“Maya, are you okay?” Adam asked, after about five minutes of silence. He must be wondering why I had suddenly withdrawn from him.“I am fine.” “Do you need me to apologize further? I’m really sorry for bullying you. I promise that your remaining days here—in this pack, should you decide to stay—would be peaceful and enjoyable.” Determination rang true in Adam’s voice. I only nodded, not knowing what to say.That’s good? Or that’s noble of you? Noble would have been not bullying me in the first place. Well, all that has passed. What mattered now was that he was trying to make amends. But was I supposed to scrap all the bullying acts he had committed against me because he pleaded guilty and pledged to make amends? I sighed in frustration. When would we be leaving this cave? Lunch break should be over.“Maya..” Adam’s voice jerked me out of my thoughts. He was so close to me. I had been so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed him walk into my space. But I refused to co
I opened my eyes slowly, drowsily, sexually. Adam smiled down at me, touched his finger gently to my swollen lips, caressed it for a little second, before replacing the finger with his lips. A peck, and another. I blinked to bring him into focus. My body was locked with his; I could feel him, thick and heavy, buried deep within the tightness of my core. His smile was lazy and sated, his blue eyes holding masculine satisfaction that he had done so much more than simply please me. He looked as if he might start purring over his own prowess. I found my smile hovering too close to the surface. He was moving again with slow, languid strokes that kept heat scorching my body, keeping my nipples pressing into the muscles of his chest. I reached up and gently traced the hard line of his jaw. Adam captured my hand, brought it to his mouth to kiss, then laced his fingers through mine. He stretched my arms above my head and held them there, leaving my body open and vulnerable to his con
There was such weariness in the eyes of Adam as he stood at the edge of the waters and watched me play around inside the river. Yes. I had taken him up on his offer, and had decided to pay a visit to the beautiful stream which was damn cold but cool to swim in.I watched him rake his hands across his hair and sighed. And I wondered what could be the problem. Did he remember something bad?“Are you okay?” “Yeah. It’s nothing.” He fixed a fake smile on his face. But his eyes remained the same. Sad. Tired. Was the workload or expectations on him heavy? Or was it because I was leaving? I wasn’t sure of the answer, and I didn’t want to trouble myself with those either. Besides, he would tell me if he wanted to. “It’s just that I don’t deserve you…” He muttered, but I managed to glean the words properly. My ears must be overly sensitive today.I nodded, a slow smile curving my mouth. "Of course you don't deserve me. I'm so good and brave and perfect." My smile was teasing, frankly sexy
“We should go.” Adam said, as we lounged around near the borderlines of the clear water. We must have been lying down there, holding each other for more than twenty minutes, after the third round of sex we had in the water. It was terrific.He was staring at me even as he began to trail his fingers on my arm, then down to the curve of my naked buttocks. I chuckled. “Why are you laughing?” Amusement danced in his eyes. He knew why I was chuckling. “Well, you mentioned that we had to go, but here you are, playing with my buttocks. Do you want to go again? I mean..you know…” I was sputtering now, and Adam was laughing out loud without remorse, obviously humored by my clumsy avoidance of calling the f word or just sex. Even though every last shred of shyness had disappeared during our string of lovemaking earlier, I was still feeling abashed, my cheeks red, when it came to saying the word to him.There was also a freeness to Adam’s activities, like a burden has been released from his s
When Adam and I stepped out of the garden, we came face to face with his circle of friends, and Noami. Naomi’s eyes widened when she saw us walking toward them, with our hands clasped.Claire was growing in anger. But no one paid attention to her.“Where have you two been? In the garden? Since lunch break?” That was Timothy, his voice drowning in incredulity. Adam nodded to the statement, returning to his cool as cucumber self, withdrawing into his shell; his smile, stiff. Noting that, I wished I could drag him back to the cave where his soul had been so lifted and free, and his worries forgotten. But then if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. We were back to reality.“Well, school is over. We should be going so that we can prepare for the party.” Daniel stated, still darting glances between I and Adam. He shook his head afterward, and walked away, without waiting for a response. I knew that Noah and Daniel knew where Adam and I had been all this while. It was written all ove
The first dress was short. Naomi had tried all she could to convince me to wear the dress, but to no avail. The dress, not only short, also hung tight on my whole curves. And as much as I wanted Adam’s eyes glued to me tonight, I wasn’t going to dress like Lilian or Claire to achieve that purpose.“Maya, the dress isn’t slutty. I wouldn’t tell you to wear it if it was so. It’s just short and cute. Well, since you don’t like it, you can try this one. I believe it will suit your taste.” Naomi said, taking the short gown from my hand and dropping it inside her box. Then, she handed me a blue dress, a light with glittering diamond-like crystals adorning it. The dress like the other hung to my curves, but it flowed down to my ankle. A relief. It had a slit that tore from my thighs down; which puts a task on the male folk to imagine what's underneath the gown after the slit.“Wow, you are looking beautiful, Maya. Adam would love it!” Naomi said, screaming the last clause, hurrying to get
