Novels by Kiera Sky

**ELENA'S POV**I swear I wanted to reject him.However, I could feel many eyes on me, and the way Alessandro's hand on my waist tighten told me rejecting him wasn't a good idea.I caught sight of Onyx not far from where we stood. She was staring daggers at me.Suddenly, the idea of pissing her off felt like a brilliant pastime to get through the evening.I gave Alessandro a bright smile, not missing the flash of surprise and desire that flashed across his eyes as I did.“It would be my pleasure, darling.”I slipped my hand into his outstretched one and winked at Onyx as Alessandro led me to the centre of the dance floor.The music shifted, low and sultry, like honey sliding over silk. Alessandro’s warm palm settled possessively on the small of my back.I tried not to think about the way it burned through the thin fabric of the cream dress he’d made me wear.I lifted my chin instead, letting my smile linger tauntingly, perfectly calculated, for Onyx’s benefit.The little darling was w

**ALESSANDRO'S POV**“What?” I was confused.What in fuck’s name is this woman yapping about?“What did you do with my step-sister?” She repeated.Step–ohh. That girl.“I had my men return her,” I said slowly, still staring at her lips. “You hadn't decided what to do with her yet.”She gave a small nod and then pushed me away with a dirty look.“Control yourself,” she said with an unhappy look. “Someone will think you truly love me and get ridiculous ideas about kidnapping me. I'm not having any of it.”I frowned, without answering. Whoever had such ideas must already have his funeral arrangements in place.I straightened, tugged my cuffs into place, and gestured for her to follow. My men closed ranks around us as we left the smaller meeting room and stepped into the late noon sun.“Where are we going now?” Elena asked, her arms crossed as she matched my pace. Her tone was sharp, but her steps… reluctant. She always walked like she wanted to defy me, and yet she kept pace anyway.I sl

**ELENA'S POV**Morning came too fast.I woke to the sound of doors slamming, and the sound of Rio’s laughter spilling faintly from his room.Alessandro had brought me to his bed to sleep and did nothing but hold me to his chest. He had become more unpredictable. As I stretched under the covers of his large bed, Alessandro's unmistakable scent was everywhere.His cologne lingered everywhere, as if he’d marked the very walls. I shoved the covers off, hopped into the bathroom for a bath, and then dressed quickly.I was feeling a bit dressy so I picked a black, satin blouse and a pair of high waisted, cream dress pants, ignoring the dull pull in my side where the bullet wound still ached.It would be a shame to waste the clothes just sitting there in my walk-in closet.By the time I stepped into the hall, Alessandro was waiting. Leaning against the wall, black suit tailored like sin, watch glinting under the light.His expression was unreadable, but his eyes… his eyes were dark with mis

I looked up to see Alessandro standing right in front of me as I turned my phone to avoid his sharp gaze.“He's asleep?” I asked, despite how nervous I was feeling inside.“Yeah.” He replied curtly.Silence stretched between us.“You’re hiding something,” he said softly, too softly.I froze. “I’m hiding nothing.”His hand braced against the back of the arm chair behind my head, boxing me in. His breath was warm against my cheek.“Don’t lie to your husband, Elena. You’ve always been a terrible liar.”His proximity burned. The same Alessandro who had made my life hell now stood so close my heart raced for all the wrong reasons.“I’m your wife in name only,” I snapped, “Don't push it.”His lips curled, not quite a smile. “Oh, cara mia. Everything about you is mine.”The words sent a chill down my spine.And I knew, with every fiber of my being, that the real war was only just beginning.“Move.”“Make me.”“Alessandro—” He placed a finger on my lips. “Shhh,” he murmured, his voice low, d

**ELENA'S POV**“Rosario!” I called, leaning against the carved doorframe of the sitting room.Rosario was too busy sprinting through the hallways in his little socks, shrieking like a tiny banshee as Gael chased after him.The mansion hadn’t changed in the past years, but it felt smaller somehow—like the walls leaned in a little closer with every breath I took. Maybe it was me. Or maybe it was just the weight of knowing that this house was a cage, no matter how polished the marble floors were.Rosario didn’t notice the cage, thank God.Vitale trailed behind, his expression carved from stone as usual, though I swore I saw the corner of his mouth twitch every time my son squealed.My body still ached from the bullet wound—moving too fast felt like my stitches would split right open—but the sound of his laughter pulled me forward.He skidded across the rug with flushed cheeks and barreled toward me, clutching some ridiculous toy car Gael must have slipped him.“Mamma!” He threw himself

**ELENA'S POV**I was gonna turn away then I remembered something.“Alessandro?” I started. “Can I have my phone back?”He stares at me for a few seconds before responding.“Okay. After breakfast.”I blinked in surprise. That was quick. He refused to give me my phone while I was in the hospital.What changed?“Thanks.” I turned away and went to meet Rosario in the kitchen, where he was showing Vitale his messy pancakes.“For you.” Rio offered Vitale his pancakes and I saw a hit of a smile on Vitale's lips.As tough as Vitale is, he's a man with a soft heart. If he wasn't, he wouldn’t have helped me to avoid the harshest of Alessandro's mistreatments back then.“Elena.” Vitale stood straighter when I came closer.“Vitale, Rio's pancakes were made with lots of love.” I smiled.Vitale smiled back, only for him to wipe it off his face the next second.“Where's mine?”I turned to face Alessandro, whose face looked darker than a full eclipse.What is it now?“You gentlemen can go sit in the

