Aviva
Ryan’s hands are huge. He can cover each of my breasts entirely. He can curl his thumb and forefinger around my wrists without issue. He could break my neck into splinters without even feeling the damage he’s doing.
For a moment, I feel that rush of adrenaline. Fight or flight–just because of his sheer size compared to mine and his strength. It’s simultaneously terrifying and alluring.
We’ve done this once before but not… all the way. I’ve gotten a glimpse of his cock once or twice, but never… I’m in over my fucking head already, and he’s done nothing more than kiss me so far.
“You’re all right,” he coaxes, noticing the tension starting to coil through my body. “At any point, you can tell me to stop.”
“I won’t,” I whisper, licking my lips as he draws away and looks down at my body. I’m bathed in m
AvivaExhaustions hugs every muscle as I follow Ryan down the wooded trail leading from the hot springs to the village. It’s midday, and the sky is wide and crystal blue as I peek up through the trees, wiping sweat from my brow.We didn’t sleep last night. Not a wink. The soreness blooming between my legs with each step is a constant reminder of that, and I can’t help but smile as I look down at my sandals. We left Endova the morning after we slept together for the first time. We’d walked back into the village together, silently, both of us thrumming with nervous energy. He’d gone to sleep in the healer’s cottage, and the moment I crossed the threshold of my old home, planning to curl up in bed with the girls, he said into my mind, ‘Goodnight, Aviva.’‘Goodnight,’ I’d replied through the mind-link, which felt so much sharper and clearer. Before, it had been like he was speaking
RyanAviva doesn’t scream. She stares up at me with her normal, slightly bored, yet skeptical, expression she naturally wears. I’m relieved, but a little unsure, as she goes perfectly still.The mist fades until there’s nothing between us, nothing blocking her view of the power, the gift, that makes me incredibly unique and horribly deadly.This is only the third time I’ve ever done it.It feels… great. Needed, especially after everything that happened over the last few days.I hold her gaze. She scans my eyes, relieved to find them the familiar blue I see in the mirror every morning. But nothing else about me is familiar.‘I can’t shift back for a few minutes. I needed this,’ I say into her mind.‘What is this?’‘My… I’m not sure what to call it. My father and my uncle call it a beast form.’ I
AvivaSomething changed after that night. There was a shift between me and Ryan. He showed me a part of himself that only two other people have seen. Something he locks away, guards, and hides. I don’t know if he’s ashamed of it. I wouldn’t be. If I had the power to shift into a beast like that? Oh, gods, everyone would be sick of me. I’d never shift back. I’d stay like that, ruling the forests, enacting the sick, twisted judgment I crave when it comes to rogues and hellhounds.Maybe not, but it would be difficult to come back to my human form. I could tell, when he was in that startling form, that he was uncomfortable. I think it hurts him, honestly. The grotesque shape of his spine. The hard as rock muscles covered in tight, scaled armor. Fur sharp enough to tear skin.It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen.But I understand the weight of it. What he carries everyday in his heart. He&rs
AvivaRyan walks in alone, his unfamiliar companion rushing back down the stairs away from the house. He’s slightly unkempt, like he’d been to the sawmill, wood shavings sticking to his clothes and hair.There’s a new scent being carried on his clothes–male. Familiar, yet unplaceable.“Hey,” he says with a smile, pressing a kiss to my temple as he walks past me toward the bathroom.I whirl, following him. “Who was that?”He turns on the shower. “I have to make this quick. We’re leaving in a few minutes.”“Oh–”He rushes out of his clothes, stepping into the bathtub and pulling the curtain. I chew my lower lip as I walk out of the bathroom, edging toward the window to look outside. In the distance, a group has gathered in the center of the village around a stranger that I can’t see clearly. I have an odd feeling abo
AvivaI expected to be led into a throne room guarded by wolves. I expected gold finishes, ball gowns, crowns made of precious gems. I expected to see their powers at work and feel tiny in comparison.I wasn’t expecting the woman who greeted me in the doorway of a very simple, open sitting room in the depths of the castle, yellow wallpaper illuminating her face in a soft glow.She sucks in her breath and absolutely beams at me, her dark blue eyes widening with… joy. Or maybe it’s utter relief. I’m not sure. Whatever it is, she’s happy to see me, and she doesn’t even know me.“The girls said you had red hair, but this–wow, you are just stunning.”“Mom, can you at least let us come into the room first?” Ryan smiles down at the woman, his mother, his hand flat against the small of my back.I see the resemblance now. Ryan doesn’t look l
RyanThe family dining room in the private quarters of the castle where Ella and Ryatt spend their time outside of their royal duties is washed in starlight and the faint glow of a chandelier.It’s probably edging on 9:00 PM, by my estimation. The dinner was long, drawn out, conversations yelled down the impossibly crowded wooden table.Now, I sit on one end, nursing a glass of scotch, while my mate sits surrounded by my family on the other end, her eyes rapt as she watches Ella’s mouth move.I’ve barely spoken to her in the past two hours. She was herded to a seat and immediately surrounded, and I ended up on the other side of the table from my mate, stuck between Sydney and Granger, Evander’s father. Granger eventually moved down the table as well, joining whatever conversation I was being excluded from, apparently. The kids were scooped up and tossed in bed an hour ago. It’s quiet now, which