NaomiI opened the front door to see my brother resting idly on his car, twirling his car keys around his index finger."You girls aren’t done yet?"I heard a deep voice say and shifted my gaze to the west angle of the car to know who had spoken. Adam. What was he doing here? Oh my. My brother…that traitor. I cussed, glaring at Timothy who shrugged his shoulders. How would I give Maya a heads up now?"Hello Naomi. You are looking beautiful.” Adam said, staring at me with mild admiration. He probably hadn’t expected me to clean up so fine.I smiled, unable to help it. Compliments always felt good."Hello Adam. Thanks for the compliment. You are not looking bad yourself. Did you tell Maya that you were coming?" I stepped down the short stairs, making my way to the duo."I don’t think so." Adam replied, throwing a wink at me which Timothy saw and huffed. My brother looked the other way, tapping his feet on the floor. He was obviously impatient."Stop hitting on my sister in front of
MayaThe party was in full swing when the five of us stepped into the hall which had been selected for the send forth event. I saw a lot of people I knew, including elders, here and there, probably taking in how the party was going and making sure that things were moving as the lycan king wanted it. Adam led us to a table where his friends and his brothers were gathered drinking, talking, and watching me. I noticed that everyone was doing those three activities, especially the last one. I was the center of attention. From the looks on everyone’s faces I could decipher what they are thinking about. One, is that I was looking so beautiful to be Maya, the wolfless pariah. My step brother, Lent, had his mouth open in shock, and Lilian’s facial expression was phenomenal. I wished I could take pictures of their faces. I could also see the mixed emotions of surprise and admiration in my mother’s eyes and the shock in my father’s. The others on ground also had the same look. Naomi had re
ADAMAs I walked behind my brothers and friends into our territory, my mind was miles away. I couldn’t stop thinking about Dora. The memory of her cheeks flushed from our last meeting was vivid in my mind. I remembered how I had wanted to kiss her lips, not just her cheeks. The thought made me ache with longing. I missed her so much. I couldn’t believe how quickly she had come to mean so much to me.I was so lost in my thoughts that I barely noticed Claire’s voice cutting through my reverie. “Adam,” she said, sounding curious and a little annoyed. “When did you and Dora get so close? She’s tickling your fancy too…?”I tried to ignore her, hoping she would just go away. I wasn’t in the mood for this conversation. But Claire wasn’t one to let things go easily. She reached out and grabbed my arm, her grip firm.I turned to glare at her, irritation burning in my eyes. “Don’t touch me,” I said sharply. “Just don’t.”Claire’s eyes widened in surprise, and she quickly let go of my arm. I
Walking home with my family, I could hardly focus on anything other than the memory of Adam’s kiss on my cheek. It was such a strange, surreal moment. It had happened right in front of his family, my family, and even though it was chaste at best, the whole world had seemed to stop for a second. The way he leaned in, the warmth of his lips—everything had felt so intense. I couldn’t believe it actually happened. I still couldn't believe his audacity.I sighed now as I remembered the looks that had overtaken the faces of the people around. Adam’s brothers had looked aghast. Daniel had been boiling with anger, for one. The same was Claire’s situation. But that had been expected. Only Naomi had seemed pleased, if the tiny smile on her lips had been any indication. I wondered now though, if she ever thought of Maya, if she ever thought that she was betraying Maya, by supporting the motion of Adam and I dating.The other person who had seemed pleased was Levina. But that was quite expecte
I looked at my family. I looked at the Lycan triplets, whose faces were also ridden with surprise—they hadn’t seen this part of the congratulatory visit coming. I looked at Naomi and the rest; they were all ridden with surprise, and their faces were all ridden with the same question—why was the king inviting me to a party, attended only by werewolves? What was the business of the witches with the moon goddess? Witches didn’t understand the moon goddess, since they had theirs to celebrate, so why invite one? And wouldn’t that invitation trigger the ‘anger of the moon goddess’, as the pack would always love to put it? Was that notion being broken because of me? Wow, I never thought I would see the day where a protocol as huge as that would be broken because of me. My gaze reverted to the king again. He had a tentative smile on his lips, like he was half expecting me to reject the next words that would come out of his mouth. “Part of your reward includes traveling to places you wish
