Novels by Annie

Althea’s povI jolted awake with a violent scream, drenched in sweat, tears streaking down my face. Every breath was a ragged tear in my chest.Damien burst into the room, panic flashing across his face."Althea... are you okay?" he asked, holding me close. I shivered, tears welling in my eyes. "They came... they came for me," I stammered. He pulled me closer, brushing wet strands of hair from my face. "Calm down... you're safe now," he soothed, his voice a low tone as he patted my back. The comfort was a need to my frayed nerves, and I leaned into him, clutching at his shirt. He gently cupped my face, his gaze intense. "I'm not going anywhere, Althea. It's okay Althea… you're okay.. You're safe here with me, I won't let anything happen to you, okay?" His eyes were mixed with sincerity and pain. I managed a shaky nod.It wasn't much at the time, but it gave me relief. I slumped on his shoulder holding him tight. He broke the hug and held my face. “I’m not leaving you again.. Okay?

Althea’s povI felt him before I heard him.A tight, burning sensation crawled up my spine the familiar, infuriating pull of his presence.Valerio.I turned sharply.He stood there, chest heaving, eyes wild, like a man who had sprinted through hell just to reach me.But that only made my anger sharper, colder.“What are you doing here?” I hissed. “Why are you here, Valerio?”His face tightened. “Let me explain, Dolcezza, I….”“Don’t.” My voice sliced the air. “Don’t call me that.”He froze.For a second… he looked like I’d slapped him.Good.“It’s almost funny,” I said slowly, bitterness burning through my throat. “I used to want nothing more than to hear that name from you. I even loved the way it sounded. And now?”I shook my head.“Now I detest it.”“Althea, please…” His voice cracked, soft but desperate.“You’re just like him.” I spat the words like poison. “Damien. A liar. A cheat.”His jaw clenched. “I’m nothing like him.”“You lied to me!” My voice rose despite my attempts to s

Althea’s PovThe next few days, the pattern deepened.He cooked again.Then he offered to drive me anywhere.Then he started talking… the kind of talking men only do when they’re trying to rebuild something they know they shattered.Stories. Regrets.Confessions wrapped as apologies.“I don’t know why I let things go the way they did,” he said one afternoon as we sat in the living room. “I tried to move on… I even tried to convince myself I was happy. But every time I saw you…”He stopped.I tilted my head. “Every time you saw me… what?”His jaw clenched. “It reminded me of everything I ruined.”There it was.The crack.The opening.I stepped closer, pretending to hesitate. “Damien… we can try to rebuild something. Maybe not what we had, but…”I let my voice soften into the version he remembered… warm, forgiving, naïve.A small, careful smile touched his lips…full of hope he didn’t deserve.Hook two.But…I let the softness drop like a blade.“That was what you expected me to say?” I

Althea’s POVDamien tried.God, he tried so hard it was almost embarrassing.By the second day in his house, the shift had already begun.He lingered near me more.He spoke softly, as if any wrong word might make me disappear again.He moved around me with an anxious gentleness, like he was holding his breath every time I walked by.And I watched it all.Coldly.Silently.Calculating.Exactly as a “clone made to adapt” would.“Are you hungry?” he asked that morning, peeking into the guest room like a hesitant child. His fingers gripped the doorframe a little too tightly. “I… I made breakfast.”Made breakfast.Damien.The man who once couldn’t put water on fire without supervision.I smiled sweetly. “Sure. Thank you.”His shoulders relaxed instantly, and he guided me downstairs. The living room hadn’t changed… except for the emotional residue. The memories. The betrayal. The place my old self used to sit, laugh, talk… and trust.Never again.The kitchen smelled like eggs, tomatoes, and

Damien’s povShe was here.Standing right in front of me as though the universe had finally taken pity on me after months…no, years of slow, gnawing misery.Althea.For a full second, I honestly thought it was a hallucination. Maybe lack of sleep. Maybe guilt. Maybe punishment. But when she blinked, when her lips moved, when she said my name in that voice that used to soften every part of me…I knew she was real.And the look she gave me…the slight curl of disgust she tried so hard to hide hit me like a punch to the chest. God, I deserved it. I deserved every bit of hate she carried.But she was here.And she came to me.It felt like a second chance wrapped in punishment.I don’t know what kind of man I’ve become lately. I don’t know how to explain the ache, the emptiness, the regret that sits in my bones every day. All I know is that ever since I chose wrong, ever since I walked away from her, something in me never recovered.I thought I loved Elara.I convinced myself I did.But som

Althea’s POVI was quarter way done with my plan.Seraphina’s empire was burning; her name was already a whispered curse among the criminals she had betrayed and a flashing red alert in government databases. One pest eradicated. One liar exposed.It was him next.Damien.The man who once swore to protect me. The man who let me go like I was nothing. The man who stood silently and watched my life shatter, then pretended guilt years later could magically reassemble what he broke.He thought regret was enough.He thought sorrow was redemption.He thought he could look at me with soft eyes… on his wedding day, on my birthday and imagine that forgiveness was something he could buy with a sigh and a pained expression.Idiot.Fool.Weak, sentimental little man.But his regret?His weakness?His attachment?I would use all of it.I would make him crawl.I would make him kneel.I would make him lick the ground I walked on if I wanted.And then I would break him.Slowly.Cruelly.And when his t

