is and you just got off a long flight and I have a seven AM and if I don't leave right now I'm going to keep you up until three talking about nothing and you're

KAYLASomehow… I found my voice."Darius." I whispered. "What are you…”His fingers pressed gently against my lips lightly, and every word I'd been about to say dissolved completely. His eyes stayed on mine the whole time… and then he dropped his hand slowly. And then, before I could pull together a single thought, his fingers ran up my arm… the back of his knuckles dragging from my wrist to my shoulder like he was just… exploring. Like he had all the time in the world and intended to use every second of it.My heart skipped… and he noticed. Of course he noticed.His hand changed direction, drifting down now, and I knew I should say something, should do something, but my mouth had completely stopped cooperating and my legs were barely functioning and when he placed his warm palm against the outside of my thigh I made a quiet sound.The corner of his mouth shifted. "Still fine?" he asked.I hated him. I genuinely, deeply, passionately hated him for how unbothered he sounded right now.

KAYLAHe dropped the duffle against the wall and set it down easily, then straightened up and looked around the room for a second like he was doing a mental checklist. Making sure everything was in order. Like that was just a thing he did naturally.It was annoyingly attractive."You good?" he asked, turning to look at me. "Need anything?""I'm fine," I said quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. "Seriously, I'm great. Thank you."He held my gaze for just a beat longer than necessary and then nodded."Alright." He moved toward the door. "I'll get out of your hair then.""Okay. Thanks again. For everything.""Don't mention it."And then he was gone, pulling the door mostly closed behind him, and I heard his footsteps going back down the hall and I stood completely still until I couldn't hear them anymore.Then I let out the longest breath of my entire life.What… was THAT.I pressed both hands to my cheeks. They were warm. Of course they were warm. I'd been standing in a bedroom with a

KAYLASix years was a long time.Six years of FaceTime calls that cut out at the worst moments, voice notes sent at 2 a.m. because of time zone confusion, and text threads so long that scrolling to the beginning felt like archaeology. Six years of I miss you and when are you coming back and soon, I promise, soon… and now soon was finally, actually here.I pressed my forehead against the cool window of the cab and watched the city blur past, my fingers fidgeting with the strap of my carry-on like I didn't know what to do with my hands. Which, honestly, I didn't. I'd been on a plane for four hours and in my feelings for considerably longer, and the closer we got to Maplewood Heights, the more that anxious, giddy feeling in my chest threatened to crack me wide open.I was going home.Home was the house on Sycamore Row that my parents had both packed their separate boxes out of two years into my first semester, each leaving in different directions without much thought for the building the

MIAHis eyes widened for a split second, searching my face like he was waiting for me to back out, to laugh it off as some twisted joke. “You serious?” he asked, his voice filled with that raw hunger he'd been holding back.I nodded, my heart beating really fast. “Yeahhh,” I whispered, the word dragging out, my body already aching for what came next.That was all it took. He crashed his mouth against mine, his tongue pushing past my lips. I moaned into the kiss, my hands fisting in his shirt as he devoured me. His fingers dug into my hips, pulling me against him, and I felt the thick ridge of his cock pressing insistently through his pants, right against my core.Before I could even process it, he scooped me up, one arm under my knees and the other around my back. My legs wrapped around his waist on instinct, and he carried me toward the stairs, his mouth never leaving mine. Each step jostled me against him, grinding my soaked panties against that hard bulge, sending sparks shooting

MIAI was already dressed.A wine-free short dress, simple and soft, nothing tight, nothing that screamed look at me. I’d thought about wearing something that hugged my body more, something I knew would make his eyes linger, but no. I wasn’t giving him that satisfaction. Not today.I just applied a little lip moisturiser, nothing glossy, nothing dramatic, then let my hair fall loose down my back. I took one last look at myself in the mirror and nodded once, like I was convincing myself more than anything else.Good enough.I walked out of my room and into the parlour, the house quiet in that way that made every thought louder. I sat on the couch and crossed my legs, waiting.Why the hell did my father leave his card with him?Now Jake would start acting like he was in charge, like this was his territory, like he was responsible for everything. The thought annoyed me more than I wanted to admit, and I shifted on the couch, folding my arms loosely.I wanted to be pissed about it. I real

ELIASI looked at her sitting on the bed… she looked so small and vulnerable.And it was my fault. All of it.She'd been through hell today and before that, I'd treated her like she meant nothing.My chest tightened painfully. I didn't even know how to begin processing the Alpha situation. Leading a pack? Have I even led anything that important before?Anyways, right now, that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was the woman sitting in front of me, trembling slightly, still trying to hold herself together.I took a deep breath and walked over to her. "Raina," I said quietly.She didn't look up."I know you don't want to talk to me," I continued, "but I need to say this."She still didn't respond.I dropped to my knees in front of her, taking both of her hands in mine. Her wide eyes finally lifted to meet mine."I was a fool," I said with a rough voice. "For how I acted, how I treated you. For pushing you away when all you did was give me everything."Her jaw tightened, but she didn'

