LOGINAviva
Ryan looks conflicted, and I immediately change my mind. At first, I’d been more than willing to lie down on this rickety bed and let him have me just to know what it would feel like to lie with my mate. The legends painted this as something so incredibly life-altering. Finding your mate was supposed to be like having your heart torn out and remade, melded with theirs. In a way, I can feel the “heart torn out” part clearly. I get it because I feel
ZaynSeveral Months Later…It’s raining, and it’s my fault. I can’t help it. I can’t draw back the angst sending storms whirling over every major island system in KiloKilo. Maybe it’s an act of the old gods. Tonight, everything I feel, my people feel. Every step I take carving tracks in the floor outside of our bedroom sends new storms into being. I want this to end. “She’s fine,” Tali says, gripping my shoulders. “I need to be in there with her,” I argue, breathless, but Tali violently shakes his head. “You don’t. You’re making it worse.”“She kicked me out,” I snarl, and Tali shoots me an incredulous look. “You cannot handle this, and that’s okay, but you’re flooding the back garden, so enough. Go to your study, Alpha King. For fuck’s sake, your wife is going to live, but she’s going to fucking kill you if your storm destroys the new pergola.”I suck my teeth, squeezing my eyes shut as another low, angry, but muted, scream of pain echoes into the hallway. “She’s all right,” Ta
FallonA few months later…The last of the season's golden leaves fall in a spiral toward the garden, dappling the benches and pathways weaving between wilting rose hedges. I press my fingertips to the windowsill, breathing deeply, drinking in wet, rainy late autumn air. It’ll be a while until I return to the mainland, especially this time of year. I can’t say I don’t mind seeing a real fall for the last time in a while.The bite in the air is chillier than I remember. I don’t think it ever gets this cold in KiloKilo. I haven’t needed to wear a cloak this thick in weeks. Murmured voices echo back and forth across the ballroom, where a group of people, nobles, a handful of high-ranking Alphas, and three Alpha Kings, gather around a table just out of sight. I look at them over my shoulder, catching my dad, the Alpha King of the Roguelands, and my uncle Aris, the Alpha King of Veiled Valley, deep in conversation with Ryan, Alpha King of the Deadlands. “The Alpha King of Tarsian didn’t
FallonIt feels strange being back in the palace in Moonrise. We arrived last night after several days in Maatua, where Zayn had to bounce back and forth between there and KiloKilo, leading the rescue efforts. I was, of course, under house arrest, again. I let it slide only because my mom was either on the verge of tears or furious with me, and I was just tired. Tired and absolutely glowing with my success, which I didn’t rub in anyone’s faces, even though I desperately wanted to utter “I told you it’d work out. I was right, ha ha!” many, many times. But now I’m in Moonrise again, at least for a little while. Zayn is here as well and will remain for the next week until we both return to KiloKilo for what I hope is a long time. “The tour will be a few months, at the least,” Blake says, tilting an itinerary in Zayn’s direction. “It’s mostly for show, but there’s business to take care of in terms of nautical routes and policies, etc."“I’ll sign anything,” Zayn grumbles, back to his us
FallonThere is no point in bracing myself. Aunt Sarah grabs me and pulls me against her chest, cursing first, then mumbling a rushed prayer while tangling her fingers in my hair. The familial compound on Maatua looks and smells the way it always does. Nothing has changed. Not a single picture is out of place. But everything feels different now. Tense and strained. It’s, most definitely, my fault. “Is my mom going to kill me?” I murmur against her collarbone. “She’s made threats, yes,” Sarah doesn’t let me go for a long time. So long, in fact, that I start to wonder if she’s embracing me this way because she’s forgotten she’s doing it. I untangle myself, leaning back enough to track her eyes. She’s staring at the old man in the doorway. “This is Magnus, my father-in-law,” I say as I step away from her.She lets out a sigh of relief when it’s clear I know him, and a threat didn’t follow me through the aether when I spirited here only moments ago with no suitcases in sight, bruised
FallonThe Grand Wizard covers his head, but the damage is done. The rafters splinter under the falling weight of tons of ancient stone. I throw up my shields and fall to my knees, bracing myself as ceiling tiles shatter to the ground, exploding in sharp shards and larger chunks that slice through the throne and rows of stone benches, destroying everything. My shields barely hold. My magic flickers, threatening to burn out. The wind is unreal. I can’t see a Goddess-damned thing for what feels like an eternity. The warmth in my chest blooms into pure, unfiltered heat that makes my skin prickle in warning. The mate bond tugs sharply, like Zayn is reaching toward me through the aether, fisting my powers and keeping them from tapering to a weak finish. Someone’s screaming. It’s a bright, shrill, terrified sound. It takes several brutal seconds for me to realize it’s me. A burst of energy erupts so violently that my shields fail, and I’m thrown across what’s left of the room, which is b
FallonI love bad ideas. Generally speaking, they tend to work out for me after a bit of trial and error. Take Zayn, for example. Did he specifically tell me not to go to KiloKilo? Yes. Did I go? Yep. Was it horrific? For a minute. Did I eventually convince him to fall in love with me? I would say so… which I hope is enough for him to eventually forgive me for this. “Don’t look down,” Stella shouts over the roar of the wind. “I’m not afraid of heights!” I shout back, tightening my arms around her waist. My fingers are numb to the bone, and I’m sure my hair has frost in it at this altitude, but below us, the most violent storm clouds I’ve ever seen twist and spiral, flashing with deep purple lightning, which is often followed by Zayn’s bright blue bolts. A battle of epic proportions is taking place–still. But not for long, if I have anything to do with it. I tuck my chin against Stella’s shoulder. “How do I go about acquiring a broom like yours?”She chuckles then tilts us upward to
RyanJames scribbles on a piece of paper as people file into the pack house out of the rain. The two-story community building I had built three years ago, when I established Silverhide, is built in a traditional style I forced Sydney to help me plan out. The walls are made of t
AvivaThe camp is quiet when I return. I’m soaking wet, but thankfully clean of rogue blood, because of the rain. Everyone gave up on sleeping outside in their wolf forms, choosing to sleep in tents instead in their human forms. Everything is soaked. Tarps cover the supply carts, nailed to the ground
RyanI leave Aviva in the bedroom and immediately walk outside into the cool, rainy morning air. I clutch the railing of the deck and hang my head, trying to steady my thundering heart. I can’t go into the village like this. I can barely walk in a straight line with this
RyanWe’re met in Endova by warriors armed to the teeth. The sun has set, and the village is glowing with torches, the fire at the village center burning brighter than usual. I’d sent scouts ahead of us by several hours to inform Jerrod of our earlier than anticipat