Aria’s povWe had our meal quietly with my mates giving me glances every once in a while like they were checking up on me..Or if I’d break.I pretended to focus on my food, but the warmth in my chest was impossible to hide. I could feel it in my cheeks, in the way I kept biting back small smiles. Then, Asher opened his mouth.“So…” he drawled, leaning back in his chair like he owned the entire room. “My darling mate is glowing differently this morning.”My fork froze mid-air.My face burned.“What… what do you mean?” I stammered, even though I absolutely knew what he meant.He smirked wider. “What do I mean? Hmm, I don’t know, Aria… maybe the fact that we can all smell it on you.”I choked.Axel shot him a warning look. Adrian stiffened. Aiden didn’t move, but his jaw tightened..just once.Asher continued cheerfully, “What happened last night…”“Oh my god,” I whispered into my hands.I wanted the ground to swallow me whole. Preferably twice.“Asher,” Aiden snapped. “Stop. Don’t make

Grace’s PovI left that dining room before I said something that would damn me in front of everyone.My palms were trembling.Trembling.I pushed through the hallway with long, sharp steps, my nails digging crescents into my skin. The nerve…The absolute nerve..of those boys.My sons.My pride.My legacy.Fighting me… over her.Her!That.. That thing!That girl who should’ve never been under my roof for more than a day.I reached the end of the hall and braced myself against the wall, breathing hard. The sunlight from the long windows bathed everything in warm gold, but inside me…inside me there was nothing but cold boiling rage.Aria.Aria, Aria, Aria.Everywhere I turned..whispers about her.Tension because of her.My sons distracted because of her.She wasn’t even a pure wolf.She wasn’t even worthy.I closed my eyes and felt the burn move behind them. Was this what the moon goddess intended for my household? For my sons? For the future of my pack?My throat tightened.No.No, I

Aria’s pov “You will not speak to Aria that way,” he said, voice low, measured. “Not anymore.”Grace blinked, stunned. “Aiden, sit back down..,”“No,” he said.The single word echoed.Axel stood next, shoulders tense, eyes blazing.“Aria is our mate,” he said, voice shaking with anger he was barely holding back. “Whether you like it or not.”My heart dropped to my feet.He said it.Out loud.In front of everyone.Grace turned to Malrick, expecting him to explode too…but even he looked… conflicted, staring at the four boys who were no longer boys… but leaders. Wolves. Men.Adrian squeezed my hand gently and tugged me toward the seat he had chosen for me.Right between Axel and Aiden.Right where everyone could see.My pulse thrashed in my throat as I lowered myself into the chair. I felt exposed. Terrified. But also… defended in a way I had never felt before.Adrian placed my plate in front of me with such care it made my chest ache.“I didn’t agree to this,” Grace said, trembling wit

Aria’s PovI was halfway done with my morning chores. Thankfully, everyone seemed to have slept in, so I’d managed to serve breakfast before the usual chaos began.And because Grace wasn’t awake to hover over me like a hawk, I’d snuck into the pantry with my plate, piled embarrassingly high and crouched in the corner. I was starving. Actually starving. And if Grace saw me eating like this, she’d skin me alive.I shoveled another spoonful into my mouth.“What are you doing here?”I nearly choked. The plate wobbled in my hands as I looked up.“Adrian… do you need something?” I forced a shaky smile.He didn’t smile back.“I asked what you’re doing here,” he repeated, voice low, eyes sharp and gods, unfairly handsome at this hour.“Um… having breakfast?” I offered weakly.“Here?” His brow lifted.“Yes?” I said, more of a question than an answer.Adrian didn’t say another word. He bent down, took my hand, and then took my plate with the other. Before I understood what was happening, he was

Aria’s POV“Goodnight… Aiden.”The words left my lips softer than I intended… soft enough that they almost trembled. Aiden didn’t move at first. His hand stayed on the doorknob, knuckles white, shoulders tight, like the very act of walking away from me was physically painful.I closed the door once he disappeared from sight.Then slid down to the floor, hands covering my face.My body was buzzing, my lips tingling, my heart pounding so loud I could hear it in my ears.There was no use denying it anymore.I was falling.And after tonight…I knew he was, too.Morning came slowly.Not gently.Not softly.But with that heavy, warm wave of after, the kind that wraps around your body like a reminder of everything you did… and everything you almost did.I woke with my legs tangled in my blanket, breath uneven, cheeks heating the second my mind replayed last night.Aiden.His mouth on mine.His breath on my neck.His hands…gods, his hands.I pressed a pillow to my face and groaned into it lik

Aria’s PovHis resolve broke then. His hands came up to my waist, fingers resting lightly on the curve beneath my shirt, firm yet careful. My knees threatened to buckle. My chest pressed against his, and I could feel the warmth of his body radiating into mine. His breath was hot against my neck, sending tiny shivers down my spine.I couldn’t stop myself. I pressed my hands against his chest, feeling the solid muscles beneath his shirt, and tilted my head up. My lips found his, and I kissed him…hard, desperate, a mix of need and relief. Every nerve in me screamed, every ounce of control gone.Aiden responded immediately, his lips moving against mine with the slow, commanding precision that always made my heart race. His hands tightened on my waist, pulling me flush against him. The world outside ceased to exist. The stars, the moon, the glowing butterflies from earlier…all of it melted away, leaving just the two of us in this perfect, suffocating heat.I could hear him catch his breath