“Why aren’t you all dead?” I asked Diana and Levina, as we walked behind the adults, toward my tent, after professor Zokel was done listing off my rewards, including those I hadn’t been aware of, those that hadn’t been included in the bulletin that had been distributed in the school, in the days leading to the contest. “Dead? What are you talking about?” Levina asked, looking between Diana and me. Diana shrugged her shoulders. “We told her that anyone that saw the beast was liable to die.” Levina chuckled. “I think I told her the same. But seeing as we are all living and breathing, I guess that our parents had distributed unnecessary rumors to us.” We shared a laugh after that, a laugh which caused the adults in front to turn and look at us. Satisfied that we were not up to any mischief, they returned to their discussion, a discussion that I was privy to; they were talking about the beast bowing to me. Mr. Lethon believed it was because of the royal blood in me. Peter believed th
Because the beast’s voice could be heard by all in the field, and maybe even outside of the field, I used magic to amplify my voice, so that everyone could hear me speak too. So, when the crowd erupted in mild shouts and mutterings at the previous words of the Queen, they echoed affirmations after mine; affirmations mixed with amusement at the nonchalancy in my voice and then anger at the Queen for breaking the laws that had been in place for many years. The beast obeyed. He turned his mighty head and stared at the Queen, whose hands were shaking. Out of nerves or shock or anger, I wasn’t sure. But her cool composure was gone. “Well, to be fair to the Queen, she didn’t call you out…” The beast grunted, in confusion I was sure, if the thinning of his eyes were anything to go by. “Who called me then? Only she has the power to call us out…” “Well…” I smirked, and pointed at a Rachel who was shaking with fear beside her mother. Oh well, she was scared of what she had conjured? Inte
Rachel stood still even when the crowd was shouting ‘Fight!’ ‘Fight!’ like a mantra. I knew she wanted me to attack first. “I’ve been watching you fight, and you have never attacked first, well apart from your last match….” She started, placing her hands on her waist.“Well, that’s a stupid deduction to make. I’ve only fought two contestants. Didn’t your mother teach you that, when she taught you how to fight with the subtle magic, when she taught you how to cheat in the competition?” I shot back, a smirk appearing on my lips.Her eyes widened, and her composure disintegrated by a meaningful portion, as she looked around her, to check if the others were hearing. “Tsk, your family is terribly disgusting. You want me to attack you? Then you will have it. Don’t regret it though. There’s a reason I don’t attack first. I thought my last battle would have explained that, but it seems you are slow…” I said, right before I advanced toward her. She jerked back, as I approached, causing me t
Laura’s infamous meat sauce would have been enough reason to win this last battle, even if the Queen’s rewards hadn't been attached to it. Thinking of it now as I sauntered into the battlefield brought out the hunger pangs that had managed to stay hidden for a while, under the layer of fruits and water. I was hungry. “Wait, until I am done with this.” I muttered to myself, flexing my hands. Laura should have better prepared my favorite meal to celebrate my win, because I wouldn’t settle for less. Not when my mind was already clouded with meat sauce. Rachel was already waiting for me in the field, her arms folded across her chest, disdain notable in her eyes. I didn’t bother mirroring the same, I just wanted to be done with this, so that I could go home and eat. ‘That’s a good attitude, keep it up.’ El spoke then, causing me to pout. ‘Is that sarcasm?’ She chuckled. ‘Not at all. It’s good that you’re not nervous, considering the principal’s insight, considering that it lowers you
Rachel won her own fight. But it had been by a sharp luck; the senior had been varsed in combat, very varsed, despite her not so big stature. Probably why the organizers had linked her to Rachel; they had thought it would be an easy defeat. After her match, the Queen had called for a little recess, so that the final contestants could have some rest before the last phase of the competition. It was why I was reclining on the chair in my tent, drinking an energy mix that Laura had given me. “I’m sure that the Queen is giving Rachel some tools on how to fight you, some tricks. You have to be careful out there, Dora…” Diana spoke, with a disgusted expression on her face. “That woman can be so sneaky.” She added, placing her arm around my shoulder. “If you win Rachel, I will give you my meat sauce for a week.” I laughed then, unable to hold it this time around. Diana was a darling. “Deal!” I shouted, jamming fists with her, whilst her parents and Levina watched on with wide smiles on th
My second opponent was the senior that had tried to bully me in the hallway a few days ago; that had tried to instigate me to fight her so that I would be disqualified from the competition. She was prancing around the field like an overzealous proud horse, getting cheers from the crowd. I thought she looked hilarious. I was going to win her. That was a given; not because I was proud, but because I had no choice. I had no choice than to make her eat her words, than to make her regret troubling me that fateful day. My quiet demeanor was mirrored by Rachel and her family. At intervals, I looked at the people in the crowd, at the Queen, at her. It was as if they knew that the senior was making noise. A noise that was uncalled for. Rachel, especially, had a bored look on her face. She knew I would win, never mind that it wouldn’t be pleasing to her. When I had won Courtney, I had seen the dread that had flirted past her face, right before she conditioned her countenance to stoicness. Sh