Novels by Nita Vale

ElenaThe mountain house had been turned into something else by the time they got back from the venue. Long trestle tables ran across the lawn under white cloths that moved in the breeze, flowers covered every surface, and strings of lights had been hung between the trees waiting for the dark. The guests were already there. Some were friends from campus, neighbours, people from the hospital, pack members Elena had not seen since she was small. They were here to celebrate her.Nathan and Mateo disappeared inside the moment they got out of the car, and Elena did not see either of them again for an hour. She found Lila and Harper at one of the lawn tables with three glasses already out and one already poured for her.“Sit down, Mrs. Cruz, B.A.”“Lila.”“Mrs. Bachelor of Arts.”“Stop it. Well same to you too , we all made it”Serah came over with her camera and pulled Elena out of the chair for another set of photos, and by the time Elena got back to the table both her glasses had been re

ElenaElena woke before the sun was up. The house was quiet. She pulled on a robe and went down the corridor barefoot and started down the stairs, thinking about coffee.A few months ago she had not believed she would see this day. She had sat her finals anyway, and she had passed every one of them, and today she was graduating from college.She reached the bottom of the staircase and stopped.The living room had been turned inside out overnight. There were flowers along the windowsills and balloons clustered at the corners of the ceiling and a banner stretched across the back wall that read CONGRATULATIONS ELENA in gold letters a foot tall, and the coffee table had been pushed against the sofa to make room for a long trestle table already covered in a white cloth. The smell of something baking was coming from the kitchen.“SURPRISE!”Nathan came running out of the kitchen at full sprint with his arms above his head, and Alexander was a step behind him in a clean shirt with his hair s

ElenaThe lecturer was wrapping up when Elena realised she had not written a single line of notes for the last half hour. She was sitting in her usual seat at the back of the lecture hall with Lila on one side of her and Harper on the other, and Professor Chen was saying something about the final exam schedule and the deadline for the portfolio submission.It’s been weeks since she attended any lecture or thought about school.The lecturer dismissed the class and the rows ahead of her broke up into chairs scraping and bags being zipped and a hundred small conversations starting at once, and Lila reached across and tapped Elena’s notebook.“Lunch.”“Lunch.”“You are buying. I am broke.”“You are always broke.”“I am a starving student. Have some compassion.”Harper was already on her feet with both of their bags slung over her shoulder, and Elena packed her notebook and her pen and followed them down the steps of the lecture hall and out into the corridor.The canteen was full. They go

ElenaElena barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes she heard Miguel’s voice again. I am not your real father. The words followed her through the night until morning finally arrived, and by the time she came downstairs she had already decided she would leave after breakfast.The house smelled of coffee and fresh bread. Miguel was sitting at the dining table with a newspaper folded beside him and a mug between his hands, and Serah stood by the stove, moving food onto plates. Neither of them spoke when Elena entered.The silence felt different now as though nobody knew where to begin.Elena pulled out a chair and sat down, and Serah immediately reached for another plate.“I made your favorite.”“Thanks.” Elena nodded.Miguel opened his mouth and closed it again, and a few seconds later he tried once more. “You slept alright?”“No.”His shoulders dropped slightly and nobody spoke after that. Serah carried the food over and sat down, and the three of them picked at breakfast. Elena m

Miguel pushed his chair back and went into the living room. Elena followed him. “Dad, I need to talk to you about something “ “If it’s about you and that man, I do not want to speak about it.” “No, Dad. It’s about me.” She turned to face them both. Serah had come in behind her and stopped in the doorway. “I never knew we came from a powerful bloodline. Or is there anything you’re keeping from me.” Miguel’s hand came up over his eyes. Serah moved past Elena and sat down on the sofa and patted the cushion beside her. “Come and sit down, baby. You just got in. You need to rest.” “I don’t need to rest. I don’t want to. I just need answers.” Elena sat down beside her anyway. “Ever since I went to Ravenwood so many things have changed around me. I always thought I was dormant. Like you both made me believe. You told me that was the reason I couldn’t be like my mates. I shifted for the first time and it was too violent to be ordinary. I show strength that isn’t ordinary. I h

