I had a dream once, years ago. I could barely recall anything, but I vaguely remember striding through a forest of red willow trees and falling skies with everyone I cared about.At some point, they couldn't continue with me, so they urged me to move on alone. They would never reach me, nor find me, and all my legs could do was walk forward, even when my heart begged I stay back.It was scary, and having my parents crouched down below my knees felt like that dream.And I knew then, that routines I once used to take advantage of had slipped through my fingers, my normalcy had been reviewed to fit parts of me I was never familiar with, and the two people meant to comfort me the most might never treat me the same again.How was I supposed to react to my parents kneeling before me like I was some god they'd once lost? I wanted a hug, not reverence.I stared at them open-mouthed and befuddled. My shoulders had slumped, and all excitement dried up as an ache grew in my chest. “Can you pleas
“I know,” he whispered back, his warm breath fanning my face.His heavy musky sandalwood scent had found its way to my nose, and the heat of his body made me hyperaware. We weren't touching, but even the slightest movement could change that.“Relax,” he ordered harshly, but it sounded more addressed to himself rather than me. He was really pushing himself, or so it seemed to me.“I am relaxed, are you?” I retorted sharply, resisting the urge to swallow the torrents of butterflies raging through my gut.“You're icing the table,” he tilted his head to his right, his hair shifting slightly to cradle his forehead.I was? As if to affirm it, my fingers itched with a familiar icy feeling. “You didn't answer me,” I shot back in defense, keeping my gaze locked with his deep-pooling amber pair.“Turn it off,” he insisted.“I can't,” I told him honestly.“Please,” he faltered, leaning in closer to rest his arms by my side, his head hung low by my left shoulder. Both his palms were against the t
A knock resonated through Ethan Stark's office study and I'd never been so grateful to be interrupted.Ten minutes ago I'd been sat on his desk as he ravaged me with his mouth but he'd quickly rejected another round of a makeout he initiated and I was feeling pretty silly.“I should go,” I rushed right for the door, ignoring the pounding of my heart against my chest and the lingering sensation between my legs.“Your mom's asking for —” I walked right past Tyler as he spoke, not in the mood for whatever reaction he'd give to my apparent state.I shouldn't let anyone see me like this. No one that mattered anyway.Running my hand to smoothen my clothes, I walked back to the living room to look for my parents. With the authority off, they should be able to look me in the eye and hold me perhaps without feeling like they're crossing a line.They were gone and my heart sank further. I listened in for them, trying to catch their heartbeats in the passing wind. I did. They were upstairs, in m
“Harlyn.” My mom reached for my hand, but I pulled away faster before she could touch me. It wasn't necessarily on purpose, it was more an instinct to reject whatever she wanted to tell me.Her eyes widened in surprise before her face crumpled, but I looked away. I didn't have it in me to care even if I didn't mean to hurt her.“Parenting you was the last order given to us by our Alpha,” my dad said finally. His voice was steady, but I caught the way his fingers tensed against the dresser. “Your father. Alpha Torren Lockwood of the Moonstone Pack.”His words settled over me like frost. I let them sink in. Let them claw their way inside me and burn me cold. I shivered.The last order. It was an assignment. A responsibility handed down by some dead Alpha I’d never even known.My heartbeat was a dull thud in my ears. “So when he died, I technically became your problem.”“No,” my mom whispered, her voice cracking. “It was never like that.”“Then how was it?” I snapped curtly.My dad stood
Things had surely been awkward for a while but I was really working toward moving past that and forward to whatever new thing would surely soon be sprung on me.I climbed down my bed and my feet met the chilly floor. The room must have dropped in temperature again when I'd slept. I was starting to get used to it, the sudden chill that clung to my space. It helped that December had settled in, and snow had begun its slow descent over the town.A week went by too fast, caught up in the process of my parents moving into the Stark mansion with whatever remained of our things. I thought it was odd that our old house was left empty until I found out that the Melbringer had crashed the building in search of me.I was sure the town was filled with gossip now about the Sage family moving in with the small mysterious pack of teens at Eldrood Street. But I wouldn't really know, I haven't stepped a foot out yet.That was a lie. I'd been using my sight and hearing, stretching it past the house to
His eyes flicked over me like he was peering right through my excuses. A quiet, knowing pause stretched between us before he finally spoke. “Surely you're not hiding in this room for their sake, right?“I blinked at him at his tone. He'd become too serious too fast. I clenched my jaw, looking away. My fingers itched so I gently played with my fingertips. “I’m not hiding.”His boots thumped closer and I looked right at him as he stood next to the bed. “Come then,” he challenged with a tilt of his head.“You should go.“ My wolf urged, her voice dancing through my thoughts. It felt like she'd accepted his challenge. I wasn't sure what to feel.On one hand, I hated to admit it but I was hiding and if I continued like this, it'd take longer to leave the house. On the other hand, I wasn't sure it was right to confront them all.Though, I did want to see someone. Becca. I hadn't heard much about her since I returned and I owed her an explanation for my disappearance. But I was hoping it woul
