Novels by VID

REIGN'S POVVanessa requests a meeting four days after the Luna ceremony.Not through a formal channel. Not through Landon or the pack council. She has one of the guards at the secure wing pass me a handwritten note on actual paper, folded twice, my name on the outside in her handwriting.I stare at it on my desk for a long time before I open it.*I need to tell you the truth about Elara. All of it. The actual truth. You deserve to hear it from me before I can't tell you anymore.**I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm not asking for anything. Just an hour.**— V*I sit with it for another twenty minutes before I go find Sonya.She reads it once, hands it back, and doesn't say anything immediately, which is how I know she's actually thinking rather than just reacting."Do you want to go?" she asks finally."I don't know what I want," I tell her honestly. "But I think I need to. And I want you to come with me.""Are you sure about that, Reign?" she asks. "This feels like something betwee

SONYA'S POVI do."Harder." Reign orders.I squeeze harder, and the sudden intensity of it makes my hips roll up off the bed.Reign makes a sound across the room, low and approving, and I glance over to see that his hand has found his cock. He's stroking himself torturously slow, watching me with his jaw tight and his eyes very dark.Watching him watch me might be the most unexpectedly devastating thing that's happened tonight.I move my fingers faster, and the tension starts building properly, that well-known heat coiling low in my belly, and I'm chasing it without even meaning to."Don't come," he warns."Reign…""Not yet." His own hand stills on himself. "Hold it."I slow down, gritting my teeth, my hips still rocking against my own hand, my body thoroughly uninterested in following instructions."You're doing well, Sonya," he says, which does not help at all with the whole not coming situation."I hate you," I breathe."No, you don't.""Right now I genuinely…""Keep touching yours

SONYA'S POV Before I can ask what, Reign drops to his knees, hooks his fingers into my underwear, and drags them down my legs. Then he rises back to his full height, and I'm trying to figure out what he's planning because that didn't look like a man who's about to… Oh shit. He lifts me. Not onto the bed. Just… up. His hands under my thighs, lifting me clean off the floor, and before I can figure out how to react to being literally carried, he turns me, adjusting his grip, until my legs are over his shoulders and I am genuinely upside down against the wall with my face at his waist and my entire world has just been rearranged without my input. "Reign," I blurt, which is mostly just his name because I don't have a more articulate response to this situation. "Still with me?" His hands are firm on my hips, holding my weight easily, like this is completely normal. "I'm upside down." "I'm aware." "This is…" Then his mouth finds my pussy and I stop being capable of sentenc

SONYA'S POVAfter the ceremony, Reign and I make it approximately forty seconds into the walk back to the estate before he stops pretending he's interested in getting there gracefully.One second we're walking down the corridor, his hand warm at the small of my back, and the next he's turning me against the wall with one hand and kissing me like he's been thinking about it for the last four hours of standing in that courtyard watching me talk to other people.Which, to be fair, he probably has.The champagne from the celebration is still warm in my blood, not enough to make me anything other than a slightly looser, slightly more reckless version of myself, and when he pulls back just enough to look at me I can tell from his eyes that he's in exactly the same state."Room," I manage."Corridor's fine." Reign drawls."It's really not, Reign." "There's no one…""Landon is literally right there," I say, nodding past his shoulder.Landon, to his credit, is already walking very purposefull

REIGN'S POVSonya handles the celebration better than I would handle the celebration.My pack members come up to her all night, some introducing themselves for the first time, some who knew her already from the estate, some who just want to say they were there when it happened. She remembers names. She asks questions back. She laughs at the right moments and gets serious at the right moments and by midnight she's got three of the eldest gammas arguing over who gets to show her the archive of pack history first."She's going to be better at this than you," Landon says from beside me, nursing a beer."Obviously." I watch her across the courtyard. "I'm aware.""Doesn't that bother you?""Why would it bother me?"Landon shrugs. "Some Alphas find it threatening. When their Luna outshines them.""Some Alphas are idiots." I take a sip of my drink. "She was a true-born Alpha who spent twenty-two years not knowing what she was. She teaches and manages a classroom full of eight- and nine-year-

SONYA'S POVThree weeks after the trial, the Steel Kraith Pack is throwing me a Luna ceremony.Which sounds impressive until you realize I've spent the better part of those three weeks convincing myself I'm not going to trip on my dress in front of four hundred people."You're going to trip on your dress," Phoebe announces cheerfully, from where she's sitting on the bed watching me get ready."Thank you, Phoebe.""I'm just preparing you. Emotionally.""Get out of my room.""Absolutely not." She steals a grape from the fruit plate Mrs. Wren left. "Also your hair looks amazing. I'm allowed to stay."I turn back to the mirror and stare at myself for a second.The dress is white, fitted at the top and flowing from the waist down, simple enough that it doesn't look like I'm trying too hard, nice enough that I don't look like I forgot this was a ceremony. Mrs. Wren spent forty minutes on my hair and I've already touched it twice, which she's going to be furious about.The mate mark on my n

