Novels by BlackSwaan

"Azaziel" That voice. It had been so long since he had heard it. Azaziel's heart almost caved in his chest as that soft voice blossomed again from the Anchor bond. "Azaziel, Can you hear me?" Azaziel's eyes we're still brimming red as he held Vynessa's father on his throat, dangling him in the air like a chew toy but he responded. "Little one" He responded into the bond. "Ca... Can you come home?" Home. She asked if he could come home. The meaning of the word was not lost on Azaziel. But with the way she had been acting the past few days, it could just be something else. "Are you alright, Little one?"She did not respond. He waited, her father still struggling and choking in his hold. Then a thought struck him. What if Khaos had returned? What if he was bothering her? "Vynessa?""I'm alright, Azaziel. Please come home" she finally responded. "I'm with your father""I know""I'm not done yet, Little one""But I want you back at home. I don't care if they stay alive. You don't h

Little She-demon. Me. A little SHE DEMON!!! I've always wanted a home, a sense of family. I've always wanted the love of my parents. I begged and craved for it all my life and it never came. It never came because those people were not my parents. They did not love me. I wasn't they're child. No wonder they picked possessions and houses over me during the divorce. I had felt it was insane before. A misunderstanding. And yet, now it all makes perfect fucking sense. Not that I had any left.The first few hours after he’d told me, after that truth had slipped from his lips like a fucking death sentence, it felt like my life had been all a fucking lie. Who the fuck was I? Unwanted in the human world and a fugitive in the demon world too? I knew Azaziel cared for me, was worried for me, I saw it in the way he had hovered near the wall, hanging around but not coming too close, like he was afraid to touch me. Good. I didn’t want him close. Not when I couldn’t even recognize myself.The mi

The lights flickered in the hallway Azaziel was standing in. It when off, buzzed and then came on again. Azaziel stood in the surrounded by dark, gleaming shadows in the hallway that was obscenely drenched in sterile white, the silence humming louder than any scream. Hospitals were curious places, they fascinated him. All this effort to keep people alive, to cling to something as fragile as breath. Just to live a life that was still damned to end. He watched the doctor through the glass panel, her back turned, arms folded. Vynessa’s mother, or rather, the woman who had dared to call herself that. She’d aged a little more since the last time he’d seen her at the gala where she stood and watched his anchor be humiliated, touched and groped by an old weasle. Her face did not sure her true cruel and selfish side, it was her eyes that bled with wickedness. He stepped through the glass like it was mist.She didn’t hear him at first. Then she spun around in started fear. She looked at

If he had been human, Azaziel's mouth would have been hanging open from shock. He kept looking at Vynessa holding up the bed frame like it was a side stool, his mind not quite wanting to believe what his eyes were seeing. The heavy, wrought-iron monstrosity wasn’t just lifted—it was being cradled effortlessly in her grip, like a twig, like air. His anchor...Vynessa... This small, broken little girl was holding onto the heaviest looking sofa by the tip of her fingers. It defied logic. Physics. Everything he had quietly convinced himself about her limits. Even now, after the bond, after the truth had split her world apart like a lightning strike, a part of him had clung to denial. It wasn't that he could not believe it, or that he expected her to be weak and puny forever... It was that he was really not prepared for her change. He had still held on to a tiny hope...That she might just be… mostly normal. Human enough to remain untouched by the shadows of hell. But this? This

The silence was worse than her screams.Azaziel stood in the doorway of the bedroom, watching her. She lay curled on the far side of the bed, facing the wall, swaddled in a blanket too large for her frame. He’d brought it to her after she'd passed out in his arms—but not before she’d flinched at his touch.She hadn’t said a word since.Not one.Not even a glance his way.She’d opened her eyes hours ago. He had felt it—through the bond, through that warm hum of presence that now lived within him. But when he spoke her name, she didn’t answer. When he knelt at the bedside and whispered apologies he couldn’t begin to explain, she turned her face deeper into the pillow.And that... that broke something in him.Azaziel exhaled slowly and dragged a hand down his face. His body buzzed with residual fury—some of it still aimed at Khaos, but most of it now turned inward.He should have told her.He’d had the pieces, had gathered them one by one like breadcrumbs left in blood. The moment he fel

The wind outside screamed like it had a score to settle with the windows.Azaziel stood by the far side of the penthouse, his back turned, arms braced against the railing of the balcony. He’d barely spoken since the moment Khaos disappeared into the floor. Just... silence. Cold and brutal. The kind of silence that wasn’t empty, but thick with the weight of what he hadn’t said.Vynessa didn’t move. Not at first. She just stood, rooted to the spot, her eyes on the floor where Khaos had been moments ago, her breath trembling out of her lungs.She didn’t understand why her legs still held her up. Maybe it was the shock. Maybe she wasn’t standing at all and the floor was just holding her body like a tired lover. But when her knees finally buckled, it was Azaziel who caught her.He didn’t speak. Not right away. Just lifted her as if she weighed nothing—because apparently, she didn’t—and carried her to the long, low couch. His chest rose and fell slowly, deliberately, like he was trying not