RAINAI couldn't breathe properly.My hands were shaking. My whole body was shaking.I kept replaying it in my head- the cars surrounding us, the glass shattering, the hands grabbing me, dragging me, the needle piercing my neck, the burn of whatever they'd injected into my veins.The terror. The absolute, bone-deep terror of not knowing if I was going to die.And now I was sitting here, in this massive hall, surrounded by strangers who were bowing to us, and someone was apologizing like they'd merely inconvenienced us instead of traumatizing us.My throat was tight. My chest felt like it was being crushed.I couldn't process this. I couldn't…"Raina."Elias's voice cut through the fog of my thoughts. I looked at his hand that was still on mine. "Breathe," he said softly. "Just breathe."I tried. In through my nose. Out through my mouth… but my hands wouldn't stop shaking.The woman bowed her head again, this time toward Elias."My name is Mia," she said clearly. "And we are all wolve

ELIASI was exhausted.Completely, utterly drained.Six hours of Raina pushing me harder than I'd ever been pushed in my life. Lap after lap. Drill after drill. Corrections shouted across the track with zero warmth, zero encouragement, just cold precision."Lean more into that turn.""You're braking too late.""Again.""Faster.""Again."She'd made me repeat the same sequence seventeen times until I got it exactly right. Seventeen.And I deserved every second of it.I knew I was a pro. I'd been racing for years. But Raina had intentionally made things hard for me today, and I couldn't even be mad about it.This was what I got for hurting her. This was what I deserved.I stood under the shower in the track facility's locker room, letting the hot water beat down on my sore muscles.My body ached, my hands were cramping from gripping the handlebars for hours and my legs felt like jelly. But none of that compared to the weight sitting heavy in my chest.She still wouldn't talk or look at

RAINAMy alarm blared at 6:00 AM, dragging me out of a restless sleep.I groaned and reached over to turn it off, blinking at the ceiling.How was it morning already?I'd spent the entire day yesterday locked in this room. Hadn't eaten anything except the omelet I'd made in the morning. My stomach had been growling for hours, but I'd refused to go downstairs. Refused to risk running into him.I'd ignored Zane's texts too. Let him hurt and suffer the way I had. He was going to hurt a lot more before this was over.I stretched, then forced myself out of bed, walked to the mini fridge in the corner of the room and pulled out a bottle of water.I drank half of it in one go, then set it down and headed to the bathroom.I turned on the water and stepped under the spray, closing my eyes to feel the coldness on my skin, trying so hard not to cry. When I got out, I felt marginally more human.I dried off, strapped on my wristwatch, and pulled on my training outfit- baggy black pants, an ove

ELIASI left Kai standing in the kitchen and went straight to my room, closing the door behind me. Then I sat on the edge of my bed and dropped my head into my hands.What the fuck was wrong with me?I'd hurt her badly. The one person I'd sworn to protect, the one person who actually mattered, and I'd treated her like she was nothing.All because of my own fucking ego.Because Kai had shown up and I'd panicked. Because I'd thought I needed to keep up the act, maintain the illusion that I was still in control, that I hadn't completely fallen for her.But I had. I'd fallen so hard I didn't even recognize myself anymore.And this morning, after we'd just slept together, after she'd given me her virginity, after I'd told her I loved her, I'd pushed her away like she meant nothing."Fuck," I muttered into my hands.I could still see the look on her face when I'd jerked away from her touch. The confusion and hurt.And then later, when I'd told her to go back to her room. When I'd slammed t

RAINAIn the kitchen, I found Kai still sitting at the table, nursing a cup of coffee. He looked up when I walked in. "Hey," he said softly. "You okay?""I'm fine," I said briskly, walking past him to the fridge.I pulled out eggs, butter, vegetables, cheese. Started gathering ingredients for a proper omelet.Kai watched me silently for a moment."Raina…""I don't want to talk about it," I said, not looking at him."Okay," he said carefully. "But if you do…""I don't," I repeated, cracking eggs into a bowl with perhaps more force than necessary.Kai wisely said nothing else.I whisked the eggs, heated the pan, added butter, and started cooking.I was halfway through when I noticed Kai staring at the pan a little too intently.Not at me. At the food.I paused, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.His eyes were locked on the omelet like it was the most interesting thing he'd seen all day, and I caught the tiniest rumble from his stomach.Despite everything, I felt the corner of