Elena The drive to Crescent Ridge took just under three hours, and Alexander did not say much the whole way. He held her hand on the gearshift and changed lanes with his thumb hooked under hers, and she rested her head against the window and watched Ravenwood thin out behind them into commuter towns and then into farmland and then into the long stretch of woods that marked the edge of the pack lands she had grown up in. He turned off the main road onto the lane that led to her parents’ house and she sat up. The wooden fence had been repainted since the last time she had been home. The mailbox had a new flag. Her mother’s herb pots were still on the front step. Alexander pulled into the driveway and put the car in park and turned to her. “I will be on the phone the whole way back,” he said. “Call me when you need me.” “I will.” “And Elena.” “Yes.” “Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out” She pressed her hand against his cheek and he turned his mouth into her palm and ki

Evelyn I heard the knock at seven thirty and went to open the front door Maddie stood on the other side in a black dress with a bottle of wine in one hand. She smiled when she saw me and I stepped back to let her in. “Evelyn,” she said. “Maddie,” I said. We hugged briefly. She smelled expensive. Her hair was freshly done. The last time I had seen her was at Theo’s mother’s funeral years ago when everything between us was still raw neither of us knew the universe will bring us together again like this. She was standing in my own doorway now felt like a completely different lifetime. Richard came in behind her and pulled me into a full hug before I finished stepping back. “Evelyn finally.” His warmth hit me so immediately I laughed despite myself. Theo came in last. Maddie grabbed him the moment she saw him. He held her back. Over her shoulder his eyes found mine briefly. Clara had been in my kitchen since ten that morning. The house had smelled extraordinary for hours.

The flowers arrived at nine fifteen.Keisha from reception carried them in with both arms and set them on the edge of Evelyn’s desk and stepped back and looked at them with the expression she had been wearing every morning for the past three weeks.“Same sender,” Keisha said.“Thank you Keisha,” Evelyn said without looking up from the contract in front of her.“This one is bigger than yesterday’s.”“I noticed.”“It’s significantly bigger than yesterday’s Mrs Cole.”“Keisha.”“I’m just saying.” She retreated to the door. “Your nine thirty confirmed. Conference room B.”The door closed.Evelyn set her pen down and looked at the flowers properly for the first time. They were enormous. White and deep red and spilling over the edges of the vase in a way that took up half her desk and smelled extraordinary and had been arriving every single morning for twenty one days without a card and without a name and without any explanation beyond the fact that she knew exactly who was sending them and

EvelynI knocked once on Clara’s door and pushed it open.She was cross legged on her bed with her suitcase upended beside her. She looked up when I came in. Her jaw tightened slightly.I sat on the edge of the bed and moved a pile of clothes aside.“I’m sorry,” I said.Clara set down the shirt in her hands.“I put everything I was afraid of onto you,” I said. “Everything I have ever been scared of I dropped right on top of you and Jake and that wasn’t fair.” I looked at her directly. “You were right. I was projecting.”Clara looked at me for a moment. Then her shoulders dropped and she reached over and took my hand.“I know why you did it,” she said.“That doesn’t make it okay.”“No,” she said. “But I’m not angry anymore.” She squeezed my hand once. “I just need you to trust me Mom. That’s genuinely all I need from you. Jake loves me and I love him too, we might be young and stupid but at-least we know what we want now let the future sort itself out”“I trust you,” I said. “Trusting

