Novels by Ayoade

Selene's POV The morning light filtered into the east sitting room just as it had on the first day-a soft, golden wash more gentle than seemed appropriate for such a deeply secret house. I arrived early, carrying the workbook Tibet had left on my doorstep along with a small tin of coloured pencils I’d dug out of a bottom drawer my hands were perfectly steady, my heart less so. Maya was there already.She was sitting, just as she had on our first lesson, her knees pulled up to her chest in the simple white dress from the previous day, the dark circles under her eyes seemingly larger than on the morning before.She did not respond, or acknowledge, my greeting. "Good morning, Maya," I murmured, laying the workbook and pencils on the low table between the chairs, and sinking into my own. No response her eyes remained fixed on the garden through the windowpanes. I waited.Five minutes, then ten-the quiet between us stretching into an entity in its own right.Maya finally slid down from he

Draven's POVThe scream had actually come to me as a ripped fabric in the link before the actual sound made it to my ears.I was already in motion when the second one came the sort of ragged-sweet, high, broken sound that had even my wolf’s gut still clenching months after he'd heard it at its source. Tibet met me at the door of Maya’s room, jaw tight in the shadows, but I waved him off, the issue already beyond anyone else’s capabilities.I pushed the door open.Maya lay sprawled on the wide, kingsize bed sheets, them tangled in a cocoon around her small legs, but her eyes-wild and unfocused-were wide in her face as terror. Tears traced paths of raw flesh down her cheeks and her breaths were short, panicked rasps she wasn’t fully awake and probably never was, in the first few moments, anyway.Three steps brought me to the foot of the mattress where I sat carefully, not touching her yet because the fear would not loosen its grip for a physical touch, at least not at this stage. Instea

Selene's POV Guest Wing The guest wing of the house was more quiet than the rest. I was left at the doorway of a wide, airy bedroom by Tibet, the window panes tall enough to make my own hands look small, the bed far too soft to fit someone like me. He informed me that breakfast was to be brought in the morning, until when I was expected to stay put in the adjoining study until Maya was ready.Then he simply shut the door and left.I lingered on the bed for a while, my hands clutched in my lap. The restrictions echoed in my ears. West wing, sunset, ask no questions, Maya first One step wrong and it would be over, done. A memory of my mother’s room flooded my mind the doctor’s voice, the sum on the bill which continued to balloon endlessly.I could not risk a mistake.Sleep offered only fragmented, patchy comfort, punctuated by nightly visions of the club the kiss and the dismissive gaze of Draven earlier that day. By dawn, my heart was racing as though I had run the length of the coun

Selene’s POV ‘Alpha’ the word still echoed in the air, cold and foreign, as he entered the room in full. My knees were still rooted to the cold tile floor. I was unable to get to my feet.When he spoke, both the woman in the corner and the man they called Beta’s heads dropped.The silence seemed to boom around me. “Leave.All except her and Tibet.”He said.His voice wasn’t loud but it carried the authority that didn’t require volume.The woman collected her trays without a word, slipped away and the door clicked shut behind her with an abrupt finality. Tibet remained still along the wall, hands clasped behind his back, his head still bent. I remained stationary too, my heart threatening to pound right out of my chest.It was only when I forced the words from my throat before they were choked by shame and fear. “I’m so sorry. About last night.I never meant to…I was drinking, and I’m so stupid.I shouldn’t have. I just didn’t know who you were.I would never have…” “Enough.”The one

Selene’s POV The sharp sting of antiseptics filled my nose, dragging me back to consciousness. I had always despised that smell as it reminded me too much of my mother, her fragile body clinging to life by a thin thread in the hospital.But the job required I ran a medical test in order to qualify. Blinking, I caught sight of a woman in the corner of the room. She looked to be in her mid-thirties, busy with something, but the moment my eyes adjusted, I shot upright. I wanted to leave. I couldn’t stand lingering here a second longer than necessary.Then the memories came, a bit foggy flashes before I fainted. The stranger's face I couldn't make out. Last night. Him. I had kissed him. I had thrown myself at him and though I couldn’t recall what happened afterward, I remembered waking up next to him this morning. Then it clicked. A memory of me throwing up on him. I grabbed my hair, going crazy as to what I had done. That was so embarrassing. He probably hated me at that moment.“Why

Kael's Pov The sun seeping into the private room jolted me awake from my slumber. I reached out instinctively, searching for the woman who had slept in my arms last night, but the space beside me was empty.A strange panic gripped me as I sat up sharply. Without wasting another breath, I mindlinked my beta, ordering him to meet me in the room immediately. I cursed myself as I had completely forgotten to inform him of my whereabouts last night. I was sure he must have been searching for me after I had left him alone in the car and in the middle of the road.I had been too lost in the haze of discovering she a stripper was my mate. That single truth had unsettled me so much that I forgot everything else.It was almost laughable. Me, the Alpha who had sworn never to acknowledge another mate, yet I had found myself powerless to resist.Ever since my mate’s death years ago, I had considered the bond nothing but a weakness. A chain. Something that tied me down, demanding I mark and claim s