Novels by Wuraola Aderoju

Kaelum“Did you take the sacrifice?” Aurora asked over the phone.I paused before answering, my eyes settling on the book barely hanging off the shelf across the room. It tilted dangerously, one more inch away from falling.I stared at it for a moment like my powers would suddenly return out of spite.Nothing happened.I sighed.It had been two hundred years since the council tampered with my powers because I refused to obey their rules. Their precious laws about sacrifice.Rules that demanded we kill the very creatures we claimed to protect.The same people who prayed to us.The same people whose wishes we processed like obedient gods pretending we cared equally for all of them.And in return, we demanded blood.At first, sacrifices were voluntary. People offered themselves willingly for their packs, their families, their kingdoms.Then humans and werewolves corrupted it.Sacrifice became politics. It became a convenient way to get rid of enemies, weak bloodlines and unwanted rivals.

ThaliaI gasped awake, breathing hard.Instinctively, I tried to touch myself, but my arms wouldn’t move. Panic hit me instantly.That was when I realized I hadn’t even opened my eyes yet.The moment I did, I was met with the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen.Gold colour, not bright gold. Not warm gold. They looked like a desert under sunlight, it looks endless and still in their eyes. Looking into them calmed me in a strange way, like silence pressing gently against my skin.It felt peaceful there.For one stupid second, I thought maybe I had died.Then I saw who the eyes belonged to.My breathing immediately turned uneven again, and he rolled his eyes at me.“Don’t be dramatic, feisty,” he said.Not the terrifying god voice from before.This voice sounded almost human, like a werewolf even.“What? Why?” I blurted out, before realizing I was still in his arms.I looked away quickly and froze.A massive gate stood ahead of us, already open. It stretched into a lonely road lined w

KaelumA woman stands in front of me. Small. Maybe five foot three. Her eyes are too wide, too bright, stretched beyond fear. Beside her sits a wilted floral arrangement.The offering. My sacrifice.I stop walking.If I’m going to kill a creature, I don’t want them frozen like this. There’s something cruel about ending a life while terror still owns it. Then again, death is kinder when it comes fast enough to leave no room for begging.Nature has always been brutal that way.These are my people. She is one of the creatures I protect.And tonight, I have to kill her so the rest survive.I’ve been standing here longer than I realized because the woman slowly lowers herself to the ground. She watches me carefully now, studying me instead of trembling.If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was planning an attack.But she looks exhausted. Like life has been carving pieces out of her since birth.And she’s beautiful.Fragile in the way cracked glass still pretends it can hold together.“

Thalia“No one gives a damn about your dumb-ass excuse, Thalia. Just get it done by tomorrow.”Dylan’s voice cuts through the bar. A beta from the pack, barking orders like he owns the place, as he owns me.But fair enough, he’s about to own me, and that’s why he seems so confident. I want to tell him not to talk loudly here. It’s my job, and I can’t lose it. But instead, I keep my head down, hands submerged in soapy water, washing cups I wish I could smash on his head.“I will,” I say. That's all I say, it’s safer that way. But still, he doesn’t leave. I can feel his eyes on me. It’s sticky, almost crawling on my skin.“Isn’t it just my luck that I’ve gotta marry you?”I sigh, still not looking up, but I want to scream that I don’t want this either. Who would want to just be told by the authorities of the pack that they were getting married in a month to the most useless man in the pack? I know that it’s my fate to suffer, but couldn’t they just leave me be and let me suffer in pe