LOGIN~Amber’s POV~ This was the part in movies where someone went… “Awkwarddddddd” with a well-deserved drag of the words.I was permitted to laugh, right?I had no idea who I was asking that question, but if I did, maybe they would tell me that I was not a bad person for feeling so utterly satisfied.A satisfaction that hadn’t left since I had seen a scene that would scar me for life and Axel had all but shoved me away from that kitchen doorway.Which made me simply return to the room, and even though he hadn’t come back after that, had only sent a message through the psych link the next morning to get dressed with a weather so clear it couldn’t be imagined it had rained and then get in the car that was already waiting for me, that had then brought me to the plane, where the feeling of déjà vu hit me hard because I was sitting in the exact same spot, and I knew that it was all happening as thoughts spiraling in my head but I should really take a breather, and so I did…I sucked in a deep
~Axel POV~ It was simple.I was bored, I knew sleep wasn’t coming, and the very well-documented asshole part of me that I had never particularly tried to hide had decided to take the wheel.And I might have taken the outrageous expression that had shot across her face after I asked the question as a cue to stop but I was so thoroughly entertained that I pushed forward instead.“It wasn’t a rhetorical question, Prin—”The slap landed before I finished the word.The shock of it wiped everything else out for a full second — the sound, the sting spreading across my cheek, the sheer fact that she had done it and before I could snap back to myself her voice cut in, cold in a way that was completely different from her usual anger. Quieter. Harder.“Don’t you dare ever disrespect me like that again.”Then she was off the bed, across the room, and the door slammed behind her hard enough to rattle the frame.The room went very still.My cheek stung. Ash let out a low, disapproving growl some
~Amber’s POV~ I had no idea why it came to me. Even less of an idea why it arrived laced with jealousy. Even lesser why I turned it into a rule and put it out into the open air between us.But it was out there, and there was no taking it back.It had changed something, shifted the atmosphere in the room in a way that had nothing to do with the storm outside, and it hadn’t lifted through the silence that followed, hadn’t lifted when I eventually peeled myself away to shower and changed into something looser and more comfortable, hadn’t lifted when he did the same. It just sat there over our heads like its own separate cloud, heavier somehow than the one currently emptying itself outside.The rain was coming down properly now. Not the polite kind — the kind that meant business, sheets of it hitting the makeshift barrier over the window in rhythmic waves, drumming against the roof, filling every corner of the small room with that thick, heavy sound that usually made people feel coco
~Axel’s POV~ I knew she was going to throw it at me.And she was lucky that the cost of the bottle translated directly into the quality of the glass, which meant I knew it wouldn’t break. Otherwise I genuinely would have made her replace it, regardless of the sharp little gasp of shock that she hadn’t realized her action that left her lips, all of that happening in the same second the lights went out.‘Zane.’ I reached through our psych link immediately, channeling my heightened senses at the same time to cut through the dark, fixing my eyes on Amber Moon where she stood frozen, looking like someone who had just fully registered what they had done.‘With the number of times you call my name,’ his reply came instantly, ‘I would be offended if you don’t name your firstborn son after me.’I ignored that. ‘What happened to the lights?’‘They went out.’‘I can see they went out,’ I snapped. ‘Why?’‘I don’t know, Axel,’ He shot back, and even through the link his tone had an edge to it,
~Amber’s POV~ The words landed like a physical blow.Her blood is on your hands, Princess.I didn’t think. I didn’t breathe. Before the sentence had even finished settling into the air, my legs were already moving, carrying me out of the room and down the hallway at a dead sprint.The front desk was empty.Panic hit me like cold water to the face. I spun in a full circle, heart slamming against my ribs, eyes sweeping the cramped lobby — the peeling wallpaper, the flickering fluorescent light and the now empty counter. I closed my eyes and pulled hard, reaching for her scent.There — faint traces of floral perfume and nervous sweat cutting through the stale indoor air. I latched onto it and followed it out through the front door, the night air hitting my face in a cold rush.Outside, I turned in every direction, scanning the dark parking lot, the road beyond it, the tree line swallowed in shadows. The scent was there but distant. Fading. Like it had already traveled further than my
~Axel’s POV~ “They are going to murder each other,” Zane said as soon as we both stepped into the room.I was already well aware of that. More specifically, Amber would kill Cassandra because I had felt a ripple of her power earlier, sharp and uncontrolled. Even though Cassandra was powerful, most of it stemmed from her above-everyone attitude and sheer arrogance, not actual strength.“I see that is your intention.” Zane’s voice held a touch of humor. “Kill two birds literally with one stone.”My eyes moved away from the door I had been staring at and swept across the room instead. Faded floral wallpaper peeling at the corners. A bed that looked like it had seen better days decades ago. Carpet so worn the pattern was barely visible. A lamp on the nightstand with a shade that didn’t match.The level I had worked hard to place myself at kicked in unconsciously, my entire being recoiling at how beneath me this place was.But I had survived traveling through the woods for weeks before. I
~Axel’s POV~I had to admit, I was… enjoying this?The smile on my face answered the question and I reached out, closing the laptop in front of me just as a voice from the phone cut through the silence.“Mr. Edgewood, are you still there?”My eyes went from the phone still in my hand that I had jus
~Amber’s POV~Damn that man.Damn him to hell, have him dragged back, and then damn him again.There has never been a point in my life when I had been this angry.No. Angry was understating it.I was absolutely livid.Because that… that asshole had stood there after his ex-lover or still present l
~Amber’s POV~“NO!”The word came out with so much force I realized it had left my lips before I could think it through. But it worked for two reasons.One. No, because it had to be in my head. There was no way in hell Ian could recognize me.Amber was so distinct from the Omega version of me I ha
~Amber’s POV~The words filled the space between us with so much force that they were all I could hear despite the chatter going on around us.But my brain kicked into action fast enough. I met his gaze, standing taller. “Why do YOU smell like ME?”A frown formed on his face and even that made him







