LOGINMyra's POV i had only gone downstairs for a book.sophia had left it in the living room the night before—a reference text i needed for a paper due the following week. the house was quiet in the mid-afternoon, the kind of deep stillness that settled over the mansion when most of its occupants were occupied elsewhere. i expected to collect the book and return upstairs without interruption.instead, i heard voices as i approached the open doorway of the smaller sitting room near the study.sophia's tone was light, familiar. david's was lower, steadier, the same controlled register he used when discussing anything that required his full attention. i slowed without fully deciding to, stopping just short of the entrance where the angle of the wall kept me out of sight.i should have kept walking. i should have announced myself or turned back. eavesdropping was beneath me—i knew that. but something in sophia's voice made me pause. something in the way she said my name."i'm serious," sophia
Myra's POVSleep came eventually, but it brought no rest.I drifted into a dream that felt more real than waking. The study materialized around me—the familiar warmth of the desk lamp, the shelves of leather-bound records, the tall windows holding back the night. But everything was softer, the edges blurred, as though the room had been dipped in gold.David stood near the desk.He wasn't working. He wasn't reviewing documents or signing contracts or doing any of the things that usually occupied his attention. He was simply standing there, looking at me.And his eyes held something I had never seen before.Desire.Not the controlled, measured attention he gave to reports and strategies. Not the professional assessment he offered during our sessions. This was raw. Unfiltered. He was looking at me the way I had always dreamed he might—as though I was the only thing in the room worth seeing."Myra," he said.Just my name. But the way he said it—low, intimate, like a secret—sent heat flood
Myra's POVThe tears wouldn't stop.I had tried everything—counting breaths, pressing my palms against my eyes, reciting the calming techniques my counselor had taught me months ago. Nothing worked. The image of Lila leaning into David replayed on an endless loop, each repetition sharpening the ache in my chest until it became unbearable.But it wasn't just Lila. It was everything.Elias. My twin brother, gone for over a year, his absence a wound that refused to heal. My mother's voice, sharp with blame, echoing through my skull: He was the better of you. You've always known that. The years of invisible longing, watching David from the edges of rooms, loving him in silence because I knew—I knew—that someone like me could never have someone like him.And now Lila had proven it. She had walked up to him and offered herself without hesitation, and even though he had turned away, the fact remained: she could do what I never could. She could reach for him.I curled onto my side, drawing my
Myra's POVI couldn't sleep.The conversation with David had left me restless, my mind spinning with fragments of what he'd shared. Sarah. His late mate. The confession that control couldn't replace what was missing. I had replayed every word a dozen times, searching for meaning I knew I shouldn't look for.It meant nothing. He was sharing a professional observation. He was being polite.But the warmth in my chest refused to fade.By midnight, I gave up on sleep entirely. I needed water. I needed to move. I needed to escape the confines of my room and the thoughts that circled endlessly.I slipped out of bed and padded downstairs in bare feet, wearing an oversized sweater and loose shorts. The mansion was silent, the kind of deep stillness that settled over the house in the hours after midnight. The hallway was dark, lit only by the faint glow of moonlight filtering through the tall windows.I was halfway to the kitchen when I heard voices.I stopped. The sound came from the direction
Myra's POV I spent the entire next day planning my exit. The words rehearsed themselves in my head on a loop—Sophia, I think I need to go home. My mother's been worse lately. I can't focus here. I'm sorry. Each version sounded more pathetic than the last. Each one was a lie wrapped in a half-truth, which was the worst kind of deception because it felt almost honest. But I couldn't tell Sophia the real reason. I couldn't tell her that her father had smelled my approaching heat and pulled away like I was something dangerous. I couldn't tell her that I'd spent five years wanting him and had finally been forced to confront the impossibility of it. I couldn't tell her that staying in this house, so close to him, was slowly destroying me. So I would lie. I would leave. And I would spend the rest of my life trying to forget. I avoided the mansion for most of the day, taking refuge in the university library until the evening light began to fade. When I finally returned, I slipped thr
Myra's POV The study had become a second skin. I knew every shadow in that room now—the way the desk lamp carved its warm circle of light against the surrounding darkness, the particular creak of the leather chair when David shifted his weight, the soft whisper of pages turning in the silence past midnight. I knew the rhythm of these sessions the way I knew my own heartbeat. Predictable. Controlled. Safe. Except nothing about tonight felt safe. We were three hours in, the clock on the wall showing just past eleven, and I had been working steadily through the latest census projections. My fingers moved across the keyboard with practiced precision, but my mind kept drifting—not to the numbers in front of me, but to the man across the desk. He was reviewing a thick folder of correspondence, his attention fixed on the pages with that same measured concentration he gave everything. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing strong forearms. His dark hair was slightly disheveled, as thoug







