Novels by Kimuli Edrinah

LIORA POVThe hallway swallowed me whole.I kept walking and walking, talking to myself like a fool ,l just couldn't get it,She's his fiancée.I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth and kept moving.It didn't mean anything.Whatever had passed between us in that office — whatever I had thought was passing between us — was clearly just my imagination.What was even passing between us?Boys like Adrian Voss could get any girl they wanted, for fuck's sake,they could even marry whoever they wanted. I really shouldn't care.I just couldn't believe l almost fell for his intriguing actions.Almost.I found my classroom by muscle memory alone. Slipped into the seat beside Mara with two minutes to spare,and stared at the front of the room.“Well….” Mara whispered anxiously.“He asked me about last night,” I said, my eyes still fixed ahead.“Ooomy… the principal knows about us sneaking out?” she asked nervously.I finally looked back at her.“No, it wasn't the principal who called m

Why? Why did I do it? I lost control last night. This has never happened before — being so reckless with my wolf. I don't know what came over me in that moment when l saw her in that pink silk nightdress that clung to her body like a glove bringing out her perfect curves that l didnt know she had since she likes to wear those buggy sweaters or maybe because of her scent that's always confusing me it's like its there but it's not there, l just can't seem to define it. She saw what she wasn't supposed to see, my wolf's eyes, and l hated the way she looked at me ,that look humans give when they see the unnatural. I had hoped that by morning she'd convince herself it was a dream. That's why I used the principal's absence to call her in — to make sure we were on the same page, to see if l could get any reaction but she was surprisingly calm and me on other side l lost it… Again. Because the next second I was already on my feet, moving toward her without choosing to. I couldn

The question had no answer. Just the silence of the room pressing back at her, and her own heartbeat, and the pale morning light doing nothing to make any of it feel less like the ground had shifted under her feet. She didn't hear anything until a hand landed on her shoulder "Whoa —" "Don't—" Liora's hand flew to her chest. Her heart was somewhere in her throat. Mara stared at her, eyes wide. "It's me. It's literally just me. Are you okay?" "I—" Liora exhaled, pressing two fingers to her chest. "Yes. Sorry. I was—" She sat back down slowly. "Don't do that." "I have been calling you all the way from the bathroom." Mara tilted her head, studying her with that quiet careful attention that Liora had learned meant she was filing things away. "Are you okay?” "I was thinking." "About what?" "Nothing." Mara let that sit for a few seconds. Then — "Last night was close." Liora looked up. "That guy was faster than I expected." Mara's voice was still rough with sleep but h

Liora's breath hitched.The room was quiet — too quiet — but she barely noticed. Not with that scent curling around her. Warm. Familiar. It filled her lungs before she could stop it.A hard chest pressed against her back. Hot breath grazed her neck.She didn't need to see him. She already knew."Adrian…" His name left her lips like a confession, low and unsteady, as his hand moved along her thigh — slow, deliberate — fingers trailing the hem of her nightgown upward.Her hands fisted into the sheets as he traced the lace edge of her panties, pushing them aside, she arched the moment his touch found her — not quite where she needed, never quite where she needed — just enough to make her ache. His other hand rose, brushing her cheek, tilting her face toward him."Why do you torture me like this?" she breathed, lashes fluttering as her gaze finally lifted to meet his.Sharp, intense green eyes stared back.Liora went still.Those weren't his eyes.The warmth shattered all at once — like g

The dorm was silent, except for the soft rustle of Mara and Liora moving carefully across the floor. Every creak of the boards made their hearts skip a beat.Mara pressed a finger to her lips. “The warden’s not here,” she whispered, eyes widening. The heavy figure who normally patrolled the halls was nowhere in sight.“Lucky…right?” Liora muttered, glancing nervously at the darkened corridor.“Right,” Mara said firmly. “Let’s move before he comes back.”They slipped out of the dorm and ran quietly across the grounds, their shoes sinking slightly into the wet grass. The forest loomed ahead, black and thick, a natural shield between them and the Athenaeum. Without hesitation, they plunged between the gnarled trees, the darkness swallowing them whole.Branches scraped at their jackets, mud coated their boots, and every crack of a twig sounded like an alarm. They crept closer, hiding behind massive trunks whenever a faint glow of light flickered in the distance.And then they saw them.St

Flash Back.The forest had been drowning in rain that night. Wind tore through the trees, and the path beneath Mara’s boots had turned into thick mud. At twelve years old, she had already learned that the orphanage was not a place that could quiet the ache of losing her parents, so whenever the anniversary of her parents’ death came around, Mara often wandered where no one would bother her.Walking without a clear destination, her boots scraped against the muddy path as she kicked a loose stone ahead of her. It bounced off a tree root and disappeared into the grass. Mara kicked another one and kept walking, hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket as she drifted deeper between the dark trees.And that was when she heard it.A weak sound.A groan. Mara had followed it deeper into the woods until she found a woman collapsed beside a fallen tree. Blood soaked the dark fabric of her cloak.The woman looked… strange.Her black hair clung to her face, and faint symbols were drawn along