“Oww.”The sound scrapes out of me before I can swallow it.Everything hurts. It's neither the sharp kind of hurt nor the shallow surface-level pain.This is the deep, dragging ache that settles in the bones, the kind you only feel when your whole body has been taken apart and put back together wrong.I try to take a deep breath, only to instantly regret it.My ribs scream, my muscles seize, and for a moment I swear I’m dying all over again.Goddess, this feeling. I know it too well.An unfamiliar ceiling swims into view, the soft shadows across it blurring and sharpening as I blink. Lavender lingers in the air, but beneath it is something else—warm, grounding, painfully familiar.Someone was here.“Who…?”The word dissolves before it’s fully formed as the pain in my body flares again, pulsing like a heartbeat under my skin, and suddenly the memories slam into me without mercy.This is just like that time.The first time my body felt like it was trying to tear itself apart from the in

It has been six days.Six days of pretending I can stay away from her.Six days of fighting the sensation of being… pulled.Pulled… is putting it lightly. I feel wrecked.Every time I force myself to avoid this hallway, the bond coils tighter inside my ribs like something sharpening its claws.I shouldn’t be here. I know that.Aisling made it very clear: distance is safety.But somehow, my traitorous feet have carried me to her room again.The healer wing is quiet. Even the guards stationed down the corridor look like shadows instead of men.Not that it's strange since I'm the one who's here at two in the morning.My hand is already on the door handle before I realize I’ve moved.“Fuck,” I exhale. “Why is this so damn hard?”I push the door open quietly, bracing myself for the sight that haunts me even while awake.From where I'm standing, I can see that she is still unconscious.I walk in quietly, and shut the door softly behind me. The healers checked her two hours ago; I know, beca

For a heartbeat, the world seems to stop as Zarina’s question hangs between us like a blade suspended by a thinning thread.I’m about to shut it down with a lie when a second voice slices through the room like ice.“That is the same question I need an answer to.”Aisling.She slips into the office as quietly as a breeze, but her presence is anything but gentle. It hits much like a pressure change.She hops onto the edge of Zarina’s desk with that infuriating grace she inherited from our mother.She looks so calm, poised, and sharp enough to peel the truth off a man’s bones.I force my breathing to stay even.“Be specific,” I say, though my voice is no longer steady. “Who do you think she is?”Zarina doesn’t blink.Aisling’s gaze sharpens with the kind of clarity that makes people confess without meaning to.“The girl you brought into this estate,” she begins slowly, “the girl you had treated in your bedroom… the girl who lived through a forced shift…”Her eyes narrow into an assessing

Zarina doesn’t blink when I refuse the chair.She simply exhales and flips the chart open.“Fine,” she says coolly. “We’ll start with the obvious. Her shift.”My jaw tightens. “She shouldn’t have shifted. Not with silver still in her system.”“No,” Zarina replies, “she shouldn’t have. Which is why forcing her body into one was catastrophic.”A cold line of dread slides down my spine.“Catastrophic… how?”Zarina folds her arms, bracing like she’s preparing to tell me something I won’t survive hearing.“Your Majesty,” she begins carefully, “the silver you ordered me to leave circulating in her blood reacted violently with the hunter venom she was already carrying.”Hunter venom.From that stab wound in her shoulder.“It accelerated the spread,” Zarina continues. “It triggered her wolf prematurely. The shift wasn’t voluntary. It wasn’t even natural.”Forced shift.My stomach drops again.That’s one of the most painful things a wolf can endure.“What happened?” I hear myself ask, even tho

I wake up with the taste of iron on my tongue, on the cold stone floor of the Holding Chamber, my wrists burningThe taste isn't blood. Not quite.It’s the aftertaste of losing myself.Again.I let out a deep breath that scrapes like broken glass against my throat as I remember everything.Ash’s whisper that called Klaus's name.Her trembling hand on my muzzle.Her scent that threaded through my darkness like a lifeline.Her body pressed against mine when Klaus took over.The moment we curled around her like she was the only thing keeping us alive.And the devastation of realizing that even feral, even drowning in madness, I had… stopped.For her.I scrub a hand over my face, my jaw clenched so tightly it hurts. I shouldn’t remember the details, but I do. Every one of them carved into me like wounds.“Why was she even out there?” I mutter.Was she trying to escape?I force myself up, and call out for a guard. One comes running forward, the fear in his eyes leaking through the tough fr

I don't realise I am stumbling backwards until I stumble into the snow.I struggle to my feet and run toward the tree line.I can still make it. If I run now.If the Goddess finally pities me for once in my miserable life—All I need is to climb those trees, wait out the chaos, and stay alive.Simple.Whoever—whatever—he is, must not kill me.I'm halfway across the snow to the trees when I feel the vibrations, and then—Crunch.The sound snaps me to a standstill.My entire body goes rigid. My heart is slamming so hard against my ribs I think it might crack through bone.I don’t turn.Scratch that.I can’t.Not when every instinct I have is already screaming. Not when every muscle is frozen with fear.The murderous feeling rolling off the creature behind is enough for me to imagine the current colour of the gates of hell.I'm betting it's black.The wind shifts, sweeping past me in a cold, merciless gust.I can't tell if I'm shivering from the cold or the fear but the scent filling my