Evelyn grabbed Clara’s hand and dragged her across the Villa’s until they got to hers and Clara tried resisting all through.She sat her down on the villa couch and stood in front of her with both arms crossed and her jaw so tight it ached. She felt the fury and the fear sitting so close together in her chest she couldn’t separate them.“Eight weeks,” she said.Clara said nothing.“You have been pregnant for eight weeks.” Evelyn’s voice was controlled but only just. “Eight weeks Clara. You have been carrying this for eight weeks and you said nothing. Not one word. Not a call. Not a text. Nothing.”“Mom…”“I am your mother.” Her voice cracked on the word. “I am your mother and you have been walking around for eight weeks with this and you couldn’t tell me.”Clara looked at her hands. “I didn’t know how.”“You open your mouth and you say the words,” Evelyn said. “That is how. That is exactly how.”“I was scared,” Clara said quietly.“Of what? Of me?” Evelyn stepped closer. “You were sca

Jake had been carrying the ring since day one.A small velvet box sitting in the inside pocket of every jacket he had brought on this trip, moving from villa to restaurant to rooftop bar and back again, waiting for the right moment with the particular patience of a man who knew exactly what he wanted and was simply choosing his timing carefully.He chose the lakeside at sunset.Clara had no idea.She was talking about something, gesturing with both hands the way she always did when she was excited about a point she was making, and Jake was nodding and listening and steering her gently down the wooden steps toward the water’s edge and she didn’t notice until her feet hit the dock and he stopped walking and turned to face her.She stopped talking.Jake reached into his jacket pocket.Clara’s hand flew to her mouth.He went down on one knee on the wooden dock with the lake behind him and the last of the evening light coming across the water in long gold lines across his face and he looke

Evelyn The resort pool was quieter by mid morning.Most guests had migrated to the lakeside or the main restaurant and the pool area had emptied out to just a handful of people scattered across the sunbeds with their drinks and their phones and their complete indifference to anyone around them.I was in the water with my arms hooked over the edge looking out at the lake when Theo appeared at the pool steps in dark shorts with two drinks in his hands and the audacity to look that good at ten in the morning.He set the drinks on the edge beside me and got in.“I ordered you one,” he said. “The bartender said it’s what you had yesterday.”I looked at the drink. It was exactly what I had yesterday.“You asked the bartender what I drink,” I said.“I observed,” he said.“You asked,” I said.He said nothing and got into the water beside me. He picked up his own drink and I pressed my lips together against the smile trying to get out and looked back at the lake.We stayed in that pool for tw

ARIA’S POV The Wedding For a second wedding I felt nervous. I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror at first. I stood there in the small room the stylist set up for me, staring at the last details being pinned, smoothed, fixed. My dress wasn’t overly dramatic. It wasn’t loud or heavy or glittery. It felt like me clean lines, soft fabric, elegant but not too much, with a small hand-painted design at the hem that matched one of my favorite patterns from the art pieces Damien always loved watching me create. My mother stood behind me adjusting the last curl of my hair. She had been crying since morning and kept telling everyone she wasn’t crying, even while wiping her face with the corner of her sleeve. My brother kept pacing in the hallway, too excited to sit still. Elma kept peeking into the room, asking if she could come inside again even though she had already come in three times to hug me. Every time I looked at them, something inside my chest filled in a way I didn’t know

Damien’s POV I spent the entire afternoon in the backyard, trying to arrange everything without making it look forced. I wasn’t good at this kind of thing. I knew how to organize men, how to coordinate shipments, how to run operations worth millions, but setting up flowers and lights made me feel like I was handling the most fragile mission of my life. I kept checking the list I made earlier. I had written it at three in the morning when I couldn’t sleep. Every line had one purpose make her smile. Make her feel loved. Make her feel chosen. Not because of promises made under pressure, and not because of chaos that pushed us together. Because I wanted her. Because she deserved a proposal that came from my heart, not from fear or confusion. Mara helped me carry the last crate of candles to the poolside, and even she looked confused at first. She kept glancing at me as if waiting for me to change my mind, but when she saw how serious I was, she stopped asking questions. By seven

