Novels by quilesther

Serelis“He... he killed her... just like that.”The words won’t leave my mouth. My hand shakes against my lips and I bite it until it hurts. Did he recognize me? I keep telling myself no. He was drunk that night — too drunk to remember faces. Still, I can’t make the thought stop.I’ve been in the maid quarters for hours. The room is small: a thin mattress pushed up against the wall, an old chair, a high window that barely lets in light. The other women pass by with trays, their voices low. Every sound makes my heart jump.My child. I haven’t seen him since they took us in. He’s too small to be away from me for this long. I can’t stop thinking about whether he’s fed, whether he’s been comforted, whether someone is taking him away. The worry sits like a stone in my chest.I pace until my legs ache. Two maids walk by the door and their words slide through. “Amanda Rufford, daughter of Frostveil’s Alpha, she’s already here.”“And the wedding between her and Alpha Riven begins in just a f

Riven"Is the goddess playing with me?"That’s the first thing I say as the sweet scent of my mate whips across my face, sliding through my nose and curling deep in my gut. It doesn’t just linger, it settles, thick and calm, and my wolf snaps his head up inside me, growling, pacing, restless with the realization that my mate is here.But hell, this is ridiculous. My mate? A rogue? Not just a rogue, but one of the captured slaves standing in my fucking pack ground? My lips pull into a bitter smile as the thought tastes wrong in my mouth. The goddess must be laughing at me.I keep walking down the line, boots crunching against dirt, the guards at my side shifting like they can feel the tension rolling off me. The scent only grows stronger, tugging me forward until I stop in front of a young girl. Pale skin, dark coily hair tangled and frizzy, dirt rubbed into her cheeks like she’s been dragged through the ground. Her head stays bowed, her body trembling like she already knows what I am

SerelisThey soon arrive in a pack. The moment we step through the gates, my son is taken from me.“You will get him after the Alpha decides where you will be,” one of the guards mutters, flat, like he’s said it a hundred times.I want to scream. I want to grab him back and not let go, but my arms are tired from holding him all night and there are too many of them. The cloth they untie him from slips out of my hands and they walk away. I hear his cry grow small and vanish. My hands fall to my sides and the cold air hits where his warmth used to be. I feel empty in a way that makes my knees go soft.They push me forward into a long line. There are others; women, children, a few men, heads down, shoulders rounded like they’ve already given up. I drop my eyes too. If I look up I’m likely to get noticed. If I’m noticed, they might decide to take me away from whatever is left of me.Footsteps come, slow and measured, heavy enough to feel in my bones. They get closer and with each thud my h

Serelis"Serelis, get your child, we have to escape this hiding again, there's an invasion on our territory"Maria, the only friend I have since I ran away from my pack, yells from outside our wooden cave, jolting me from my sleep in the middle of the night.I sit up fast, heart banging. The fire burned out hours ago, so the only glow comes from a slit of moonlight slipping through the cracks in the wood.I look at my son who's sleeping peacefully on the floor and for a bit, I just watch him because he looks like everything is fine, tiny chest rising and falling, fingers curled, breath quiet. When was the last time we had an attack? My brain tries to pull the dates out and they blur. Time does that when you live like this, you stop keeping neat calendars and start keeping instincts.I scramble to my feet, hands already moving, reaching for the small things that matter. The leather bag I always keep ready, the cracked cup for water, the scrap of meat I saved. My fingers are trembling s