RonanThe field smells like sweat, cut grass, and diesel from the bus that dropped half the team off. Sun’s low, the kind of light that sharpens everything—long shadows, glossy skin. Coach Halford is still barking counts like the boys can’t hear themselves yell. Pom-poms slap. Sneakers scrape turf. The rhythm of it all is too practiced, too loud, like someone turning a metronome into torture.I tell myself I shouldn’t be here. It’s not my place. But I walk anyway. Because she’s here. Because her scent reached me half a mile away, smoke and citrus and something warmer, and my legs didn’t care what my brain decided.Blaire is perched on the bench with a girl, Calla stands off to the side, hoodie swallowing her, hair messy like she fought with a storm. She looks like she belongs in a quiet corner of a library, not standing under this kind of spotlight. She’s pretending I’m not here, which only confirms she knows I am.I step into an open view. I don’t raise my voice—I don’t have to. My s
CallaIt is stupid early when the taxi drops me a block from the house. The sky is a pale bruise and the air bites. I jog the last stretch with my hood up and my shoes in my hand because I do not trust the porch steps not to squeal on me like snitches.The door sticks the way it always does. I press my shoulder into it slow, slow, slow until it gives with a soft sigh. Inside smells like stale coffee, the candle Ava forgot to blow out, and laundry detergent. The living room is dim and blurry, couch sagging with the blanket nest we never fold, textbooks stacked like crooked teeth. The clock on the stove blinks 6:02.If I move like a ghost maybe I can make it to my room, shower, pretend I woke up at dawn to do yoga like one of those people who post sunrise captions. Right. I inch across the floor. The boards say, hi Calla, welcome home, let’s scream.I wince and lift my feet higher, heel-toe, heel-toe, breath held so tight my ribs complain. My backpack bumps my hip and I catch it before
CallaImmediately I wake up, the first thing that hits me is the pounding in my head. It’s sharp, steady, like someone drumming against my skull. For a second, I wonder if I blacked out at some point last night, if maybe Blaire slipped something into my drink as a joke. But then my memory reminds me—no. I didn’t drink. Not a single drop.Which makes the ache in my body that much harder to ignore. My muscles are sore, my skin feels stretched too tight, and then it all rushes back—every second of last night. His hands. His mouth. The way I gave in like I had no self-control. The way I didn’t stop him.My stomach flips.I turn my head, careful, like if I move too fast the whole room will tilt. My eyes land on him—Ronan. He’s sprawled out, face half-buried in the pillow, dark hair a mess. And he looks so damn peaceful it makes me want to throw something at him. How dare he sleep like that? Like he didn’t just ruin me. Like he didn’t make me ruin myself.A gasp slips out before I can swall
RonanI can taste her.The thought alone should be enough to make me lose my sanity. I can taste every drop of her heat on my tongue, every desperate sound spilling out of her mouth like she’s already mine. And fuck, I shouldn’t even be doing this. I know what she is. Human. Fragile. I'm a danger to her. Yet here I am, buried between her thighs, tongue sliding against her like I’ve been starving my whole life and just discovered what food is.Her back arches off the bed, hands clawing at the sheets like she doesn’t know what else to hold onto. “Ronan—” my name slips out, half-broken, half-plea, and it’s enough to drag a growl straight from my chest.Darko stirs inside me, my wolf pushing against the edge, urging me to sink my teeth into her right now, to mark her, to claim what already belongs to us. My jaw tightens until it hurts. Not now. Not like this.She doesn’t even know what I am.And that’s the fucked up part. I can’t tell her. I can’t whisper the truth in her ear, not when t
Calla“Mate!”The growl rips through my head. It’s not my voice, not even my own thoughts—it’s something else, someone else, calling out to me. The sound shudders down my spine, raw and possessive, and I feel it all the way to the pit of my stomach. My body is burning, searing from the inside out, and I can’t endure the way it feels. It’s too much, a fever that has no cure.My eyes are shut, locked in a thick, endless darkness. But the scent cuts through it, dragging me up as if I’ve been drowning. Seductive. Heavy. Alluring in a way that makes me ache. I want it. No, I crave it.My hand moves on instinct, sliding to my neck, trailing lower, brushing across my chest. I cup my breast, fingers squeezing, and a tremor runs through me. The touch makes me shiver, but it isn’t enough. I don’t want my own hand. I want something stronger. Someone else.Ronan’s face slams into my head so vividly I almost gasp. That scent—it’s his. I’ve breathed it in so many times, memorized it, but right now
RonanI carry Calla in my arms, bridal style, her head heavy against my chest. She’s still groggy, drifting in and out of awareness, and every step I take rattles through me. Her scent clings to the air, thick, intoxicating, sweet in a way that burns down my throat. It’s different now. Sharper. Heavier. The kind of scent that claws at my control and drags everything primal inside me to the surface.The music downstairs is still loud. The party hasn’t slowed, laughter and voices bleeding through the walls, but I don’t stop. I slip us through the back door and up the stairs before anyone notices. My hold on her tightens the moment she stirs. Her body is burning up, skin flushed, her pulse too fast against my arm.I know what this is.Heat.The word itself sinks into me like a blade. My chest tightens as I shoulder my way into my room and kick the door shut behind me. I set her down on the bed as carefully as I can, but the second her body leaves mine, I already miss the feel of her. My