AgnesThe clouds shifted slightly in the sky, casting a pale blue shaft of moonlight across the room that revealed Elijah standing in the doorway.He was leaning against the door frame, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his tie missing, revealing the strong lines of his forearms. His hair was
Was everything okay, I wondered? Was something stressing him out? If I asked what it was, would he even admit to it?Sighing softly, I finally said, “Is there anything I can do to help you?”He was silent again for a long time. I honestly thought he was too drunk to know what he was doing, that he m
AgnesI stared down at the sketchbook in my lap, tapping the end of my pencil against the blank page until even the sounds of the soft thuds were starting to irritate me. No matter how long I sat there, no matter how hard I tried to force inspiration to come, nothing was coming to me.No designs, no
“Sketching?” Gertrude eventually asked, nodding toward the closed book on the table.“Trying to,” I admitted with a wry chuckle. “But it’s not going as well as I’d like.”The librarian hummed thoughtfully, glancing down at the pages scattered beside me. Her eyes caught on one of Ava’s sketches that
Agnes & ElijahAgnesElijah’s breath was warm against my neck, the faint scent of whiskey and pine curling through the small, dark space between us. I could feel the rise and fall of his chest against my body, and I didn’t know what to make of it.To make matters worse, my own pulse was entirely unh
Truthfully, I wondered if I could tell Elijah the truth—that I thought Thea might be my missing daughter and that I was the one who sent the samples in. But I couldn’t get the words out. I was too afraid—afraid that if I told him the truth, he might become overprotective and accuse me of trying to t
AgnesThe afternoon sun slanted through the office window, casting long shadows across the wood as I sat at my desk with my pencil in hand. For the first time in the past few days, the sketchbook in front of me wasn’t empty. I’d managed to scrawl a few decent designs across the pages; they were roug
A few murmurs rippled through the room, but no one spoke up.“Maybe someone just didn’t finish in time,” one of the designers suggested with a shrug.I nodded slowly, figuring that was probably the case. But something didn’t sit right with me about that, although I didn’t know why. Still, I let it g
The moment he stepped out, Thea launched herself at him. He caught her effortlessly, spinning her around before setting her back on her feet. I approached more slowly, although I couldn’t help but grin. I’d missed him, even though it was just a few days. It seemed that the scraps of my wolf returnin
AgnesThe silence in my living room was deafening.I had told Evelyn and Gertrude everything—about my elemental abilities, about Thea being my biological daughter, about Olivia’s deception and my father’s machinations. The story had taken longer than I expected, and now the clock was ticking well pa
The elevator was at the far end of the lobby, requiring me to walk past the entrance to the hotel. As I approached, I noticed the guy from the bar, the one who had been with the woman, hurrying after me. He wore a blue hoodie and had a pair of glasses on.“Excuse me,” he called, “Alpha Elijah? Sir?”
ElijahHotel rooms always felt the same to me: sterile, impersonal, and far too quiet. This one was nicer than most—the pack I was visiting had surprisingly put me up in their territory’s best accommodations despite our trade disagreement—but it still felt wrong. The bed was too soft, the air condit
As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Thea bounded down the stairs, racing me to the door.“I got it!” she cried, yanking it open before I could reach her. “Miss Evelyn!”Evelyn swept in like a hurricane, bringing with her the scent of expensive perfume and a veritable horde of what looked like gifts in
AgnesI was buried in sketches for the next season’s line when a knock at my office door pulled me from my concentration. I glanced up, surprised to see Elijah standing in the doorway. He hadn’t mentioned stopping by my office today.“This is unexpected,” I said, setting my pencil down. “I thought y
“What do you think it was like for her?” I said after a moment. “My mother, I mean. Living her whole life afraid that someone would find out what she was.”Elijah’s thumb traced circles on the back of my hand beneath the water. “Lonely, I imagine.”“She never told me,” I whispered. “My own mother, a
AgnesThe saltwater felt like heaven against my overheated skin. I’d been soaking in my in-ground pool for nearly an hour now, but the heat that had built in my body still hadn’t completely subsided.Honestly, I was surprised that I hadn’t burned down the entire bar earlier. My finger had certainly
“Yes,” he insisted. “Because Elemental Enterprises is owned by your stepmother’s family.”The world seemed to tilt beneath me. I gripped the edge of the table to steady myself. “What?”“I’ve been keeping your true nature from your stepmother all this time,” he continued, the words coming out of him