Aria Damien told me he was bringing her home. When I finally heard the car pull into the driveway, I stepped outside without realizing I had moved. The light hit the hood of the car as Damien climbed out from the driver’s side, but he didn’t look at me first. He went straight to the back door and opened it like he had carried this moment in his chest for years. My eyes followed his movements, and when he stepped aside, that was when I saw her. She sat with a blanket wrapped gently around her shoulders, her back hunched like she didn’t know how to hold her body anymore. Her hair fell softly over her cheeks, and there was a distant look in her eyes that made something shift inside me. She looked fragile, yes, but not in a weak way. It was the kind of fragility that came from surviving too much, the kind that felt raw and unprotected. Damien reached inside and eased her forward with careful hands. He held her like she belonged nowhere else but in his arms. When he lifted her, h

Aria’s POV I noticed the headlights through the curtains before anyone said a word. My mom had gone to her room to fold laundry and I was pretending to scroll through my phone on the couch, even though my mind had been blank for hours. The moment I realized that car was his, something in my chest tightened, not in the painful dramatic way people describe, but in a way that made me sit up slowly like my body wasn’t sure how to react. He didn’t text. He didn’t call. He simply showed up. I watched him step out of the car through the small gap between the curtains. He stood there for a moment, running a hand over his face like he was trying to gather himself before knocking. When he finally walked toward the door, my mom called my name quietly from the hallway. “He’s here again,” she said. “I know.” I stood up because sitting any longer felt impossible. Before she could say anything else, I walked outside. I didn’t want him inside the house again. I didn’t want my mom watc

Aria I spent the afternoon in the kitchen with my mom, helping her prepare one of her recipes. She moved around the space like she’d been doing it every day for years, and I tried to copy each step she showed me. She passed me a bowl of tomatoes and told me to add them little by little so they wouldn’t ruin the consistency of the sauce. I leaned closer to the pot and sprinkled them cautiously, trying not to make a mess. “You used to stand on a stool beside me and toss everything in at once,” she said with a small smile. “Then you’d laugh when I had to fix it. You were mischievous even as a child.” I smiled back even though I couldn’t fully remember the moment she talked about. Listening to her stories filled a space in me that had been empty for a long time. I stirred the sauce and let the rhythm calm me. My mom moved to the counter and folded a cloth neatly before looking at me again. “Now that you’ve settled in, I want to ask you something important,” she said gently. “Do

Damien’s POV I walked into her room early the next morning because I couldn’t stay away any longer. I didn’t sleep. I barely sat down the whole night. I just kept replaying everything the officer told me, and the look on her face last night when she opened her eyes for those few seconds. I kept thinking maybe she wouldn’t wake up again, or maybe she’d wake up scared and not know where she was. I kept thinking about all the years she spent alone while I was out there searching like a madman. When I stepped inside the room, the first thing I noticed was her eyes were open. Not wide open, but open enough for me to know she was fully awake this time. She looked smaller somehow, tucked into the sheets, her hair a mess across the pillow, her face pale but still carrying that familiar softness I remembered from so long ago. She turned her head slightly when she heard the door. I froze because it felt like a part of my chest pulled tight all at once. “Damien?” Her voice was tiny, r

Ari’s POV I pushed open the door to the beach house expecting to hear Rhea call out from the kitchen or peek her head from the bedroom, but the entire place sat still in a way that didn’t feel normal. The first thing I noticed was the bed rumpled, warm, and unmistakably missing her. The sight made a heavy ache spread through my chest. She had warned me last night that she would probably leave soon, and I tried to pretend I could ignore that possibility, but seeing the empty room forced the truth into my throat with a kind of weight I couldn’t swallow. I stepped inside slowly, almost afraid of confirming what I already feared. Every part of the house held some trace of her, yet she wasn’t here. I walked toward the kitchen table, hoping she left something behind, maybe a message or a note that explained why she couldn’t wait for me to come back. At first, there was nothing except a chair slightly out of place. Then I saw it a piece of paper sitting near the edge of the table with a p