MEGAN'S POVThe place Xarion takes us to is beautiful.It's a large open complex just outside the city, part garden, part play area, part restaurant, with open-air seating under warm lighting and enough space that it doesn't feel crowded even with families scattered across it. It's the kind of place that manages to feel both special and relaxed at the same time.The twins take about four seconds to fall in love with it.We eat at a table near the garden, and the food is genuinely good, and the conversation is easy in a way that surprises me, the four of us talking and laughing like this is something we've been doing for years instead of something we're figuring out in real time.The twins are ridiculous and wonderful, debating very seriously about which of them is better at climbing, an argument that involves several appeals to both me and Xarion as independent judges, and I find myself laughing more in this meal than I have in weeks.After lunch, Xarion takes them to the playground

MEGAN'S POVXarion has been smiling since we got in the car.Not a subtle smile. Not a restrained, Alpha-appropriate expression I'd expect from Xarion. A full, open, slightly ridiculous grin that keeps showing up every few minutes like he can't quite help himself, which, judging by the evidence, he can't.I'm sitting in the passenger seat watching him drive, and somehow I'm smiling too, which I'm choosing to blame on the general atmosphere rather than anything specific.Something has lifted.That's the only way I can describe it. Some weight that's been sitting on my chest since I came back to Arkon, maybe longer than that, maybe since the day I left four years ago with a suitcase and a secret and a note from Doctor Philips folded in my pocket, has quietly, finally, set itself down somewhere it's not crushing me anymore.I'm still slightly terrified, if I'm being honest.The part of me that spent four years being careful, self-sufficient, and emotionally armored is standing in the co

MEGAN'S POVI cannot believe I just did that.That's all I can think about as I stand here in Xarion's bedroom, my lips still warm from kissing him twice, my wolf practically doing backflips inside me, and Xarion looking at me with an expression that I can only describe as cautiously hopeful, like he's afraid to let himself believe this means anything in case he's wrong.I kissed him.Twice.The woman who spent months maintaining an ironclad position about distance and safety and keeping her life free of unnecessary complications kissed the same man she told to stay away, in his bedroom, while he was in a towel, on a weekend morning.My therapist would have thoughts, if I actually had one.My wolf, on the other hand, has absolutely no thoughts because she's too busy being smug.'I told you, Megan, you want him,' she purrs, which is irritating because she did, repeatedly, and I kept not listening.Xarion hasn't looked away from me, and the hope in his eyes is making my chest feel a lit

XARION'S POVI don't move.Not because I'm incapable of moving, I'm capable, I'm just not entirely convinced that this is a real situation I'm currently in, and moving feels like the kind of thing that might disturb it.Megan is standing in my bedroom.The door is closed behind her.I am wearing a towel.These are the facts as I currently understand them."What are you doing in here?" I ask, and my voice comes out more cautiously than I intend, like I'm negotiating with something that might startle easily.Her eyes move again, just briefly, just for a second, dropping from my face to my chest and then lower before coming back up again, and she lifts her chin very slightly, looking every bit like she's decided we can both pretend that didn't happen."I wanted to talk to you privately," she begins, her voice calm. "Before the twins noticed I was gone.""Okay," I reply, still not moving."I'm sorry if this felt abrupt," she continues, "just showing up this morning. But I've been thinking

XARION'S POVThe first thing I'm aware of is the light.Specifically, the fact that there's too much of it, coming through the curtains at an angle that feels personally aggressive, like the sun has decided this morning to make a point.The second thing I'm aware of is a headache.It's camped behind my eyes like it pays rent, pulsing with every heartbeat just to remind me it's there.I lie still for a moment, staring at the ceiling, and I take a slow inventory of the situation.I'm in my bed. I'm still in the clothes Andrew must've put me in last night, a T-shirt and sweatpants that I do not remember changing into, which means at some point I was either cooperative or completely unconscious, and based on everything else I know about last night, I'm going with the latter.And then, with the special cruelty of a mind that refuses to let you ease into consciousness gently, the memories arrive.The common room. The bottle. The increasingly unfiltered commentary I delivered to no one in pa

MEGAN'S POVThe cab ride back to the hotel was heavier than I needed it to be.Rain against the windows, the driver mercifully uninterested in conversation, the city moving past in streaks of wet light, and me sitting in the back with damp hair and a head full of things I don't know how to organize.Xarion's face when he saw me at the door is at the top of the list.His hand on my shoulders, loose and vulnerable all at once.‘It killed me watching you let him hold you.’And then the floor coming up to meet him, and me kneeling there with his head against my arm like some scene I never expected to be part of.Andrew got him sorted. Pack members arrived, capable and efficient, and between them they had Xarion upright and moving within minutes. Andrew told me quietly that he'd handle it, that this wasn't the first time he'd put Xarion to bed after a bad night, and for some reason, that statement made me feel things I wasn't equipped to process standing in a damp jacket in someone else's

