Mag-log inZaynFallon searches my eyes. Her brows pinch together, and a look of uncertainty paints her expression in shadow. I’m still inside her, hard again. It’s been so long since I’ve done this–touched someone like this. It’s my first time touching her like this.My mate. I have her wrists pinned above her head to stop her from moving. I just needed a moment–a single slice of time to decide the best way to go about this. “How long?” she whispers, her voice breaking. “Fallon–”“How long have you known?”I slowly pull out, both of us wincing, both raw and torn open emotionally. Her, because I’ve lied for three years. Me, because I’ve known the truth for that long. I let go of her wrists, but she makes no move to shove me away again. She doesn’t bare her teeth or hurl insults. She grabs my hands before I can pull away completely, and we stay there, tangled, slick with perspiration, our hearts still rattled. “How long?” she begs in a tone I’ve never heard her use. It’s quiet, sad but susp
FallonZayn’s hands are warm but coarse, steady, and so much larger than mine. His power radiates through his skin–an electric kind of warmth that causes a tingling sensation to erupt over my flesh. Pearls of rainwater slide between our joined hands, hovering just above my fingers. More droplets appear, shimmering like starlight, before Zayn lets out his breath, and the raindrops race into the sky so quickly that I lose sight of them. But his power buzzes all around me, cloaking me in an electric heat that burrows into my bones. It’s so different from my powers. So foreign and unique. A crackle of lightning tinged a strange blue expands overhead as clouds suddenly appear. A boom of thunder rolls over the beach, and for a moment, I feel like I’m home, watching the storms roll over the lake in Moonrise. “Did you make the storms in Moonrise, too?” I ask.His smile is soft and wanting. “No. I did not. But I would have.”“Why?”“Because I know you like them.”I’m insane. He’s not looking
ZaynTali walks at my side down the stretch of narrow dirt road weaving across the private royal island. It’s a fine day. It was, at least. I spent the majority of it avoiding Fallon at all costs, which meant tiptoeing through the house, occasionally catching glimpses of her talking to the maids, the chef, or the messengers who travel to and from Eurye. I’m staying out of her way for good reason. I almost lost my grip on the situation this morning. Tali whistles low, drawing my attention back to the moment instead of lingering on the way Fallon’s hair shimmered across the pillows in the morning light. “When’s the last time you shifted?” he asks. I kick a pebble of pumice, squinting into the sun drifting between the palm fronds overhead. “When I was challenged. Yesterday.”“I mean, when was the last time you got it out of your system?”“What?” The guesthouse comes into view. Tali halts, touching my arm in a silent request for me to stop walking. “Tali–”“You smell like a wolf on e
FallonI wake to full sunlight dusting the domed ceiling. It reflects off the chandelier, painting the room in rainbows. Groggy and unsure what time it is, I close my eyes again, wiggling under an immense amount of pressure gluing me to the mattress. Warmth like I’ve never known pins me down. It’s cozy. The coziest thing I’ve ever felt. The most comfortable and secure I’ve ever been. It’s likely that I’m still hovering somewhere between reality and the dreamworld. I feel full and slightly dizzy from what might be the longest stretch of real, deep sleep I’ve had in a long while. I’m not sure what woke me up, but I quickly assume it’s my senses blaring in warning, and with a start, I open my eyes again and realize the weight keeping me pressed to the bed is not the dreamworld or my body’s slow roll into awareness. Nope. Zayn sighs so deeply his body rattles. It hums through me because the man is draped over me in a way that’s so damningly intimate I have to suck in a breath and pore
ZaynI was twenty when my father found me on the beach, sopping wet and covered in sand. It was a strange day, to put it lightly. The weather was terrible, roiling and violent, though I suppose I was used to that. I couldn’t remember how I ended up there. I have hazy memories of him kneeling in front of me, clutching my face between his hands and shouting my name over, and over. But that was the moment. The night the stars aligned, deciding my destiny. The night everything about my upbringing ceased to matter. Father’s tenure in Meridem was supposed to be life-long. That was the rule for governors–one step below the Principate in hierarchy of wizardry. He was supposed to keep Meridem and the shifters who called it home in check, to ensure the laws of the wizards were followed, and beat into submission anyone who disagreed. Meridem was a gift, so to speak, when he became an adult. The Alexandrite mines in Meridem were the main source of the precious stone that allowed lower wizards a
ZaynIt’s well past 9:00 in the evening when Tali and I walk up the steps to his home. The first thing I see with full clarity after a hell of a long day, mostly in my wolf form, is Fallon resting in an oversized armchair with Koa draped over her lap. He’s fast asleep. Andy hangs off one shoulder, his dark eyes bright and honed on the picture book she’s reading. Gracen is perched on her other side, resting his elbow on her shoulder, his cheek squished against the top of Fallon’s head. She yawns, which makes the little boys yawn, and turns the page. “Hey now,” Tali whispers, which startles both boys. “How’d you weasel your way into staying up an hour past your bedtime?”Andy fidgets, but I expect as such from him. Little wizard boys are essentially whipped into submission from birth if they’re unlucky enough to be separated from good fathers, like he was. He slides off the armchair, but Gracen hesitates, narrowing his eyes at his father, battling some internal shifter rage at the ide
Brie“What about us?” My voice hangs in the air between us. The room goes so quiet and still I can feel the Asteria gliding back into open water, the rocky, uneven bounce of sailing through the shallows finally settling. I wait for him to tell me to come with him. I wait, and wait, my heart squeez
MaeveI’m vibrating. I’m lying on my back, but I’m moving… which is strange. I open my eyes to darkness and an unfamiliar room with gray plastic paneling and… handles fixed to the low ceiling. An incessant rattle makes my ears ring. I squeeze my eyes shut and open them again, expecting to be back i
LoganBrie moves like the water, like a tree swaying in the wind, the most natural I’ve ever seen her. Her full, luscious curves are on achingly full display in the bikini she’s wearing, which does little to hide what… what I want to claim as mine. Her body, her mind, her soul… Even after spending
LoganI hit solid ground with a crunch that reverberates through my body, shocking me back to life. Dark stone and stained glass come into view, and it’s all familiar. We’re in Veiled Valley, in the castle.I blink, sucking in a breath, then curl to a seated position before swaying to my feet, my v