Kai knew he could not help her. This was magic. Black magic. And he had little or no knowledge in that area. Dorian was holding on to a thread of the fake bond, and tormenting her through it. Selena had been right afterall. The fake fair bind, or whatever was left of it, was dangerous. It was a loose end that needed to be handled. It needed to be fixed. But until then, he needed her to snap out of it. “Look at me,” Kai ordered. His voice was a command, deep enough to anchor her. “Not him. Me. Look at me, Lyra. Please” Lyra’s breath came in ragged gasps, as she tried to tune Dorian’s voice out. She focused on Kai his heat, the intensity of his eyes, the way his grip felt like iron and safety all at once. Dorian’s voice snarled in protest in her head. “Pathetic. Hiding behind him like the weak thing you are. It does you nothing. It doesn't even stop me. You are weak! Dirty, broken...disgusting...You were nothing without me. You’ll always be nothing.” The words cut her deeply, sli

Lyra opened her mouth to argue, but Kai didn’t give her the chance. His arm stayed firm around her waist as he guided her out of the room. She was too weak to fight, too overwhelmed to speak, worst of all, the dizzying spells confused her more than anything else. Before long, the familiar haze and disorientation that came with winnowing overwhelmed her. They appeared in the mountain house, but Kai still did not put her down. When they reached her chambers, he still didn’t release her immediately. He stood there, with her in his arms, his gaze locked on hers, the silence between them thick.“You need to start training again,” he said finally, voice low but edged. “Tomorrow.”Lyra frowned, tugging herself free though her body still ached for the steadiness of his hold. “Training? My sister just nearly died, and you’re talking about training?”“Yes.” His jaw tightened. “Because the next time, Dorian won’t come for her. He’ll come for you. And if you’re not ready...” His eyes darkened,

Lyra never knew dark magic used on a witch’s body was capable of straining and weakening her like that, she just could not shake off the thought that they were truly lucky to still have her with them, alive.Selena had moved Willow back to their cottage within the pack lands so she could easily treat her and handle any residue of dark magic left in her sister. Which meant that she had to rely on Kai to winnow her to her mothers house whenever she needed to check on Willow.Freya had been reckless, too reckless. Sacrificing her sister’s life just because a stupid alpha’s bloated ego was bruised when she decided to leave him. Willow’s breathing was steady, her chest rising and falling in rhythm against the quilts Selena tucked tightly around her. Selena had barely slept. Lyra watched her hover around willow with one herb or incense or the other, muttering about exhaustion, blood loss, and how lucky she was to have survived Freya’s ritual at all.Lucky. The word stabbed at Lyra’s ribc

The strain of her shift took everything from her, her strength, her will, everything. The only constant source of strength and warmth was Kai’s brimming hot chest as he cradled both sisters in his arms. Lyra fought to stay awake, but as she opened her eyes to look up at Kai’s face, the world blurred. One moment, the cold forest air was clinging to Lyra’s skin, and the next she was inside the warm walls of the mountain house. It was official, she would never get used to Kai’s ability to winnow. Kai set her down gently, but her legs shook the second her feet touched the ground, but her mother was already there, rushing forward, her hands trembling as she pulled Willow into her arms.“By the goddess!!! Willow, oh my baby.” Selena’s voice broke as she kissed her daughter’s forehead again and again, rocking her as if that alone could erase what had just happened.Lyra bent down, ignoring the sharp burn of her muscles, to check Willow’s wrists. She had so much to think about but she real

Lyra's head was swimming with so much blood it was a miracle she was still standing. Dorian did not know of her powers. Even Freya did not know that they had returned. That had to be the only reason they still spoke to her like a child neeeding his approval. The thought sickened her. Was this what she had been enduring for years? And for what?! The world tilted again.But this time, Lyra didn’t fall. She rose.The familiar feeling of her power fed by anger came bubbling out of her. She did not need to look to know her eyes were glowing. Power coiled in her spine. Her wolf screamed to the surface in pure pain and anguish, for the lies she had endured. And for the first time, she didn’t push her down. She embraced the fire. The fury. The betrayal.Her wolf had the right to feel anger. To feel the pain she was feeling too. And oh she felt it. Lyra felt the howl of pain from her wolf come from within her. It broke her that she had to go through this, in this way,but she could not comf

Lyra should have known that it was not going to be as easy as Selena had said it. Her mother was not the one out here now. It was her. Yes, she was with Kai, but that did not mean that she could still not get hurt. Her powers apparently only showed up when she was angry and what she felt now was intense fear and anxiety for Willow's safety. Which means she was stuck!!The forest was darker than it should have been.Even with the moon sitting full and heavy above the canopy, shadows clung to every tree trunk, every rock and root. Lyra felt them... She felt those shadows reach out like fingers reaching through the underbrush, brushing cold over her skin.She was silent as she walked beside Kai, but her wolf paced wildly beneath her skin. Every breath she took felt tight. Controlled. Like she was at the very edge of something she couldn’t name.Kai hadn’t said much since Selena finished the ritual and sent them off. Just a nod. A squeeze of her hand, but in true Kai fashion, it was pur