Ari By the time I reached Rhea’s beach house, the night had settled into something heavy, the kind that makes you feel every step in your chest rather than your legs. Her small place sat near the dunes, soft light leaking through the curtains. I could hear faint movement inside I stopped outside her door for a few seconds, breathing slowly, trying to gather myself. My parents’ faces were still fresh in my mind Dad’s anger, Mom’s fear, the way their voices trembled when they realized who she was. If I stood there long enough, maybe everything would make sense. It didn’t. I lifted my hand and knocked. It took her a moment to answer. I heard her footsteps, hesitant but fast, like she wasn’t sure whether to open the door at all. When she finally pulled it open, she stood there barefoot, dress wrinkled from hours of wearing it, her hair a little undone around her face. Her eyes were red not from crying, but from holding in tears she didn’t want anyone to see. “Ari,” she said qu

Ari’s POV I brought Rhea home that morning even though she wasn’t sure about coming. I could tell from the way she kept glancing over her shoulder, her eyes moving along the quiet path as if she expected someone to step out from behind a tree. I promised her it wouldn’t be awkward, that my parents would want to meet her before she left the island. After a long moment, she finally agreed. She walked beside me in a pale dress, her hair tied up loosely, sketchbook held tight against her chest. Every step she took felt careful, deliberate in a way that made me glance at her more than once. I didn’t tell her she had nothing to be nervous about, because in this house, everything had history. Mom opened the door before my hand even touched it. Her smile came quickly, warm and curious. “You must be Rhea.” Rhea nodded lightly. “Yes, ma’am.” Mom’s smile wavered. Not because she didn’t like her. It was something else. Something she sensed before she could name it. Her eyes narrowed slightl

Ari’s POV I didn’t plan to see her again that night. I walked because the house felt too tight around me after the fight with my father, every room still echoing with what we’d thrown at each other. I needed air, space, distance anything that didn’t sound like his voice in my head. The path that led toward the water gave me all of that. The shoreline shimmered in pale light, and the waves rose and fell with a rhythm that steadied my steps. I kept telling myself I only needed a few minutes to clear the noise in my chest. I didn’t expect to see her there. Rhea sat on the same overturned boat where we’d talked before, knees drawn up, sketchbook abandoned beside her like she’d forgotten she was supposed to be using it. She had her chin tucked down as if she was listening to the sea breathe. The tide kept reaching for her feet, slipping close then pulling back again. She lifted her head the moment I stopped, and the look in her eyes told me she’d felt me coming before she saw me.

Ari’s POV The first thing I noticed when I stepped inside wasn’t any quiet in the house. It was the way both my parents stared at me as if I had walked in carrying something dangerous on my skin. Father was still by the window, sleeves pushed up, his jaw clenched tight. Mom sat at the table with her fingers curled around a mug she hadn’t tasted once. Valeria was perched on the arm of the couch with a book open on her lap, but she hadn’t been turning any pages. Her eyes were fixed on me the whole time. “You’re late,” Father said without raising his voice. I shut the door behind me, feeling more eyes on me than people in the room. “Didn’t know there was a curfew,” I muttered, trying to walk past him, but the way he slowly turned his head told me that whatever he had heard, it wasn’t good. He asked if I wanted to repeat myself, and for a moment I actually considered lying, giving them some easy excuse, anything to avoid this conversation. But the moment our eyes met, everything f

Ari’s POV We stayed near the water after the men were gone. The tide had crept back, slow and heavy, dragging foam across the sand until it touched our feet. Rhea sat a few paces from me, knees pulled to her chest, sketchbook lying closed beside her. Neither of us spoke for a long time. The pier behind us had gone quiet. The fishermen had gone home. Only the sea kept talking. Her hair was still messy from the scuffle, a few strands stuck to her face. I wanted to brush them away, but I didn’t. I just sat there, watching the waves fold over each other, waiting for her to breathe normally again. Finally, she said, “You shouldn’t have done that.” I glanced at her. “I know.” “You could’ve gotten hurt.” “So could you.” “That’s different.” “No,” I said. “It’s not.” Rhea turned her head slowly. “You don’t get it, do you?” “Then make me get it.” Her eyes flicked to the horizon, pale and still. “You asked me who he was. That man at the pier.” “Yeah.” “He works for