CONNOR'S POVI stare at my phone screen, watching those three little dots appear and disappear, appear and disappear.Lila's typing. She's seen my message. And she's fucking ignoring me.The 'read' receipt mocks me from beneath my text, and I grip my phone so hard the screen protests under my thumb.Five minutes. Ten. Still nothing.Just those damn dots that keep appearing and vanishing like she's writing and deleting, writing and deleting, deciding what bullshit response to give me.Or maybe she's showing Wade. Maybe they're laughing at me together right now, her tangled up in his bed, showing him the desperate text from her ex-boyfriend.The thought makes me grind my teeth so hard my molars ache."Baby?"Amber's voice pierces through my spiraling thoughts, and I glance up to see her standing in the doorway to my bedroom, wearing nothing but a white towel wrapped around her body.She's fresh-faced, makeup removed, blonde hair piled on top of her head, and she's giving me this pouty l

LILA'S POVWade's expression doesn't change, but I can see the muscle in his face tick. "That's none of your business, Sabrina.""None of my...?" Sabrina actually looks offended. "Wade...""What are you doing here this late?" Wade interrupts, completely ignoring her question."I came to see you, obviously. For something important." She bats her eyelashes at him before her gaze slides back to me. "But I didn't expect to see your secretary here. At your house. This late."There's an accusation in her tone, a sharp edge that makes my skin crawl.Wade rubs his forehead like he's already exhausted by this conversation, and he sighs. "Whatever you want can wait until tomorrow, Sabrina. You need to leave.""Leave?” Sabrina's face flushes. “Are you seriously kicking me out right now?”Her eyes slit as she looks between Wade and me. "Are you acting like this because of… her?"The way she says 'her' makes it sound like I'm some kind of disease."Is something going on between you and your secret

LILA'S POVThe car ride home is quiet. Very quiet.I sit in the backseat next to Wade, my hands folded in my lap, staring out the window at the passing streetlights while my brain replays every single moment of tonight on an endless loop.Connor's face when Wade called me his mate. The shock. The rage. The way he stared at us the entire night like he was trying to set us on fire with his mind.Alpha Douglas's approval. Ruth's kindness. The cameras. The questions.Wade's hand on my ass.My face heats up just thinking about it, and I risk a glance at Wade from the corner of my eye.He's staring straight ahead with an unreadable expression, his jaw set in that way that makes him look like he's thinking about something heavy. One hand rests on his knee, the other loosely slung across the back of the seat, and he hasn't said a word since we left the venue.I wonder what he's thinking.Is he thinking about Connor? About the fact that I still haven't answered his question about how we know

CONNOR'S POVI can't stop staring at them.I'm standing here with Amber's hand on my arm, her voice droning on about something I'm not even pretending to listen to, and all I can focus on is the scene across the room.Wade's hand is on Lila's waist, but I saw where it was before. I saw him palming her ass while talking to Alpha Douglas Hawke like it was nothing.Lila.My Lila.Except she's not mine anymore, is she?She's Wade's.But still.When the fuck did this happen?We broke up what, a week ago? Less than that? And suddenly she's Wade's mate?Mate.The word makes my blood boil.What the actual fuck?I never wanted something serious with Lila. She was fun and convenient, good enough for a live-in girlfriend, but mate? No. She was an omega. Weak. Not worthy of that kind of commitment.But seeing her with Wade, seeing the way he touches her, the way he looks at her like she's something precious in that slutty burgundy dress that hugs every curve I used to touch...It makes me want to

LILA'S POVI open my mouth to respond to Wade's question, my brain scrambling for some way to deflect, to change the subject, to literally talk about anything else besides my two-year relationship with his asshole cousin.But before I can formulate a coherent lie, a shift in the room's energy makes me pause.The conversations around us fade slightly, and I feel Wade's posture change beside me. His hand on my waist tightens just a fraction, and his attention moves toward the entrance.I follow his gaze and immediately understand why.A man has entered the ballroom, and oh shit, he's intimidating as fuck.He's tall, probably in his late fifties, with silver-streaked dark hair and the kind of presence that makes everyone in the room unconsciously snap to attention. His suit is impeccable, his expression stern, and he moves through the crowd like a general inspecting his troops.Alpha Douglas Hawke. It has to be.Beside him is a woman who must be his Luna. She's elegant and poised, with ki

LILA'S POVMy nervousness evaporates in an instant, replaced by pure, white-hot annoyance.Of course Connor's here. Of course he is. Because apparently, the Moon Goddess thinks my life isn't complicated enough already and finds it hilarious to throw my cheating ex-boyfriend into the mix right when I'm on the verge of a mental breakdown.I stare at him and Amber, my jaw clenching, and I notice something different about Amber this time. The last time I caught them together, you know, when Connor's dick was literally inside her, she at least had the decency to look uncomfortable. Guilty, even.Now? Now she's got this confident little smile on her face like she's won some kind of prize.She giggles, the sound high-pitched and grating, and leans into Connor like some designer prop on display. "Maybe she's stalking you now, baby. I mean, she did show up right after we did."That giggle. That fucking giggle makes me want to punch something. Preferably her face.My hands ball into fists at m