LOGIN“I don’t want you to be my girlfriend,” Alistair growled out, his jaw tight. “Or a partner.”"I don’t get it.” Solana blinked at him, momentarily taken aback. “What do you want?”Alistair leaned forward, his expression tightening. “This isn’t some temporary fascination, Sol.” He replied, his expression tight as he leaned towards her. “Nor is it some business arrangement. You know what this is.”“What is it then?” she asked, mocking amusement growing in her eyes.“You’re my mate, goddamnit,” he hissed, getting frustrated.She let out a small chuckle, shaking her head. “So that’s what you meant.”That seemed to irritate him even more.“Why are you acting like this is something frivolous?” he asked, leaning back as if physically trying to curtail himself. “You can’t sit there and reduce what we are to a girlfriend or partnership relationship. What we are... what we have between us... it is way deeper than some trivial label.”Solana tilted her head, her eyes narrowing. “And?”“And?” he
The girl's jaw dropped in outrage. "How dare you talk to me like that—!"Before the girl could finish her sentence, Solana intentionally drove her shoulder hard into the girl's side, brushing past her so forcefully the girl stumbled backward against the marble sink.Without slowing down or looking back, she pushed open the restroom door and stepped out into the hallway.Her pulse was pounding again now, but it wasn’t from desire.It was from sheer, unfiltered rage. Whatever fleeting anxiety she had felt about Alistair was gone, replaced by deep disgust at the shifter world's arrogant hierarchy. Goddess, she was disgusted with how full of classism, bullying, and unearned pride their world was.She marched back into the private dining suite, pulled out her leather chair, and sat down hard.Alistair looked up, surprised.He started talking to her.His lips were moving, but the blood rushing in her ears drowned out his words. With her mind on ordering a ride, she grabbed her phone from
Solana made it three steps into the restroom before her knees nearly gave out. She grabbed the edge of the counter. “Fuck.” Her breath came in short, ragged gasps. She had left the dining table because she felt like she was on the absolute verge of breaking apart. The problem wasn’t the dinner. It wasn’t even Alistair’s questions. It was him. The way he looked at her. The way he watched every little movement as though he could see through her. And when he touched her hand— The way Alistair had looked at her, the dark timbre of his voice, the terrifying, electric heat that had shot down her spine the moment his fingers brushed near hers—it had threatened to tear down every single wall she had spent eight long years building. I couldn't hold myself back anymore, she thought frantically, her pulse hammering in her ears. Her breathing came too fast. She closed her eyes. Calm down. Just calm down. It was only dinner. Just dinner. But her hands were shaking. She hurried
"After claiming you don't even know who that is, you just answered Solange," Alistair purred, a triumphant smirk breaking across his face. "Didn't you just say you don't know who Solange is?"He watched her intensely for any hint of panic. He expected her to get flustered at being caught in a lie. Or perhaps even burst into anger at his insistence that she was lying.Instead, she slowly raised a single, immaculate eyebrow and her lips curved into a smile of mild, slightly pitying amusement."Ali, we have discussed this," she said gently, her tone patronizingly calm, as if explaining something to a slow child. "I understand that you have a tragic past, and I empathize with whatever loss you suffered with this 'Solange' woman. But you have been calling me by that name since the moment we met.”She chuckled. “In fact, our very first interaction was you chasing me down a public street and scaring the daylight out of me while shouting 'Solange!' So of course I looked up when you shouted t
"I want everything to be seamless tonight," Alistair said to the waiter. "Prepare the best selection of light, sweet wines you have..."He faded off mid-sentence, uncertainty flashing in his mind. What does she even like?Eight years ago, he hadn't bothered to ask if she preferred wine, juice, or tea, sweet or dry. He knew all about the spots on her body that give her maximum pleasure, but for the life of him, he knew nothing about her tastes. He cleared his throat. "Just bring a menu with the finest selection of wines you have. Let the guest choose.""Of course, sir. How about—"The waiter’s words faded into static in Alistair’s ears as the doors opened and Solana walked in. She was not wearing the sharp, structured dress she favored for meetings. Tonight, she wore a dress of fluid, shimmery black silk that clung to her curves like nightfall. The neckline plunged into a V-cut that exposed the pale, velvety expanse of her chest and collarbones, catching the warm flickers of candl
"Play it again, Adrian, I want to see the look on Ramona's face one more time," Alistair said, his voice was a low rumble of pure, dark amusement as he leaned back in his leather chair.The large monitor on the wall of his private office flickered, and the unedited footage from Hale Atelier started to play for the third time that hour. On the screen, Solana looked like a vision of cold, structured perfection, her eyes were sharp, and her voice was as smooth as silk as she delivered the final blow to his cousin’s pride.“I’ve heard you come from a very prestigious family. If I asked whether that had anything to do with where you are now... how would you feel?”Alistair let out a rough, appreciative laugh, the sound was filled with a pride that made his chest feel tight. Beside him, Adrian was shaking his head, though a small, impressed smile was tugging at the corners of his mouth too."She didn't just bite her, Ali, she practically took her head off in front of her own camera crew," A
Solange felt a literal snap in the center of her chest as she stared at the heavy oak doors. It wasn’t the metaphoric ache of a breakup. It was a white-hot blade of agony carved through her ribs, twisting around her heart and pulling tight.She tried to scream, but the air in her lungs had turned t
Solange looked at him, her brows furrowing as confusion rose alongside irritation. If he wanted to insult her, he could have done it outright. “What are you talking about?” she bit back. “What smell? I literally just took a bath.” He shook his head; his eyes had a faraway look, like he wasn’t hear
Solange woke slowly, her body aching in all the ways that made her heart flutter and a strange humming in her chest. Her head was foggy, but she felt a calm she had never known, like she was connected to something that had been missing all her life. She felt… claimed, as if the night had somehow gi
The moment the penthouse door shut, Alistair’s restraint evaporated.He pinned her against the door, his large, calloused hand sliding up to grip the back of her neck with a terrifying but delicious pressure, and he slanted his lips over hers again.He was rough, but in a calculated way that made h