LOGANI had been restless since three in the morning.There was this thing about her that I don't understand. Why was I acting like this?Well, my brain didn't care… It didn't care that I had a bed, or that the sheets were expensive, or that by all reasonable measures I should have been able to close my eyes and sleep like a man with a clean conscience. Instead I'd lain there in the dark, staring at the ceiling of my Barcelona apartment, listening to the silence and hating every second of it.I didn't know where Nyla was.That was the core of it. That was the splinter working its way deeper every hour I went without an answer. I'd tried her number four times… not obsessively, I told myself, just reasonably, just the way any concerned person might, and every time it had gone straight to voicemail. Her voice on the recording had made my chest ache.I'd driven past Ronan's place last night. Not in a way that anyone could call surveillance. Just a normal drive that happened to take me dow

OLIVIAShe studied my face for a long moment, then nodded. "Okay. Show me what you've got."We spent the next two hours going through every detail of running the restaurant. I walked her through the kitchen, pointing out which suppliers delivered on which days, which staff members were most reliable for different tasks, which regular customers had special preferences or dietary restrictions."And Miguel has been asking about overtime," I said, pulling up the schedule on my laptop. "He wants to pick up more shifts to save for his daughter's quinceañera. If you can swing it budget-wise…""I'll make it work," Lena assured me. "Don't worry. I've got this, Liv. You taught me well.""I know you do. It's just..." I trailed off, looking around the kitchen that I'd built, the space that represented everything I'd accomplished on my own. "This place is my baby. Leaving it feels—""Like abandoning your child, I know." Lena squeezed my shoulder. "But you're not abandoning it. You're trusting me t

OLIVIAI'd heard him.Last night, through the office door, I'd heard Ryan's voice… desperate, broken, begging me to just give him five minutes to explain.And I'd sat there on my office couch, frozen, my hand clamped over my mouth to keep from making a sound, tears streaming silently down my face as I listened to the man I loved plead for a chance I couldn't give him.*"I'm not leaving. I'll sit out here all night if I have to."*Part of me, a treacherous, stupid part, had wanted to open that door. Had wanted to hear what excuse he'd come up with, what story he'd tell to explain away the video of him kissing Daisy, touching her, being with her in ways that should have been reserved for me.But I couldn't. Because what explanation could possibly make that okay? What words could erase the image burned into my brain of his hands in her hair, his mouth on hers, his body moving with hers in a rhythm I recognized because we'd moved that way together just hours before?So I'd stayed silent.

RYANI knocked softly. "Olivia? Please. I know you're in there. Please just give me five minutes to explain."Silence."Olivia, please. I'm begging you. Just let me tell you what actually happened."More silence.I tried the doorknob—locked."I'm not leaving," I said, louder now. "I'll sit out here all night if I have to. I'll wait until you're ready to talk to me. But I'm not giving up on us. Not without a fight."I pressed my ear to the door, listening for any sound of movement inside.Nothing. No footsteps, rustling, or breathing.A terrible thought occurred to me.I pulled out my broken phone… the screen barely functional but still working enough to make calls… and dialed the restaurant's main number. I could hear it ringing inside, echoing through the empty dining room.After five rings, it went to voicemail.I hung up and tried Olivia's cell again.Straight to voicemail.She wasn't here. Or if she was, she was so committed to not seeing me that she wouldn't answer even the resta

RYANThe elevator doors closed, taking Olivia away from me, and I stood there staring at the empty space where she'd been, my entire world collapsing around me."No," I whispered to the silence. "No, no, no."I lunged forward, hitting the elevator call button frantically, but it was too late. She was already descending, already gone.I spun around and slammed my fist into the wall so hard the drywall cracked. Pain shot through my knuckles but I barely felt it. The physical pain was nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to the agony ripping through my chest.I'd lost her. The woman I loved more than anything. The woman who'd risked everything to save me. The woman who'd made me believe in futures and hope and second chances.Gone. Because of a video that made it look like I'd chosen to betray her when the truth was so much more complicated, so much worse, so fucked up that I didn't even fully understand what had happened at Daisy's apartment.I remembered the lemonade. The way the room

OLIVIA"As soon as possible. But first..." I pulled out my phone again, this time pulling up Lena's number. "I need to talk to Lena. Tell her what's happening. Make arrangements for the restaurant.""Of course. Take your time."I stood and moved to the window, looking out at the Barcelona skyline as I dialed Lena's number. It was late, but I knew she was probably still at the restaurant.She answered on the second ring."Liv? Everything okay? I was just about to call you—the dinner service went great tonight, and we had that food critic come in, the one from—""Lena." My voice came out flat and emotionless. "I need to tell you something."There was a pause, and when she spoke again, her voice had changed completely. "What happened? Are you okay? Is it Logan?""No. It's Ryan."I told her everything. The video. The fight. The way I'd left him standing in his penthouse looking destroyed. My decision to leave Barcelona and go to my father's pack.Lena was silent through most of it, though