AvivaI wake to full sunlight bursting through ceiling height windows, warming the sheets covering a four poster bed. A cool morning breeze drifts through the open windows, ruffling the lace curtains as birdsong floats through the air.It’s like something out of a dream. I stretch, groaning with delight as my skin slides over satin sheets, and relax with a slump.I slept like the dead.But as I feel toward the opposite side of the bed, the sheets are cool and empty. I roll over and reach for the bedside table where a piece of paper is propped against a vase full of fresh flowers.“There’s breakfast down the hall in the pink room. I’ll see you later this afternoon.” I lie back with the note, smoothing my fingertip over the scribbles. Ryan has terrible handwriting. With a sigh, I roll out of bed and pad across the wide room. The carpet is soft, and the wallpaper is heavily detailed w
RyanThe club isn’t what I thought it would be. Sure, I’d had more than a few rowdy nights at the ancient taverns and inns scattered around the Roguelands drinking homemade beer and young whiskey, but this is….“They’re serious about a road system, then?” I ask over the thumping music, a mix of dark synth that makes my body believe it’s back in Crescent Falls, not standing in a sea of black velvet, gold finishes, and strobe lights in the center of Moonrise.Sydney sips his whiskey cocktail, nodding as he squints through the crowd to where Sarah, Aviva, and Kenna are currently tearing up the dancefloor. “Ryatt put a council of Alphas together a few years ago, and they finally voted to allow the road system. It’ll connect at the border with Crescent Falls, lead here, and across the rivers to Tarsian.”“Tarsian is already preparing for their own super-highway,” Evand
BrieI open my eyes as I’m falling through thin air. I don’t even have time to scream before my body drops into water. Deep, rough water that drags me under the second I suck in a salty breath. I flail against the waves, trying to find the surface, but the undercurrent drags me down again, pulling me by my dress and tossing me upside down. My head hits something hard, and I screech, but the sound is empty. I suck in water, choking, and realize quite suddenly that I’m drowning. I go as still as possible, using the last of my energy to start moving with the current instead of against it, which turns out to be the best idea I’ve ever had, especially under duress. I open my eyes underwater, staring down at the shallows. It’s sunny. Daytime. And below, seaweed waves between large, gray rocks. Pockets of sunshine dance through the water, illuminating seashells in shades I’ve never seen before. Another wave crashes over the top of me, sending me rolling into even shallower water, and fina
MaeveCole and Misty have a beautiful suburban home in Shadowcrest. It’s always the same–always smells like freshly baked cookies and the flowers she keeps in vases all over the house. Tonight, as my toes brush the ground, and my powers funnel back into my body, it smells like… popcorn. “You pig! You’re not going to eat all of that.” Josie’s voice, so similar to her mother’s, drifts down the hallway. I landed in the foyer, which is dark, soft moonlight drifting in through the windows and casting the stairs and framed photos of the family in silver shadows. “If you wanted more, you should have added it to the order,” Adrian argues then yelps after a smacking sound reverberates toward me in the gloom. “Give me one of your tacos–”“Or what?”“I’ll tell Mom.”“She’s in Eastonia, dumbass. Hey!” A scuffle ensures. I have two seconds to jump into the shadow of Misty’s study just off the foyer when Cole walks down the stairs, still wearing his hospital scrubs. The sound of a shower running
LoganRyatt and Evander walk out of sight across the bridge connecting the barracks to the main streets of the city. I look out of my old bedroom window at the sunny glare casting shadows over the valley. The shadows move as the clouds dart across the sky toward the castle, toward my wife, who I’d much rather be with right now than here. I… I don’t have anything to pack. Anything that meant anything to me–my laptop, my fucking glasses–were lost in the shipwreck. I have the clothes on my back, and even those were borrowed from who-knows-where, left on the dresser in Brie’s bedroom by the ghost that haunts her house. She’s all I have, and it’s not like I can pack her in my duffle bag and take her with me. I crank open the window to let in some fresh air to cut through the overwhelmingly male smell of the barracks. I turn to my empty duffle bag with a sigh, bracing my hands on either side of it on the bed, and hang my head, but a whoosh of air rushes out behind me, and I turn in time
