LOGINAnnora:“No fair!” I hear Noah's voice.I poke my head out of the doorway and see Noah, who looks out of breath and a bit roughed up.“No using your magic on castle grounds remember?” Noah whines.I look at Sebastian, who is just standing there smiling, not paying any attention to anything other than me. He shrugs and turns to Noah, raising his eyebrow before finally responding to him.“You can’t prove anything,” he shrugs again before turning back to me.“You know, there are ways to prove the use of magic,” I smile back. His face is majestic, alluring; I can’t help but recognise this when he is present.“Shhh,” Sebastian responds quietly.Noah finally makes it to the door, with a crumpled flower, missing half its petals. The disappointment is clear on his face when he, too, notices the flower's condition now.“Come in, both of you,” I laugh, turning to give them space to enter.They follow me to the coffee nook where Krish is still sitting, drinking her coffee and scrolling through h
Jacob POV:It’s late by the time we make it out of there. I used the magic I syphoned from Nora to start a fire between the unexpected guest and us, giving us just enough time to get the rest of the vamps out of the building.“Go, take care of the guards in the woods. I’ll lead the vamps towards the tunnels. Be careful,” I whisper to Yalli.The guard near the back entrance is still out cold, but I know we don’t have too much longer before he starts to come to, and our unexpected guest has definitely called for backup already.Most of the vamps are weak and slow. The odd part was that I didn’t recognize a few of them. Normally, their speed alone could get them out of the region borders easily without being caught, but they don’t have the strength to do that right now, so we would need to use the tunnels that had been built hundreds of years ago. We have maintained them for the most part, but I did try to avoid them when I could.I was surprised that they hadn’t implemented more securi
Annora:"Can I see?" she finally asks.The look on her face is one of amusement, like a child in a candy shop. She stands up but doesn't move forward, looking at me for permission."I'm not sure that's the best idea, do you? I'm not sure how this works, Chia," I admit.I feel bad. I don't want her to think I don't trust her, but part of me doesn't."Something was going on with you before all of that happened. I know that nothing will ever be the same now. A lot has changed, obviously. Before the dinner, the night I was turned, I saw your skin change briefly," she says."You can talk to me, you know? I'm still me in more ways than I'm not," she murmurs."When I saw you at... that place... You looked..." I trail off, trying to find the right word."Dead?" she fills in the blank and chuckles."Yeah, I don't know what they were injecting me with, but they also hadn't allowed me to feed for several days," she explains.If this isn't the weirdest conversation I've ever had, I don't know wha
Annora:"I'm not leaving you here alone. What if he comes back?" Noah asks.Of all of the guidance father had given me, using my magic before my birthday was one of his strictest rules, but I no longer care.If he comes back, I will melt the skin off his hands so that he can never touch me or anyone else ever again."Nora, we need to tell someone. That wasn't okay!" He's pacing back and forth next to my bed, chewing on his lips before turning and giving me an odd look."You know it's not fair to tap into my feelings without my consent," I tease him. Now that I've had a moment to breathe and process what just happened, I sit up on the bed, wiping the rest of the tears from my face. The sadness and confusion are quickly replaced by anger and hatred I have never felt before."Sorry. Sometimes I can't help it," he murmurs, sitting on the edge of the bed."Are you sure you'll be safe? I can just stay on the sofa in the living room," he adds. He's very sweet. I can tell he is genuinely con
Annora:*trigger: domestic and sexual abuse*The warmth and touch of someone who makes you feel safe doesn't compare to much. It used to feel that way with Darin. I couldn't comprehend how we got to this point.His fingers ran through the hair on the back of my head before I could react. The tips of his fingers felt hot against my skin as he gripped the back of my neck, pulling me backwards, toward him."Now, where do you think you're running off to so quickly?" He leans his face down to my ear as he speaks to me.I can feel his breath hot against the side of my face, my hair flittering as he speaks, tickling my skin in the most uncomfortable way.My heart is now thudding against my ribs like someone hammering against a drum violently. I shouldn't be scared of him, and I know this.Yet, we all have our kryptonite. "Let go of me, Darin. This is highly inappropriate," I say through gritted teeth.My eyes glance around the hallway and land on the door to my room. I was so close. I guess
Jacob:I was married to the job. I always had been. Work the mission, achieve the mission, report back. Repeat.I haven't gotten close to many people, nor have I put effort into any romantic relationship outside the occasional hookup.For hundreds of years, this is how I've lived, and I've never minded it being this way before.I hadn't expected my mission would lead me to something so complicated and unexpected. Knowing what I know, the feelings building for Nora were entirely out of line.She belonged to another, and unlike many believed, it wasn't any of her suitors. Just like me, they will likely fall for the woman that no one could have.I would never cross that boundary again.I'm trying to make sense out of all of this and how it could possibly end well as things start to unfold.Tochi senses Nora is in danger. When she senses these things, they're always in the near future. An incredible gift that I've been fortunate enough to benefit from.The only problem was that the range i







