Novels by Calliee

KAYLAI didn’t even know what I was thinking anymore. That was the terrifying part.It felt like my brain had completely disconnected from the rest of my body. Like every logical thought inside my head was screaming that this was wrong while the rest of me stood there melting anyway.Zara was my best friend. His girlfriend.Every single fact was still there in my head, clear as day, and somehow none of it was enough to stop whatever this was.I opened my mouth to speak. To tell him to leave. To finally say it properly this time.“I…” The word came out uneven. “You should…”But the sentence died completely when Darius suddenly pulled me closer again.A soft gasp escaped me as my body pressed fully against his this time.His hand slid slowly up my back, firm and warm through the fabric of my dress, and every tiny movement sent another wave of heat through me.God.Every single hair on my body rose instantly.He noticed that too. Of course he did.His head dipped slightly, his eyes fixed

KAYLAI was unsettled.Completely. Deeply. Irritatingly unsettled.The moment Zara said she was sending Darius back, my entire body had reacted before my brain even caught up. My pulse had jumped. My stomach had tightened. And the worst part is I hadn't recovered from the way his hand had felt on me earlier.That stupid squeeze had burned itself directly into my brain.I exhaled sharply and hurried upstairs again, clutching the folder against my chest.“Nope,” I muttered under my breath. “Absolutely not.”If he was coming over here acting stupid, then I was at least going to make sure I looked as unappealing to him as possible.I went straight to my suitcase and yanked out the longest dress I owned. It covered me from collarbone to ankle like I was preparing for winter in another century.Perfect.I changed quickly, then stared at myself in the mirror afterward. There was nothing visible, tempting and nothing for him to look at.And somehow that realization annoyed me too.I brushed m

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

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

OLIVIA It was a small laugh, kind of rusty, like something that hadn't been used in a long time… but it was real, and it moved across his face and made him look, for just a moment, like someone I remembered from a long time ago. Someone from before everything went wrong.From the doorway, Axiel was no longer pretending the cough was a cough."I'm going to accept it," I said, "and I'm going to make my own changes. Real ones. Not adjustments to the existing structure — a genuine rebuild from the ground up. New resource strategy, new alliance approach, new internal policies. The council will advise but they will not override me. Everything gets examined." I looked at my father directly. "All of it. Including things that have been done a certain way for thirty years simply because they've been done a certain way for thirty years.""Yes," he said, still recovering from the laugh. "Yes. Anything you need.""Good." I stood up, and he looked momentarily startled. "But not today.""Not—""I

OLIVIAThe drive back to the main pack grounds felt different in the morning.Yesterday, coming in, everything had looked like a wound… the peeling paint and the overgrown paths and the hollow-eyed pack members had landed on me like evidence in a case I was still deciding whether to take. This morning, with proper sleep and Axiel's eggs and the particular clarity that comes from having actually made a decision, it looked different.Not better, exactly. The problems were all still there, plain as ever in the early light — a loose shutter hanging off the community hall, a fence line that needed replacing, a garden that wanted serious attention. Nothing had changed overnight.But it looked like a list now instead of a verdict.*That needs fixing. That needs replacing. That needs someone who actually cares to spend three hours with it and a set of tools.*Manageable problems. Hard, expensive, time-consuming, emotionally loaded… but manageable.I'd spent the drive making mental notes, and

AXIELThe pack grounds were quieter now, the last lights going out in the windows as I crossed back toward my chambers. Overhead the sky was clear and I stopped for a moment and looked up at them.Two months I'd been living in this place, watching it slowly come apart and holding the whole operation together. Two months of careful conversations and long evenings and learning which elders were reachable and which were calcified beyond help. Two months of not knowing if any of it would work.And today Olivia Hunter had walked back through those gates and in the space of an afternoon had looked at a seven-year-old boy on a fence post and shaken his hand like a promise.Yeah. She was going to say yes.I walked back inside, and she was exactly where I'd left her… one hand tucked under her cheek, the covers pulled to her shoulder, breathing slow and even.I gently carried her to my room, placed her on the and laid beside her.I kept to my side, but the moment I settled against the pillow Ol

AXIELShe was asleep.I noticed the exact moment it happened… the way her breathing changed, slowing and deepening, the slight release of tension across her shoulders that had been there all day like something she'd been carrying and hadn't been able to put down. One moment she was watching the film with that expression she had… and then her head drifted, and then she was simply gone.Her head was on my shoulder.I stayed very still.I was aware that I was smiling in a way that probably looked ridiculous, and I was equally aware that there was nobody here to see it, so I let myself have it anyway. She's here.After everything… after months of living in a deteriorating pack and having difficult conversations with a dying Alpha and navigating the very delicate question of how to reach a woman who had every justifiable reason to want nothing to do with anything connected to the situation… she was here. In my space. Asleep on my shoulder, with the film still playing softly in the backgro

OLIVIAHe drove us off the main pack grounds to a smaller cluster of residential buildings on the territory's north edge… newer construction than the main residence, less grand but better maintained. He parked and led me to the second floor of the end unit, and when he opened the door I stopped in the doorway for a moment.Okay. He hadn't been exaggerating.It was warm, first of all… genuinely warm, with soft lighting. He'd rearranged the furniture into something that actually made sense for the space. There were books stacked on the side table and a decent rug under the coffee table and curtains that matched, which given what I'd seen of the rest of the pack's current state of resources seemed almost miraculous."Did you just… bring all of this?" I asked, stepping inside."Some of it. Some I found in the pack's storage." He shrugged out of his jacket and hung it by the door. "There's a lot of decent furniture buried in that storage building on the west side. Nobody's been using any

OLIVIAAxiel was waiting in the hallway outside, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed."How'd it go?" he asked."He wants me to take over as Alpha."Axiel blinked. "Well. That's... not a small ask.""No. It is not." I started walking and he fell into step beside me easily, matching my pace. "He's also in worse shape than I thought. The famine is real, the pack numbers are down, and half their alliances have dissolved." I glanced at him sideways. "You knew all of this when you came to get me.""I knew some of it.""Axiel.""I knew most of it," he amended. "But I also knew that if I led with *your father's pack is in famine and falling apart and he wants you to take over as Alpha,* you might have said no before you'd seen it for yourself.""You were probably right," I admitted. "I'm still slightly annoyed.""Noted."We walked in silence for a moment, down the corridor toward the main entrance. Through the windows, I could see the pack grounds… the overgrown paths, the building