MarissaJustine was about to drop me off when the sound of footsteps on the stairs made both of us look up.Justin emerged, shirtless, in nothing but a pair of khaki shorts that hung low on his hips, and I swear—my soul flatlined. His lean muscles flexed with each step like he was handcrafted in a lab and then cursed with that careless kind of beauty that didn’t even try. He glanced up and caught me staring, and I had to blink and look away before I publicly embarrassed myself.Justine squinted at him. “Shouldn’t you be... lying down or something? I thought you were half-dead earlier.”“I’m fine now,” he said, with a casual shrug. He pulled a white T-shirt over his head, the fabric clinging briefly to the ridges of his abdomen before falling into place. “Let me drop her off. I need to pick something up anyway. It’s on the way.”Justine looked between the two of us, clearly confused—and maybe a little annoyed. “It’s fine. I'll drop her off.”“I’ll take her,” he said simply, jingling h
MarissaMy fingers hovered over my iPad as I sat restlessly on my table. My attention was fixed on Justin’s office door. He had come in not long ago, yet something about him felt off.I glanced through the glass partition. He wasn’t typing, making calls, or reviewing reports. He just sat there, staring blankly at the wall. I’d spent enough time watching this man to know when something was wrong.And now that I knew the truth that he couldn’t feel our bond the way I did, it all made a strange sort of sense.I wasn’t second-guessing myself anymore. The confusion had cleared, even if the ache in my chest hadn’t. I’d spent the whole night heartbroken, lying awake with too many thoughts and not enough answers.Eventually, I turned to research, looking for proof that I wasn’t losing my mind. Bonds could be one-sided. Rare, but real.Now that I knew the truth, I held a strange kind of power. Not over Justin exactly, but over the way I told our story. I had to be careful. If I rushed it, if I
Justin"Mom, take that thing off my face," I said flatly.Across from me, she stood like a battlefield medic, armed with a glass of water and a container of oversized, chalky pills that tasted like crushed regret."I feel fine," I insisted, leaning back against the headboard. "You're overthinking this."“Come on, honey,” she said gently. “Just because you haven’t had an episode recently doesn’t mean we can get too comfortable.”I exhaled, frustration tugging at my features. “Didn’t you say, just a few days ago, that this was a sign I was healing? So why are we backtracking now? Shouldn’t we be celebrating a little progress?”“I’m being careful, honey.”Her voice softened at the end, and I knew it wasn’t about the pills. It was worry, and maybe fear, tangled into motherly instinct. But still, those pills were monstrous. They looked like they were made for livestock.“I’ll break them in half, if that helps,” she offered, clearly not planning to back down.Then her tone shifted into that
MarissaJustin's text buzzed on my phone. I ignored it and tried to focus on his sister, who was animatedly recounting one of her international gigs. She was engaging enough, but it didn’t stop me from feeling the weight of my phone like it was burning through my palm.Another buzz. I glanced down.Justin: Imagine if it were just me and you right now. No one else.I locked the screen and forced a smile, nodding politely at Justine’s latest punchline.Another buzz.Justin: You’d be a lot less focused on this conversation. Imagine us in the car… doing naughty stuff. Just the way you like it.I ignored it again, silently cursing him for teasing me like this while his sister sat three feet away.Justin: Oh, better still—imagine me sitting beside you. My hand on your thigh…I instinctively squeezed my legs together.Justin: You’re squirming, aren’t you? Trying to keep a straight face…A laugh escaped me, right as Justine said something vaguely funny. She didn’t seem to notice the heat simm
MarissaI was absentmindedly scrolling through my phone when I spotted Justin’s car. Sleek and black, it was rounding the corner with the kind of elegance that made people stop and stare. My body tensed. Heads were already turning.I could hear the whispers from the verandas.“The Lycan Prince.”Of course, they knew. The royal flag on the hood made it obvious.The driver’s side door opened, and Justin stepped out first, his sister emerging from the other side. Both wore sunglasses like movie stars on a red carpet. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to the sheer power, wealth, and gravity they brought with them. They were so... extra. I couldn’t decide whether to smile or groan.It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see him. But showing up like this, in full view of every nosy werewolf on the property, was a different kind of headache.My phone buzzed. It was him.Heat rushed up my neck. I bolted for my room.My hair was a little messy from sitting outside, so I yanked a scrunchie from my nig
MarissaI stared at my phone, rereading Justin’s message for the third time. A stupid smile tugged at my lips before I could stop it.I was giddy. Over a text. From an engaged man.God, I was an idiot.Just thinking about what might happen if we were alone sent a feverish warmth racing through my body, tingles unfurling beneath my skin. I shut it down quickly. I refused to be some starry-eyed fool, fantasizing about a man who was literally planning a wedding with someone else.Besides, his sister was coming along. That was enough to kill the thrill. I tossed my phone onto the table and leaned back, fully aware I was getting ahead of myself.Justine would be relentless. She’d watch me with those expectant eyes, waiting for any hint that she could win me over. The thought alone was exhausting.I stretched out on the bed, my mind drifting to Hector’s reaction when I told him the truth—when I admitted that Justin and I were mates.He’d looked at me like I’d just announced his favorite mov