Malia's POV“Don't tell me you're going to choose sulking and wallowing in heartbreak or fear, whichever one it is, over my company?”I scoffed. “I told you this afternoon that you're not the only man in this pack. There's Ronan, Derek, Scott… and many others.” He rolled his eyes. “Why does it have to be the guys? You could spend time with the ladies too.”“Like your mistress, Lila? Yeah. We could try being best buddies.”“In case you haven't noticed, she's not the only female in this pack,” he said. “I'll figure out how to befriend some other women later, but for now I need to get out of this dress into something more comfortable.” “So what's stopping you?” He asked with a straight face.“Really?”He shrugged. “I could help you out of those clothes if you need me to. I'm quite good at it,” he said, wiggling his brows.“And you'll find some of my mom's clothing to be really comfortable,” he added when I scowled at him. I shook my head at the thought of wearing a dead woman's cloth
Malia's POVThe only thing my mind registered was his low growl and reddening of his irises. In the next minute, I was pinned to the wall with my hands raised above my head. A Yelp of surprise left my lips.I felt my heart slam hard against its cage as I locked eyes with him.“You're too feisty for your own good. I'd love to make you submit. You might not like my method though,” he growled and I shivered, not from fear. “Or you might,” he added, his gaze travelling along the length of my body. I felt all the nerve cells of my body jump in excitement from the heat of his gaze. He smiled as his eyes landed on my chest, showing his fangs. I knew exactly what he was smiling at. My nipples were already rock hard and were poking through the fabric of my dress. 'Traitor!' I mentally berated my body. “I'd never submit to you, no matter how hard you try to make me,” I challenged. I regretted those words immediately they left my mouth because as his eyes darkened, I realized I had just a
Malia's POVI shut my door quietly behind me. All was quiet. Too quiet if you asked me. My stomach growled again as I headed down the hallway. I sang a lullaby in my head as I made my way to the kitchen which was about ten minutes away from my room. I smiled as I thought about scaring the people living in the palace by humming the lullaby out loud like in those Blumhouse horror movies. They would start to think that the hallways were haunted probably by Ryder and Ronan's mom. Ryder never did tell me how she had died and I wondered why. I decided I was going to ask Ronan. He was surely going to tell me. I thought I heard a whisper and I halted in my tracks. Had the hallway suddenly become cold or was it just my imagination? I slowly turned around to see if there was someone or something else with me in the hallway. There was no one else but me. I strained my ears to listen for a sound. It was eerily quiet. I took a deep breath and turned back around. No ghost was going to keep me
Malia's POVPen blushed and wouldn't meet my eyes. “Just say his name, Pen. It might help reduce your feelings for him,” I said. That wasn't true of course and she arched an eyebrow to show she wasn't buying my Idea. “If I tell you, you're going to think I'm silly,” she blushed.My eyes widened in surprise. “Why would you think that? The heart wants what it wants. Nobody is going to blame you for that,” I said. She mumbled something. “Pen if you want to let me know you're going to need to speak up,” I said, mentally rolling my eyes. “The beta,” she said a bit louder this time, burying her face in her hands. My eyes widened in surprise. “Oh Pen. It's okay. You don't have to feel shy about it.”I pried her hands away from her face. She was blushing so hard. I tried so hard not to laugh because it was only going to make her feel more embarrassed. “Ronan is really good-looking. If not for the fact that I have sworn off men for the meantime I'd also have a massive crush on him,” I
Malia's POVIn one swift movement, he was on top of me. One of his large hands encircled my wrists and pinned my hands above my head on top of my bed. His hard body was pressed flush against mine. I glared at him. “You seem to enjoy provoking me,” he observed. “You seem to enjoy making me provoke you,” I retorted. He gave a deep chuckle and I felt the sound reverberate through my body. I felt wide awake. “Since you'd be staying indoors for the rest of the day, what are your plans?” He asked. His weight on top of me felt oddly comfortable. “Certainly nothing that involves you,” I replied. “What am I to do with you, Malia?” He asked. “I'm guessing that's a rhetorical question,” I answered and he chuckled again. This time my toes did curl and I hoped he didn't notice. My body was starting to respond to his nearness even though I willed it not to. I wriggled my body in an attempt to escape from beneath him. “I wouldn't do that again if I were you,” he growled. His green eyes
Malia's POVRonan had faster reflexes than me of course. He dodged. He needn't have. Because somehow I ended up tripping over my feet and landed on the floor. I remained on the floor and muttered an unladylike word. Thankfully I wasn't hurt. Ronan came to where I was sprawled on the floor and bent over me. “Are you okay?” He asked. I looked up at him and saw that he was trying so hard not to laugh.“I'm going to kill you and go to hell,” I muttered under my breath. He saw the intention in my eyes and moved as far away from me as possible as I got to my feet. I chased him around the room till I ran out of breath and plopped down on the floor. Ronan still looked like he could go at it for hours. He had barely broken a sweat. He grinned at me and I glared at him. “That was fun,” he said. “Son of a bitch,” I murmured. “My mom would be offended,” he replied with a smirk. I ignored him and focused on slowing down my heartbeat to normalcy.The sweat made my T-shirt cling to my skin
Malia's POVThere was a huge painting of me on the wall. I moved towards it like a magnet. “Do you like it?” Ronan asked from behind me. “How? When?” I was baffled. I didn't remember posing for a painting or picture. He moved from behind me to stand beside me. I turned to him expectantly. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I may or may not have taken a picture of you when you were having an animated conversation with Derek. I had to wait for the perfect moment to capture your delightful expression.”I fell silent for a moment trying to remember the particular day that this must have happened. Ronan mistook my silence for displeasure. “I could have it rubbed off if you don't like it,” he said. “What? No,” I exclaimed and turned to face the painting. “It's really beautiful. I hadn't imagined that I could ever look this good. I'd love to meet the artist who did this,” I enthused. I was really impressed by the extraordinary talent of the artist. He had found a way to express t
Malia's POVThe walk to the library was completely silent apart from the sound of our footsteps against the floor. I mentally berated myself for being the cause of Ronan's sour countenance. I should have taken the hint when even the somewhat stoic Ryder had not wanted to talk about it. Why did I have to be so nosy? We finally arrived at the library and I breathed out a sigh of relief. I made a mental note to take all the books that caught my fancy back to my room. There was no way I was going to be able to make the long trip to the library every day. My mouth opened as I took in the grandness of the library. The ceiling was so high and a very impressive crystal chandelier hung from it. The large bookshelves made from oak wood were saturated with books and were so tall that ladders had been fixed so that the books at the tops could be reached.“If you leave your mouth hanging open for ten more seconds, we might find it difficult to ever get it to close,” he teased. “This is super