LOGINAviva
Warmth. I feel warm to the bone and heavy as I roll to the side and snuggle deeper against the body beside me. My hands drift up his stomach to his chest, tracing taut muscles until I reach the half moon shaped scar on his shoulder. He stirs, rolling over and running his calloused hand over the slope of my naked hip, over my thigh.
When he kisses me, it’s unhurried, his tongue sweeping over mine and exploring any place he hasn’t yet discovered. My breasts ache as he rolls my peaked nipples between his fingers, stirring that desperate, unending want between my legs.
His tongue dances with mine as he slides a hand down over my belly, his fingers reaching for my slit, and he finds me wet and aching for him.
He hums with satisfaction, his mouth still on mine, and whispers, “What have you done to me, little wolf? I can’t get enough.”
I gasp, my eyes flying open to pale gray daylight str
LexaLis clicks her tongue and fluffs the fabric of the impossibly massive ballgown that would look gorgeous on literally anyone else but me. The dress alone takes up my entire room at Kaleb’s house, so I’m at the pack house instead, stripped down to my undergarments while half a dozen Glade women fuss over yards and yards of dark blue satin the same color as my eyes. “Don’t step on it!” Lis screeches, glowering at a young woman now ducking her head and scurrying to hide behind a woman I believe is her mother, based on their similar physical traits. Everyone follows Lis’s commands, however, and after two grueling hours, I’ve been stuffed into a corset so tight I might actually pass out and then into a dress with a skirt so wide and heavy I’m not sure I can even walk in it.“I can’t breathe,” I hiss, my hand pressed against my stomach. “Good, that means it fits. See, I knew you had a waist somewhere. Plus, you have all those muscles to protect you from any internal damage.” Lis waves
LexaKaleb lets go of my wrists, but I’m boneless as he draws a line down the column of my throat with his tongue. He’s kneeling on the bed with my legs splayed over his thighs. His massive, warm hands smooth up my legs, bunching the fabric of my gown until it’s pooled around my waist. Every movement is slow, controlled, like he’s questioning how far he’s willing to take this or savoring the moment. I’ve done this before. Had sex. It was a fumbling, slightly drunken compilation of events. Exciting and heated–but there hadn’t been… this. This slow, exploratory worship. No sucking kisses in a line down to my navel. Nothing that made my muscles weak and my toes curl like everything Kaleb is doing, like he already knows exactly how to touch me, like he’s already mapped every inch of my body. I gasp a shallow breath, my eyes hooded and heavy, when his fingers brush over my pussy–the lightest touch over my panties. I’d beg at this point. I’d get on my knees and say whatever he wants, do w
LexaI’ve been to funerals like this before but always in Endova. There haven’t been many deaths in Silverhide. Our pack is young, with hardly any elders, and we’ve been relatively safe. I find myself clutching Kaleb’s forearm while we walk through the city under a cloak of wet, humid darkness, my mind racing over the battle on the beach. How many pyres were lit in the days that followed? Dozens? I missed them all. Kaleb doesn’t flinch away from my touch. His progress to the pit, the massive gate to the outside world, is slow, steady, letting me set the pace. My legs feel like lead despite the healing draft still working through my system. My elbow is fine now that it’s set back in place, and the drafts have done their job knitting my tendons back together, but the ache in my heart remains.A crowd has gathered along the wall. Shadowed figures of men, women, and children look up at us as we approach. I see familiar faces. Familiar curious glances. But tonight, people bow their heads
LexaThe sun doesn’t rise on the Glade the morning after Chessie’s death. Clouds block the sunlight completely, and it pours. I take the heavy basket covered in towels from Lis’s hand as we hurry through the city, ducking under awnings to shield ourselves from the spray of the rain. It’s warm. It feels rich and wet, and everywhere we look, children race through puddles, singing and dancing in the face of thunder and lightning that splits the sky into pieces. “It hasn’t rained like this here in decades,” she says over the pounding rain as the pack house comes into view. “I honestly can’t remember the last time it even sprinkled. It was probably your doing.”“What?” I whisper, my voice cracking from lack of use. I fell asleep last night curled over Kaleb’s legs, I think. He was my last memory before the world went dark, and my grief swept me into nothingness–a numb, hollow kind of darkness. His hand lay on my hip as he told me about his sister, and… his why.“You freed the dragon.” Li
KalebI rush through the chaotic swell of guards scrambling to access the arena, pushing and shoving my way through the fray. Silas shouts my name, but I ignore him as the dragon breaks free of its chains and soars into the sky, bellowing a roar that shakes the entire city. I catch a glimpse of Lexa. She falls to her knees, and blaring bright lights fill the arena. Guards with swords and spears race for her as the gates to the arena open, allowing them access, but I run faster, breathless, skirting around the open pit and over puddles of blood until I reach her side. She moans, curling into herself as she succumbs to what I know is shock. Shock from the games, from the dragon, from the physical and mental agony of entertaining the crowd above, which is now being hastily dispersed. Shock from watching her friend get executed by someone she loved and trusted.Her cheek is ice cold against my palm.But the guards are closing in. I scoop her into my arms and back against the wall as w
Lexa“Look at me.” Kaleb clutches my face between his hands. I can’t see past him. I can’t hear past the echo of Chessie’s scream piercing me from all angles. My chest contorts as I try to fill my lungs with air, but it’s useless. “Lexa, open your eyes.”I shake my head, blubbering as raised voices erupt all around us. Silas is screaming at the top of his lungs in the language of the fae, but I can’t make out a word he’s saying. It doesn’t matter. I imagine Meg bringing down that sword over and over, and the way Chessie closed her eyes at the last moment before her life was torn from her body. “NO!” I screech, but Kaleb shakes me violently, trying to drag me out of an anguish induced stupor. He presses his forehead to mine, panting, as the lifted voices reach a peak. There’s activity all around us, but he shields me from what I assume are the bodies–her body–being dragged from the arena. “Listen to me,” he breathes against my cheek. “You will go out there and take what’s thrown at







