LEAHSasha throws a towel at my face. Not gently. "Fists higher, you blink too much when you punch," she says, rolling her eyes.I huff, catching the towel and wiping the sweat from my neck. "Sorry I'm not a born warrior with flawless eyebrows, and resting death face." Her mouth twitches into something that looks like a smile. Or maybe it’s a snarl, it's hard to tell with Sasha. We're alone on the eastern training grounds. Just us, a few dummies with stab wounds, and my aching pride. The morning sun burns hot against my back, and I'm already regretting saying yes to this session. But I also don’t want to be weak anymore. Not when Lucian has decided not to mark me or provide a reasonable reason for not doing so. I just couldn't shake the feeling of rejection off of me, so training felt like the best option. Sasha had given me the day off, but I couldn't take it, I needed a distraction.She circles me again, her long braid swinging behind her wildly. "Do it again. Proper stance this
LEAHLucian is gone when I wake. The morning light is now bleeding softly through the curtains, painting golden strokes all over the room. His side of the bed is still warm, but the sheets are pulled back and the air is cooler. I roll over slowly, muscles sore in places I didn’t even know could ache. My body still pulses with the memory of his weight, his breath, and the way he touched me. It was heavenly. I lie there for a long moment, listening to nothing but silence and the faint rustle of wind outside the window. My fingers trail over the place on my neck where I thought he was going to mark me, the skin is still bare.Why didn’t he? Did I not satisfy him? Did I not do well enough? Did I do something wrong? Did…Various questions popped in my head as I stared emptily. It shouldn't matter that he didn't mark me, I am just a pawn in his game anyway. But it does. It matters more than it should.I force myself to sit up, looking around. The room feels different without him, larger a
LUCIANLeah’s still asleep when I pull away. The sheets are tangled around her legs, her lips slightly parted, and hair sprawled across her pillow like ink bleeding through silk. My scent is all over her now, on her skin, even between her thighs.And yet, I'm the one who feels possessed. The soft heaves of her breath call to me as I take a full glance at her, the blanket dropping a little too low for my Lycan to be calm about. I find my shirt on the floor, pulling it on slowly as I shake myself off my thoughts trying to get back together.“Get your shit together Lucian”, I mutter to myself as I climbed off the bed. Another second beside her, and I won't be able to hold myself, I’ll mark her. Goddess help me, I almost did last night. I almost made her mine in every way, and she would’ve let me.The thought should please me, but it doesn't. It burns, low and deep in my chest, because for the first time in a long time, I’m not sure if I’m the one doing the controlling anymore. I leave wi
LEAHHis eyes don’t leave my face, even when he drops my hand, making the silence between us grow like a wall, thick and heavy. “Exactly what I feared,” Lucian mutters again, low and sharp like gravel scraping stone. My heart thunders against my ribs like it’s trying to escape my chest.I whisper, “What does that mean?”He doesn’t answer me, well… not immediately. He just turns from me, pacing the room like the walls are closing in on him. My hand is still raised between us, the one that just glowed silver.“Lucian, please speak to me. Is something wrong with me?” I cry out, my lips quivering. My whole body feels like it’s trembling from the inside out.He finally stops pacing and faces me. There’s something feral in his eyes, something barely controlled. It makes my breath catch.“It’s nothing… You’re not ready for the truth,” he says, and I blink at him. “Then help me be ready.”He glances at me, and the room falls still, something thick and heavy coiling in the air. He steps towar
LEAHI don't remember falling asleep, but I remember the way Lucian’s voice clung to the walls of my thoughts long after he left."You haven’t earned that yet."I keep replaying it, over and over again, like some lullaby. I don’t even know what I was thanking him for, maybe for staying. For not looking at me like I was a burden. For calling me his in a moment so charged I’m still trembling the next morning.My body aches like I’ve been trampled by a herd of bison, but there’s something oddly… satisfying about it. It's a different kind of high, painful, but pleasurable.I try to get up quietly. Every bone in my body protests, but I make it to the small mirror hanging crooked above the dresser. My reflection stares back like a stranger, pale, bruised, hair wild. I touch my lips slowly tjoughts of last night and Lucian’s scnet flood my senses again. He was close, too close. And the worst part? I didn’t want him to move away. I remember my lips aching for him badly as his breathe touch m
LUCIAN The night passes as fast as the wind, and by morning, I’m already on my way to Leah’s room in the infirmary. I couldn’t rest, my Lycan kept me restless, pacing under my skin, desperate to be near our mate. And maybe I wanted that too. But I can't, I can't let her see that.Her scent still linger in the halls pulling me like a leash as I get closer to her room. I should be in the war room, interrogating the scout who saw the black-eyed wolves on our border. I should be anything but here. But I’m here, with her.I step into the room just as she finishes her meal, the spoon trembling slightly in her small fingers. She's ridiculously pale, her veins almost showing on her hands, what hell that good for nothing Terran and her stupid daughter must have put her through.She hears my boots and stiffens, sitting up. Her eyes flick to mine, she doesn’t speak. “You should be sleeping,” I say, keeping my tone calm.“I was waiting for you.” She replies softly. “You said training starts tod