LOGINAvaThe first thing I heard was a low, tired voice, reading words I couldn't quite catch yet. My body felt heavy under the sheets, pinning me to the bed. I could hear the steady rasp of my own breathing. My open eyes blinked dryly in the dim light.I opened my eyes wider. A small, pale room with a c
AvaDad let go of the shackle and sat back, his face relaxing from the concentration. He was quiet for a long moment. Then his eyes met mine."Baby," he said gently, "do you want to know what happened?"Something in his tone made my chest tighten. I had a feeling that this was a truth I wasn't ready
AvaHe stepped out of the blackness, edging closer, until I could finally see him. Unbelievable. He was so young, the age he was when...when he died. His warm brown eyes, both of them, looked at me with a fond smile.I stared, my mouth hanging open, unable to make a sound. My dad. Standing in front
LeviI settled into the chair by her bed and took her hand in mine, rubbing my thumb over the back of it. "Hey, Ava. It's Levi," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "I just talked to Sofia. We had some things to say to each other."I sat there, rubbing her hand, trying to find the words Maya and
LeviI sat with my father in his room, a week after Hilda's funeral. Some families had already packed up and left the pack after becoming human. Others had stayed, unsure of where else to go.My father wheezed beside me, the hiss of his oxygen tank an ever-present sound now. He was thinner, frail, h
MayaI zipped Sofia's dress as best I could with my good hand. The collar was tricky. I fiddled clumsily with the small metal fastening. "There, perfect," I said, releasing the dress and stepping back.Sofia blinked hard at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was pulled back in a neat bun. The dr
Ava“Ava, I’m not fucking around. Call your mom.” She rolled away from me on the futon, hair stuck to her cheek and every line of her body spelling out “over it.” She’d just finished a half cup of coffee and a third of a granola bar, which for her was basically Thanksgiving. Her eyes were red, but
AvaThe main lounge was less a room and more a cult designed to make you forget about the outside world. The first thing that hit me was the light—beyond the spiral of white leather stairs, the whole far wall was just glass, black water on three sides and city lights already fading to memory behind
I looked past him, out at the black water. The city was gone, vanished behind a curve in the river or maybe just erased by distance. The only lights were the pinpoint reflections of stars on the current, and the blue-white aura of the yacht itself.If he threw me overboard, nobody would ever know.H
AvaThe slap wasn’t planned. My arm moved on its own, a relic of some ancient fight-or-flight buried so deep in my DNA it didn’t care about mate bonds or common sense. It made a sound like a gunshot. Levi’s head whipped to the side, and for a moment he didn’t move.My hand stung. My ears rang. I fro