The Stark mansion had been quiet. My room had been quiet. The kind of quiet you tell yourself is good but it still settled deep in your bones, heavy and suffocating. This place? The opposite. The towering wooden cabin downtown loomed ahead as Caleb drove closer to the crammed makeshift parking lot. Colored lights spilled from the building's tall windows, illuminating the sea of people sparsed onto the porch and yard. The air pulsed with bass-heavy music, I could feel it despite still being locked in the car. It almost marched my thundering heartbeat. Thank goddess for gloves or the entire car seat would be as frost-coated as the trees. I was unraveling. “Let's get the Christmas debauchery started,” Tyler quipped as he swung the car door open from the passenger seat at the front. “They're teens Tyler, not minx strippers in Vegas,” Caleb threw the concerning comment. I ignored it. “Thanks,” I muttered to Tyler who'd taken it upon himself to open my car door. Perhaps he sensed
He leaned leisurely against the far end of the wooden fence, half-shadowed by the yellow garden lights. A cigarette burned lazily between his fingers, the ember flaring as he took a slow, unhurried drag.The smoke curled past his lips, dissipating into the cold air like a ghost slipping through the cracks of reality. It was a haunting sight. Like I'd met the devil during his smoke break.His hoodie was pushed back slightly, his dark hair stark against the night. He looked untouched by the cold as if winter had decided he was too untouchable, too distant to claim.I had no idea how long he’d been standing there. Watching. His black eyes flicked to me, amused yet seemingly unbothered like he was expecting this.Something sharp and ugly twisted in my stomach. Fate was being cruel bringing us together. That was another messed up manifestation of our bond. Mates will always find a way to meet. It applied even when I didn't want to.Higan exhaled another slow breath of smoke before finally
“The barrier,” Ethan answered before either of them could. “Between here and… some other side where Melbringers reach for immense power.““Usually used when they're trying to commit massacres,” Khalid scoffed out, his shoulders squared defensively.My stomach turned. “I didn’t mean to.”“But you did do something,” Khalid said, voice lower. “Because what? Someone pissed you off again?“ He bit harshly, glaring at me.I flinched, his words sharper than they needed to be. My chest ached, my ears rang, and I felt Ethan step closer like a shield I hadn’t asked for but suddenly needed.Why was he being like that? I didn't mean to. All I knew was that I was angry, more than angry and I had every right to be angry given what I saw.“She didn’t do anything—” Tyler began, but Khalid cut across him with the heat of a snapping blade.“She did enough. She nearly destabilized a veil. You all know what that means. She opened something ancient and violent just because.”“Khalid,” Ethan growled a dange
The fire towers glowed brighter, crackling behind us. Laughter and footsteps surrounded us with the kind of joy people tried to bottle into New Year’s Eve like it was a perfume they could wear into January.I was delighted to an extent, enjoying swaying to the music with Ethan but my gaze kept darting sideways, past his shoulder.Why? Higan. He was still watching, still standing under the same flickering lamplight, but in a twisted way that made my stomach turn, he seemed a little closer.He hadn’t moved since we last made eye contact, but somehow the space between us felt thinner. Like the crowd could part at any moment and he’d be there, right in front of me staring me down with that same contemptuous look in his eyes.Ethan noticed my tension. “He's really riling you up.”I bit my bottom lip. Ethan could feel my emotions stirring. So I really hoped he wouldn't misunderstand what they meant. I just couldn't shake the sensation of Higan’s gaze crawling along my skin.“I'm sorry,” I w
“Have you ever done this before?” he asked, a hint of hesitation playing in his tone.I tilted my head. “Gone to a town party?“He shook his head slightly. “Dressed up. Gone out with someone.”My throat tightened. Not because I didn’t have an answer, but because I did. “No,” I said honestly. “Not really.”“From moving around a lot with my parents and settling here only to be rejected and forced to stay, I couldn't really find time to dress up and go out with anyone,” I went on doing my best to keep my tone light. I didn't want to sound pitiful.Ethan didn’t say anything right away. His thumb moved over my knuckles slowly, steady.“It’s not just a party,” he said eventually. “It’s the way people watch each other. The way they pretend their new year means something new when half of them are still dragging their old regrets behind them like a second shadow.”My brows knitted softly as I tried to understand what he meant. “Poetic,” I quipped.He turned slightly toward me, his expression s
