LOGINROWANThe last person I expect to see when I arrive home is Noah, rolling a blunt with undisturbed precision. My heart skips a beat, prepared for the stress I’m about to endure from interacting with her. She appears focused on her blunt. I dare not disturb her, I keep moving slowly and purposefully, heading for the staircase, I don't think she notices me until I take my first step.“That’s rude,” I hear her say. “Come and say hello to me, Rowan.”Rowan. Not sidekick.I turn, my eyes meeting hers with a polite smile. “Good evening, Noah.”“Come sit,” she orders, taking a whiff of her cigarette. When I don’t move, she frowns, staring at me like she’s about to scold me for something I fear I may have done.I move cautiously, joining her on the far end of the two-seater. She doesn't speak, she stays watching me. “Going out?”“Staying the night,” she says, blowing smoke halos in the most effortless display I've ever seen.I take a quick glance at my watch, Noah is a night owl, so this surp
“You are not wrong about me,” I shake my head, not taking the fall for Kingston’s action. “We are friends, Noah, all of us are friends,” I tell her, gesturing around the table, including the woman I barely know but will likely be seeing more of. “I promise, ladies. You can trust me, but Noah—I just can’t believe my brother did that. There must be a good explanation for this, and you’re getting it, A.”Aeliana shakes her head, “Im tired, Damien. First that fucking creep touched me, and now…I hate my miserable life.”“You have a great life,” Noah says, grabbing her arms. Forcing her to face her. “I won’t let you lead a miserable one, you hear? I’ll kill that man if he thinks to hurt you again.”Okay, Noah doesn't exactly scare me, but the things she says are alarming, and the look in her eyes when she talks makes them land heavy, promising even.“Come on, I’ll drive you home, and he’s going to come up with an explanation. A damn good one or his face will meet my fist too.”She pauses, h
DAMIENAeliana’s friends are staring at me weirdly, I just asked a simple question. Noah points over my shoulder. “That’s why.”I turn slowly, my eyes landing on Aeliana kissing some guy in the middle of the dance floor.“Fuck no!” I scream, jumping over the booths to get to the dance floor. I’ve never moved this fast in my life, not even when my son was born.I pull the man away from her, the idiot stares at me, annoyed. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” He snaps. I don’t think twice, I do the brotherly thing and break his nose, my fist meeting his face before he can fully grasp what's happening. “Shit!” He groans, holding on to his nose.“Do you have any idea the hit you just put on your head?” I groan, kicking him between the legs this time. He appears to have been thinking with his dick, and not his head when he was kissing her.He groans, tumbling over, but someone catches him, holding him steady against their chest. “What is wrong with you man?” He winces, “Fuck, is tha
“Forget me.”She pauses, her eyes widening. “What?”“Forget you and I had something romantic. Could you do that? Because only after you’ve learned to move on will I be happy.”For a moment, she just stares, not at me but at nothing. Her eyes are blank, like she isn’t here, almost like she’s disassociated, but then she nods, smiling. “Yes, if that’s what you want then I’ll do it.”Easier said than done. I know first-hand how difficult it is, I know how long it took me to move on from Aeliana—forever. Because I’ll never move on from her. “It has to be something you want too.”“I’ll learn to want it,” she confidently says. “I don’t want to lose you entirely, I want us to end on good terms, King.”“Accept our breakup, Audrey,” I repeat, unconvinced by her words. “I’m Aeliana’s until the moon refuses to rise.”“It never will,” she says, her tone low.I nod. I want to be clear with her, even if I sound cruel this time. “Exactly. So please—”“I’ll do it,
KINGSTONTonight, I was invited to speak at a charity auction. That was to guarantee a quiet night, an easy night, and things were quiet until I received a call from Hannah telling me Audrey had done something wrong. I initially ignored her, but she called a second time and let me know she had confessed to having taken pills laced with wolfsbane to slowly take her life.I had a feeling she was spiralling after the conversation we had last night on our way back from my parents' house, but I didn't think it would go this far. Aeliana was right, I should have set clearer boundaries sooner, but we never did go into it, I simply told her I wasn't going to cheat on Aeliana when I decided to marry her, and now I feel responsible for the decision she made.I thought we could be friends still, I didn't want to hurt her feelings but I was setting her up for something bigger. It’s my fault she’s taking this step, I let her stay close for too long and set vast boundaries at once.It takes me less
“No,” she hisses, looking over her shoulder. “How did he—fucking Damien, I thought we were friends, but he rated me out.”“Hold on,” Stacey frowns, watching him too.Kingston doesn’t come to our table, he walks to the other side of the room. “Umm, it doesn't look like he’s here for you, my Ellie.”“Isn’t that Audrey Cole?”Oh no.Alpha Kingston is walking towards Audrey’s table, she came in here about an hour ago, and she’s kept to her booth the whole time, I didn’t mean to notice her, but when someone annoys you, you notice them. Aeliana tenses, gripping the booth.“Maybe he’s asking her where you are, it’s pretty crowded.”Just then, Alpha Kingston stops in front of Blondie, he leans into her, and they kiss. My eyes snap wide, staring at Aeliana. I know that man did not just make me eat my words less than an hour ago. I called him a good husband, and yet here he is, kissing Blondie for everyone to see. It’s a brief kiss, her hands pulling at his chest.“No,” Aeliana says, her voice
AELIANALuna Estelle cooks dinner while talking to me and her chef, everyone is different here than at Kingston’s packhouse. The staff are more alive, much kinder, and I meet Lexie’s aunt, who happens to have raised her after her mother took off with someone else’s husband. When one of the chefs tr
KINGSTONWe don’t leave my parents' house until sometime in the afternoon because Aeliana overslept. I didn’t want to wake her, she was curled against me, and moving would have woken her up. No one in the house bothered to wake us, Aeliana herself woke me when she was ready.Rowan had been calling
AELIANAWhen I return to the packhouse, it’s late, and I’ve already had dinner with Professor Ellingham so I head straight upstairs. Seeing the professor again was nothing short of amazing. It felt good seeing someone from Clinshore, especially him. Professor Ellingham has always been an inspirati
I laugh, the sound small, and broken. “Stop lying, King. It all matters, she matters, when she hurt herself this morning, you looked like you could die. You wanted to talk to me and yet when she screamed...” I trail off, unable to tell him how he chose her over me.He flinches, “She was bleeding.”







