ログインSTELLAMy face was burning, heat spreading up from my neck before I could do anything to stop it. I opened my mouth to argue. He walked past me without waiting for whatever I was about to say."I'm going to shower.""Oh."Why did that single word sound so awkward, like I'd forgotten how to speak properly the moment he said it? He disappeared into the adjoining washroom. I exhaled. Finally. I could breathe.I busied myself arranging the things we would need for breakfast, determined not to think about the fact that I'd just spent an entire night sleeping in Damien's arms, still very much aware of exactly how his chest had felt against my cheek. A few minutes later I heard the door open. I turned automatically. And immediately wished I hadn't.Damien stepped out with nothing but a towel wrapped securely around his waist. Water still clung to his skin, tracing lines down his chest and along the scars I'd studied so carefully only hours earlier. His dark hair was damp, several strands fal
STELLAWarmth. That was the first thing I noticed when I woke up. Warmth surrounded me from every direction, so different from the freezing cold that had consumed me during the night, a cold I only half remembered now that it was gone, more sensation than memory. For a few seconds I didn't move. I simply lay there, half-asleep, enjoying it, letting my mind drift somewhere between sleep and waking without any urgency to choose one over the other.Then I realized something was wrong. There was something beneath my cheek. Something hard. Something that rose and fell slowly with every breath, steady and unmistakably alive, warm in a way that made it hard to want to move away from it right away.My eyes opened. My brain took a second to catch up, still fogged with sleep and unwilling to process what it was seeing right away. Bare skin. A broad chest. Muscles. Scars. My eyes widened. I stopped breathing entirely.I slowly lifted my head. Alpha Damien. I was lying against Alpha Damien. More
DAMIENI stood beside the bed for several seconds, watching her shiver. This wasn't normal. I had seen people with fevers before. This wasn't a fever. Her skin was cold. Too cold."Stella."She didn't answer. I reached down and touched her hand. My brows drew together. Her fingers were freezing. I took her other hand and held both of them between mine, trying to transfer some of my warmth to her. Nothing. She shivered again, her teeth clicking softly against each other."Stella."Still nothing. She moved beneath the blankets, turning toward the warmth of my hands. Then, without opening her eyes, she shifted closer. I froze. Her fingers tightened around mine. She pulled my hands against her chest as though she had no idea what she was doing.I stared down at her. "You're unbelievable."Another shiver ran through her. I sighed and glanced around the room, as if the walls might offer some solution I hadn't already considered. The fire crackled steadily in the hearth, throwing shifting or
DAMIENThe journey should have been uneventful. It wasn't. Not because of the meeting waiting for me. Not because of the pack representatives I would have to deal with once we arrived. Because Stella had spent most of the journey pretending she wasn't sick.I had noticed it almost an hour after we left the mansion. The slight flush in her cheeks. The way she occasionally pressed her fingers against her temple when she thought I wasn't looking. The cough she tried to bury behind her hand. And the fact that she had barely spoken.Stella was rarely quiet. When she wasn't talking, she was thinking. And when she wasn't thinking, she was arguing with me. Today she had done none of those things. She simply sat beside me, staring through the carriage window as the scenery passed."You should have stayed behind."Her eyes shifted toward me. "I'm fine.""You've said that six times.""Because I'm fine.""You're terrible at lying."She frowned. "I'm not lying." I looked at her. She looked away. E
“WE ALL HAVE A CHOICE”STELLAThe silence between us lasted longer than it should have. Breakfast was nearly over, yet neither of us seemed particularly interested in leaving the table. I kept thinking about what Damien had said earlier. The Raventooth pack. His father's death. The hatred that had apparently existed long before I ever stepped foot inside this mansion. There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but something told me they could wait. Not everything needed to be answered today.I lowered my gaze to my plate and picked at the last piece of bread. I could feel Damien watching me. I looked up. He wasn't. His attention was fixed on the cup in his hand. For a moment I wondered if I had imagined it.Then he spoke. "Have you ever had someone?"I blinked. "Someone?"His eyes lifted to mine. "A lover."My fingers stopped moving. For some reason the question caught me completely off guard. I stared at him for a moment before shaking my head."No.""Never?""Never."He hummed qu
STELLAThe first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was the heat. Not the warmth of the blankets. My own. My skin felt strangely hot, my head heavy and my throat dry. I blinked several times, staring at the ceiling while trying to remember what time it was.I must have slept longer than usual. That realization immediately made me sit up."Oh, no." My duties. The horses needed to be fed. The mansion needed cleaning. Breakfast needed to be prepared. And Damien's medicine— I pushed the blankets aside so quickly that the room spun. I grabbed the edge of the bed until the dizziness passed. I could rest later. I couldn't afford to be lazy. Especially not when Alpha Damien had already warned me that he would make my stay difficult enough.I hurried out of my room, pulling my hair back as I walked. I was halfway toward the kitchen when another wave of dizziness hit me. I ignored it."I'll be fine."I had survived worse. I just needed to work. That was all.But when I stepped into the kitch







