21: What Do I Do Now?

Returning to school after yet another fainting spell felt like even more of a task than usual. Knowing that it was her grandmother’s anger that had caused her last blackout only increased her anxiety and heightened the deep longing for her brother.He had always protected her, and they had always felt stronger together. Knowing that they were on the same continent brought Ceanna some relief, but the distance still made her heart ache. She hadn’t heard from him in a while, and she needed to know that he was alright.Mama Daley had breakfast ready for her when she came downstairs and her father was already seated at the kitchen table, drinking coffee.He looked up when she walked through the door and opened his arms the way he used to when she was smaller.Going over to him, she let him hug her. She sat down on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Good morning, baby girl.”“Good morning, daddy,” she mumbl

Last Updated : 2021-08-17

22: An Untameable Hunger

Miles away, a young man woke up suddenly. Beads of sweat gathered on his forehead and his bare chest from the heat of the morning sun, and his heart was racing as if he’d been running. Centering himself, he realized that it wasn’t his anxiety that had woken him up, but it was more urgent than it had been in a while. What’s the matter? Are you alright? I need you. What if they find out, she asked frantically. Take a deep breath. They won’t find out. The prince is doing a paper on it! Okay, Cece... just calm down. It’s going to be alright, he told her. I’m coming as soon as I can. Feeling her panic settle to mild worry helped Reyan focus on his present situation. Shutting her out of his mind, he looked around the room where Maxwell and Andrea Cosby had kept him for the last few weeks. Andrea would be coming in very soon. She came to him every morning after her brother-in-law Ma

Last Updated : 2021-08-17

23: New Levels to Leadership and Love

Keion could feel the excitement every time they discovered a new couple in their school. Some came as an absolute surprise, but the general response was joy for the people who discovered their mates and increasing curiosity for the remaining pool of possibilities. More deeply, though, he felt the anxiety of his future mate. Sometimes when the notifications popped up on his phone, he felt a distinct twinge of sadness, which he could now distinguish as his mate’s. His medication made his reactions a lot more mild, but they didn’t entirely conceal how she was feeling. It made him unhappy that he couldn’t do anything to help her and even though he’d tried a few times to get a picture of her in his mind, the moon goddess had not yet seen it fit to reveal to him who his soul mate was. Keion wanted to take away her worries and the loneliness that seemed to strike a chord whenever anyone else got their mate. He felt helpless and so he tried to do what his father had suggeste

Last Updated : 2021-09-07

24: So Close and So Far

King Msia stopped talking as Keion’s head hit the ground and his breath rushed out of his lungs in a violent whoosh. Zach and Tommy laughed in surprise, but also immediately reached out to pick up their best friend. Keion sat down quickly and put his head in his hands. Heads turned to look at the handsome young prince. The contact with the floor had hurt, but Msia knew that a headache was the least of his son’s worries. “We’re going to take a break, boys. You can go outside.” No one stopped to think about the king’s instruction. Everyone in the room, except for his son, stood up and filed out of the hall respectfully. Msia waited until most of the boys left before rising to his feet and walking across the room to where his eldest son was sitting. The man could feel the young man’s heart pounding, and he knew it had something to do with his mate. Taking the chair nearest his son, he placed it right beside him and he sat down, putting his hand on the boy’s back. Keion breathed a sig

Last Updated : 2021-10-05

25: Heart to Heart

Oblivious of what was taking place in the boy’s session, the girls sitting in the theater hung on every word the queen shared with them. Her voice resonated across the room without a microphone as she single-handedly held the room captive with her words. Kaliah Hamadi was a tall, willowy woman with golden brown skin and long curly hair. It wasn’t just her position in the hierarchy that made her so easy to listen to; her voice was like a clear flute note- so pleasing to the ear that several girls across the hall had smiles on their faces as they leaned into the wisdom of their leader. Next to Ceanna, Nancy nodded emphatically when the queen asked them if they were excited to be discovering who their mates were. When the time came for a few girls to share what their pairing experiences had been like, Nancy whispered to the girls around her. “I could watch her all day, she’s so amazing.” They all agreed. “She looks so beautiful and sure of herself.” Pause. “I can’t imagine her being

Last Updated : 2023-01-18

26: Coming to Terms

Ceanna hadn’t always felt like an outsider in her adoptive family. She was grateful for their love and care, and she knew she was different from them, but they had made her feel welcome, despite the obvious. She was a little taller than the average teenage girl, but luckily the men in her family were giants, too. It made her feel like that was a superficial thing they had in common when everything else was far from similar. Ceanna’s golden-brown skin and ethnicity were the first obvious deviations from Daley genetics. She had curly hair and almost yellow eyes, while they had straight black hair and normal colored eyes. Their bloodline was rich with love and academic achievement, hers was… The turmoil she felt whenever she thought of her heritage made her sigh out loud and turn away from the mirror. She wanted to believe what Queen Hamadi had said at school the other day, but she did feel alone, especially when comparing herself to the other kids at Alcombey High. Ceanna was as differe

Last Updated : 2023-09-13