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What happened 10 years ago?

Author: Author Calypso
last update Huling Na-update: 2025-06-29 21:05:04
ASHER

I wake up slow. Too slow. My head feels like it’s been split open with an axe. Every little sound, the rustle of sheets, the whisper of breath, hammers against my skull. My mouth is dry, tongue thick like it’s coated in sand. The bitter taste of last night’s whiskey still clings to my teeth.

I groan and press the heel of my hand against my eyes, trying to block out the sharp stab of light filtering through the curtains. My stomach churns, and I swallow back the sour burn creeping up my throat.

It takes me a second,maybe longer, to realize I’m not alone.

Something warm is pressed against my side. Soft skin. A hand lazily draped across my stomach. My body goes tense, every muscle locking up. I turn my head, slow as death, already half dreading what I’ll see.

Caroline.

She’s sprawled out beside me, completely naked, tangled in the sheets like she owns the place. Her red hair spills over my chest, her face peaceful in sleep. For a moment, my mind blanks. Then everything c
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  • The Mate Games   She’s been pretending

    ALTHEAMy breath catches.I don’t move, not right away. His words still echo in my head, and I can’t shake them off.“She has the answers.”Asher’s grip had gone slack the moment he said it. His hand dropped from my wrist like all the strength in his body had fled at once, and just like that, he was unconscious again. Pale. Still.But not gone.I stand by his bedside a little longer, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest, the way a faint line creases his brow even in sleep. He looks… younger like this. Less haunted.It doesn’t help the way my chest twists.I should go.I finally take a step back, my feet dragging as I leave the room and close the door quietly behind me. The corridor is colder than I remember. The air stings. My thoughts are all jumbled, pulling in too many directions at once.He killed my mother.But he’s not the monster I wanted him to be.And now I can’t decide what hurts more, that I believed he was. Or that he might not be.My steps echo down the hallway as

  • The Mate Games   She’ll tell you everything

    ASHERDarkness drags me under.It’s heavy and sticky, like oil clinging to my skin, my thoughts, my lungs. I can’t breathe right, can’t move. And I don’t know where I am, only that I’m not alone.The dream doesn’t feel like a dream. It’s more like being pulled through a memory I didn’t ask to remember. One I didn’t even know I had.I see trees first. Tall and endless, the kind that stretch up so far the light barely breaks through. I’m running through them, my paws brushing across dried leaves, my breath fogging the cold air. There’s a laugh beside me—sharp and wild, full of joy. I know that voice.“Come on, Ash!”It’s Cale.My cousin. My… brother in everything but blood. I haven’t thought about him in years, and now here he is, racing beside me in the shape of a jet-black wolf, our paws thudding in sync.I forgot how close we used to be.The scene shifts.We’re younger now. Human. Small limbs, big grins, both of us sitting on the kitchen counter while Martha huffs and mutters under h

  • The Mate Games   You killed my mother

    ALTHEAI don’t remember leaving the hallway.I don’t remember how I made it down the winding corridor, or when my legs even started moving again. All I know is that I’ve been walking aimlessly, blindly, since I heard her say it.Elise.Her voice is still in my head, looping again and again like a curse I can’t shake. “I did it. I poisoned him.”My stomach churns every time I think about it. About her face. The way she stood there with her chin raised like she wasn’t ashamed. Like she hadn’t just destroyed the one person who thought she was the best option for him.And goddess, I thought she loved him.All this time, I thought she was the better one. Sweeter. Softer. The girl that deserved him because I… didn’t. I let myself believe that she was harmless. That maybe Asher had found some peace in her. That maybe despite the war between us, it wouldn’t matter because someone like her would never think to betray him.But now I know better.She was never innocent. She was never harmless. S

  • The Mate Games   Powerless to stop me

    ASHERDarkness clings to me like a second skin.My head feels heavy, my limbs weighed down by something thicker than sleep. I try to lift my hand, but it barely twitches. A groan escapes my throat as my eyes flutter open to a blurry ceiling. The air smells strange, too clean, too quiet. There’s a ringing in my ears, a dull throb pulsing at the base of my skull. I blink again, and this time, the blur sharpens into stone walls and flickering candlelight.Where the hell am I?The last thing I remember is standing on the stage, the weight of the crown pressing on me like always, the crowd stretching out before me, faceless and loud. I remember speaking. I remember saying her name. Elise. Then… nothing. Just a sudden, sharp wave of dizziness, like the floor tilted beneath me, and the world slipped sideways.And now I’m here.My body aches as I shift slightly, a sharp coldness biting into my wrist. I glance down and feel my breath hitch, metal cuffs, thick and iron, tight around both wrists

  • The Mate Games   I poisoned him

    ALTHEAFor a few seconds, everything freezes.Then the crowd explodes.Screams tear through the courtyard like a thousand knives. People push and shove, stumbling backward as guards flood the stage, surrounding the fallen king. I watch, frozen in place, as they lift his body, limp, unmoving, and carry him off the dais, his robes dragging behind him like a shadow. The priest yells something, trying to restore order, but his voice is drowned out by panic. Noblewomen clutch their pearls. Warriors draw their swords. Children cry.Still, I don’t move.My body feels locked in place, breath shallow, mind racing. Around me, chaos swells like a storm. But I can’t stay here. Not now. Aaron and the others have already gone inside. I saw the way they melted into the crowd just moments before everything fell apart. That was our signal. The moment of distraction we were waiting for.And now it’s here.I pull my hood lower over my head, tightening the fabric around my face as I slip between bodies.

  • The Mate Games   Varya’s diary entry 14

    Many decades ago… I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this. No matter what I tried, no matter what I took or prayed for or begged the goddess in the dark to allow, this thing inside me refused to go. I tried everything. I followed the seer’s old instructions. The roots. The teas. Even the ritual with the silver water and black ash under the full moon. But nothing worked. It wouldn’t leave. And then, before I knew it, I’d run out of time. The physicians said it was too late. That removing it now would end my life faster than letting it grow. I pretended to listen, nodded when they said to rest and eat and stay calm. But inside, I’d already made up my mind. I’ll let it come. But I’ll never let it stay. As soon as I birth it, I will make sure it’s gone. The mark on my neck has turned blacker than before. It itches and burns like it’s alive, like something’s crawling under the skin trying to get out. There are nights I wake up clawing at it until I bleed. My wolf,

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