“Here, this should do,” Abigail strutted into my bedroom with clacking heels, holding up a charcoal sleeveless drop-waist dress on a hanger.She was already dressed, of course, donned in a simple tailored maroon dress that sharpened her silhouette. Her raven black hair was swept into an elegant braid and adorned with white-jade clips.I was still barefoot in front of the mirror, hair curled and pinned halfway up, mascara wand in hand, and blinking at my own reflection like I didn’t quite recognize it.The room smelled faintly of my rose toner, flat iron smoke, and the lingering pomegranate scent from the lotion I borrowed from my mom. My nerves were a separate scent, sharp and cloying, like metal and something gone sour.I stared at the dress she brought like it had teeth. “You do realize it’s winter, right?”Abigail hummed resonantly and dropped it on the bed with a careful flourish. “I'm aware but you'll live,” she asserted, turning away.I reached for the fabric on my bed, caressin
I did. Once. Then again, till the air felt right in my lungs once more. My hand had stopped its throbbing but my heart was still plagued. The dark pull at my sanity loosened, inch by inch, fading like the most huffing out my mouth as I gasped. My wolf still hovered, tense and angry, but no longer foaming in the mouth. It was only after my body stopped trembling did Abigail let me go. She stared at me like she was trying to gauge if I was still in there. “That wasn’t just your wolf,” she said quietly. “Something else was pushing through.” I nodded. I couldn’t lie. Not about this. “The doppelganger in my dreams,” I muttered, pressing my fingers to my temples. “Me?” I corrected, confused about how exactly to address her. She was a part of me after all. No. She was me. “I wanted to kill her,” I confessed, hanging my head low as I held my chest. That was the ugly truth. My desires were mine, they were not separate from myself but somehow they managed to exist as an entity outside
Snickers trickled from some groups like a leaky faucet. The spectators around us perked up with thinly veiled curiosity, whispering behind their coffee mugs.“I told you it was her, she just looks different.““... thought she died in the attack.““... returning is so brave.““That's cruel, she's already an omega.“The chattering was incessant. My panic grew. I hadn't lived through any of these humiliating episodes in the months I'd been gone yet one encounter with Tess and I was here all over again. The subject of ridicule.My jaw clenched as I stared down at my thighs, my eyes shimmered with tears of frustration. I felt it. Those old stings behind my ribs, right under my lungs, right at my heart. The bruises pressed too many times.My hands curled around the rim of my mug, fingers tingling with desperation to do something. Why didn't she just leave? Why did she have to do this here?“You really should’ve stayed wherever you disappeared to,” Tess cooed. “But I guess trash always finds
I almost laughed. Almost. Because despite the comical manner in which she said it, there was some truth to it. I would have graver things to worry about. With that in mind, I shouldn't think so much about it.So in the meantime, I settled for enjoying my coffee in my favorite coffee shop like a normal teenager. With the way things were headed, I wouldn't be getting more of those moments anymore.The entrance bell above the door chimed sharply and my gaze darted to the spot out of habit. A gust of wind swept in with it, slicing the warm cinnamon air in two.And just like that, the atmosphere cracked open. Tessandra Harris. She struted in casually, wearing her pride boldly. With her usual entourage of seasonal clones in short skirts, cashmere, tights and jackets, she cut through the shop with her presence.Her gaze sliced the room like a blade looking for someone to gut while her lips were in that perfectly upturned grin that confessed to a false kindness I'd yet to witness.And then, a
Mug shots was one of the few open shops I usually visited when I could. It was smaller with less traction than the popular coffee shop at Town Central. However, it seemed like that had changed. It was peculiarly filled up.As I stepped in, I'm greeted with a wave of cinnamon warmth and curious glances. A glaring contrast from the silence and the occasional texting notifications of the bored barista.The frequently steady hiss of steamed milk and the low murmur of conversations weaving into the hum of Christmas Jazz was not the setting I pictured having a conversation with Becca.But then again, my plans to interrogate her had long been soiled by Abigail's presence.“Quite the hotspot,” said Abigail herself as she swept her gaze through the coffee shop. Many looked away as they met her eyes. Some, albeit dumb boys, threw a few suggestive glances.I tried not to shudder given I'd recognized them from school. “Oddly enough,” I breathe out.“Here,” I blurted, stepping forward to lead. I h
I opened my mouth to argue, but Ethan cut in. “Your mom is right.”I turned sharply toward him, eyes wide and surprised at his agreement. What happened to his initial support yesterday?He exhaled through his nose, clenching his blood-stained fingers. His dark gaze was piercing, locking onto mine with something scrutinizing. “Whatever happened just now, whatever you pushed yourself into, it hurt you. You don’t just bleed from using an ability unless something is pushing back.”He knew there was something more to it. But surely he could tell, I wasn’t going to stop.I forced an easy shrug, running my hand through my hair. “It wasn’t that bad,” I interjected smoothly. “I just got a little too carried away. It won’t happen again.”A lie. One I could tell Ethan didn’t believe for a second. But he didn’t argue anyway.Everyone else watched me for a moment longer as if weighing whether to push further. My dad had long settled down. He had opted to intensely stare at me like he'd always done