BrieThe moment my bedroom door closes behind us, Logan’s mouth is on mine. The lock slides into place with a soft click, and an even softer groan leaves his mouth when I reach up to run my fingers through his damp curls. He smells like rain and leather. Like the promise of warmth and comfort through another stormy night. And now this man–this loud, obnoxious, opinionated man… he’s mine. He presses a kiss to the ring he bought today on a whim. It’s a simple band of gold–that’s it. “I'll give you a better one when I return,” he promises, kissing the palm of my hand before his lips find mine again. “A ring with a diamond the old gods can see from the heavens.”“I don’t care about that.” I giggle as his hands glide down my sides, pulling me close. Outside, thunder booms, the room lighting in ribbons of blue as lightning splits the clouds, but in here, it’s warm. It’s private. It’s just us. He removes my cloak. It falls to the ground in a heap at my feet. He’s careful with the dress,
MaeveBrie is… radiant. She glows in her simple white dress of lace and satin, her hair falling loose over her back and shoulders as Logan slowly, tenderly, lowers the hood of her dark blue cloak. The temple is quiet and dim, moonlight flooding the altar. Logan knits his fingers in Brie’s and brings her knuckles to his lips, pressing a kiss against them. They’re bathed in silver, the windows behind them dancing in starlight. It’s beautiful, really. It’s what I envisioned for her, one day, what I thought would be… years from now. I watch my sister–the person I love the most in all of the world–intertwine her soul with someone else, forcing myself to unravel the ribbons binding my heart to hers. She doesn’t belong to me anymore. Logan looks at her as they kneel before the priestess in her silver robes. They lean into each other like being inches away is too far apart. And the look on his face as he brushes his lips over her temple… he loves her. He’s devoted–body, and soul. My heart
Brie“Tonight?”“Yes, tonight.”“How?” I laugh, taking a step away from him. “We-we can’t.”“We can,” he says breathlessly, shaking his head. “The temple stays open all night. We’d just need to find a priestess.”“We’d need a witness,” I whisper as the cogs in my mind start turning. “I’d need a dress–”“I’d marry you like this,” he says, taking my hands. “But please, for the love of the Goddess, marry me before I go.”I blink up at Logan, my heart swelling and squeezing simultaneously. There’s still a whisper in my mind that warns me that he could change his mind, that he can’t really want me, but I… banish it, giving myself to him fully. “Are you sure?” I ask, scanning his eyes. “I’ve never been more sure of anything. I want you to be my wife, Brie.”“I’m already your mate.”“It’s not enough.” He brushes my hair out of my face and kisses me, but a rush of air alerts us to a visitor making their way up the stairs to the tower. I pull away as a soft knock sounds on the door. Neither
BrieLogan steps into my dad’s office. All eyes turn to him as he scans the men–Sydney, Grandpa Ryatt, my father, a few others that serve both my father and grandfather as generals, captains, and commanders. Logan’s eyes are like polished, imperfect emeralds as he eyes my grandpa wearily, like he’s not entirely sure he understands what Ryatt just said to everyone in the room. “Brie, you don’t need to be here for this,” Aviva whispers behind me, knitting her fingers in mine. But Logan growls, “She stays.”A silent, heavy, creeping hint of tension scatters around the room. The entire castle would explode if someone lit a match right now, I’m sure. My spine tingles as Logan turns to Ryatt and says, calmly despite the bite in his voice, “There’s nothing in Emberfyll.”“Quite the contrary,” my grandfather replies immediately, rounding my father’s desk, his shadow powers simmering and coiling around his fingers, “Debris has been washing up on the southern shore of Tarsian for decades now.
LoganBrie looks exhausted, but otherwise… happy, thank the Goddess, as she sits between her mother and Misty, listening to their conversation and picking at a sandwich. I lean my elbows on the table across the room where I’m sitting in silence, alone, still waiting for my mind to catch up with my body after Maeve jumped with us from the middle of the ocean to Veiled Valley. A shadow moves into view, crossing through the doorway before a shadow breaches the informal living area. Ryan looks around before turning the corner, beelining for me, waving away several rushed questions coming from the group of women on the couches nearby. He braces his hands on the table beside me, leaning down to whisper into my ear, “I need to speak to you in private before Ryatt returns. Can you come with me?”I glance at Brie, who’s watching us with her brows furrowed in worry. I suck my teeth before nodding, and Ryan moves back a step so I can stand. Brie and I have been using the mind-link as much as
BrieI pull the stool out from under my vanity, sinking down and facing Blake. I’m older than him by a few months. We’ve always been close, even when we were younger, and he tended to want to play rowdy boy games with Aris. He always sat quietly and played tea-party with me, though, without fail. He’s also the pariah of the family and knows it. His powers rival Ryatt’s, which is a terrifying thought. In fact, I often question who’s more powerful–him or Maeve? But that’s not a fair question at the moment, given that Maeve’s powers aren’t even fully developed yet. Blake, however… he exudes energy that makes my skin tingle as he sits in my desk chair, resting his elbows on his knees. “You found us, didn’t you?” He nods, a flash of guilt darkening his irises. “I admit I didn’t even look until Maeve cornered me. She felt you, she said. Sensed your arrival back in our waters.”I wonder how much Logan told the family. Probably everything, I’m sure. That man can talk, and I love that abou