Novels by Richierwrites

I took the handkerchief from Ivy without much ceremony, and it soaked through in seconds against my sweat.I handed it back to her with a small smile. Something in my face must have shown because she froze the moment it touched her fingers."Something wrong, Ivy? Do I disgust you?"She caught herself instantly, forcing the smile back into place, swallowing whatever had flickered across her expression. "Of course not. We're friends. How could I ever—""Good."I smiled at her again.It threw her off, just slightly. She couldn't name what was different about me. I still kept mostly to myself, still didn't say much in class. But whatever I was giving off now wasn't the version of me she remembered.I went back to my seat. Ivy's desk sat right beside mine, so she followed and settled in as I drank down half a bottle of water in one go."Here." She pulled a box from her bag. "Imported chocolate my father brought back. You've probably never had it. I remember you used to love chocolate, take

FREYA'S POVMy father struggled to answer.My mother caught the guilt on his face immediately. "You're still backing them?""I knew his father, back when he was still alive. I've been quietly sending them support...""Alpha Everhart! After everything the old Redwood Alpha did behind our backs, after what it cost this pack, there isn't a decent bone left in that bloodline. Why haven't you learned?"Something in me went cold and steady, hearing it.Exactly like last time.In my last life, my father had propped up the Redwood pack out of old loyalty to a dead friend, and it kept them from collapsing right when they should have. His mother used that soft spot to angle her son straight at me. And once the Redwoods had drained everything useful out of the Everhart name, they'd tossed us aside like we'd never mattered.That was the Redwood pack. That was Kade."Dad, we should pull our support now, before it's too late. I've heard their creditors are already circling. If they find out we're t

FREYA'S POVKade scoffed at what he clearly took for spoiled-rich-girl nonsense. "Freya, drop the attitude. I know you look down on the Redwood pack but we're the ones climbing our way back up! If you don't want the bond, just say so!""Kade! What is wrong with you?" His mother's hand cracked across his arm.Their pack was on its knees. Without Everhart backing, she and her son wouldn't have anywhere to run the pack from at all, they'd lose their territory outright."Mom, don't. I'm just telling the truth." He didn't even try to hide his contempt.My parents' expressions shifted at the exact same moment. Whatever polite mask they'd been wearing dropped clean off.So this is what he's actually thought of our daughter this whole time.I'd been gentle, devoted, never once acted like the heir of a pack twice the size of theirs. I'd never looked down on the Redwoods.And this wolf had just insulted me to my parents' faces.My father's voice went cold. "It sounds like your son doesn't want

FREYA'S POVSchool let out, and I walked out through the gates with my bag over one shoulder.Ivy waved from a cluster of girls not far off. I didn't want to bother, but she jogged over anyway. "Freya, are you waiting for a ride home too?""Doesn't Freya usually just walk?""Yeah, why would someone be picking her up today? On a scooter, maybe. Or a bike."The laughter that followed was exactly as grating as I remembered.At Lincoln Prep, everyone got sorted the moment they walked in, which pack, which bloodline, how much land your family controlled.In my last life, once the weight piled on, I'd walked to and from school every single day out of shame, and it never once helped. Instead, people decided my family must be poor. The story going around was that I was some distant, low-ranked cousin of the Redwoods, only allowed into the academy because Kade's family had pulled strings.Not one of them ever learned, before graduation, that I was the actual heir to the Everhart pack."Don't t

FREYA'S POVIvy's expression froze the second the name left my mouth.The girls nearby traded confused looks. "Wren? Who's Wren?"I watched her heart climb straight into her throat, and I let a note of false innocence into my voice. "You don't know? The Mercer heir's name is Wren. It's just Ivy's middle name too. I always forget which one she goes by."Relief flickered across her face. She thought I'd simply mixed her up with the actual heir.She'd earned her place at Lincoln Prep because her father — the Mercer pack's driver for two decades — had begged the Alpha for a favor. It happened that the real heir was being sent abroad, so they slipped Ivy into the empty seat instead. On her very first day, everyone assumed she was Mercer blood. Two years later, no one had questioned it since.A thin thread of doubt still tugged at her. I could see the question in her eyes. How did I even know the heir's real name?But she told herself it was fine. I'd only stumbled onto half the truth, and

FREYA'S POV"Kai... Talia..."The ward was hot and airless, thick with bleach and old sweat. I sat slumped in the wheelchair by the barred window, my eyes fixed on nothing, my hair gone white though I wasn't yet thirty-four.On the television bolted high in the corner, cameras were crowded ten deep outside Redwood Manor. Alpha Kade Redwood was marrying his mate at last, his one true love, the reporters kept saying, breathless. Ivy Mercer, radiant in white, holding his arm like she'd always belonged there.I don't know when I got to my feet. I only know I was screaming."Give me back my children! Kade! Give me back my children!"Crack!The nurse's hand caught me across the face before I finished the sentence. "Behave yourself."I held my burning cheek and lifted my chin anyway. "I am Kade Redwood's mate. The Everhart heir. Let me out! Let me go find my children—"She spat at my feet. "Look at yourself. A wolf who can't even shift, calling herself a Luna. Keep howling and I'll put you i