ChiaraWhen I heard someone going into the bathroom, I immediately crouched under the sink, holding the fire extinguisher in my hand tightly like it was my last line. Because it just might be.I can’t see who entered the room, but I can just about make out a figure kneeling on the floor and dipping his fingers in the pool of blood. He gets up and opens the cubicle doors one by one as though to inspect, so I decide that it’s my time to stand and force this fucker to leave.“Don’t move,” I threaten, reaching up to position the fire extinguisher over his head.He turns around, which surprises me, so I whack him on the forehead with the metal case.“Fuck!” the man yells, and he sounds familiar.I drop the fire extinguisher in shock. “Alessio?”“Chiara.” He sighs and I can feel his hand on my arm. “Why the hell did you do that?”“I. . . .” I falter, shaking my head. “I didn’t know who entered and I got scared and I--”“It’s fine, let’s just get out of here.”With that, he pulls me out of t

ChiaraI swallow hard, trying to control the rush of heat in my veins, but it’s useless. I can feel Alessio all over me, flowing in my bloodstream like alcohol.“Beautiful,” he whispers as he slows down his pace, pulling down the dress leisurely. When I look down in embarrassment at how hard I’m breathing, he cups my chin and makes me face him again. “Keep looking at me. I want to see you.”I open my mouth to tell him that I can’t take it anymore, that it feels too good, but he interrupts me by flicking the top of my dress down and exposing my breasts. The fabric gets caught in my taut nipples, making me gasp as pleasure zaps my body.He smiles, lowering his mouth on me until his lips touch the top of my breasts. I throw my head back, threading my hands in his hair and moaning. I begin to move my hips but he grabs them and puts me in place, stopping me from grinding on his hard throbbing length. He drags his tongue down, flicking my nipples before slowly sucking on them.The pleasure

AlessioMy biggest mistake is thinking that I can overcome the full moon.I knew that the night of the party would fall on a full moon, and I was confident that I will not wolf out in the middle of it and end up killing everyone. And I did great the whole night. The urges were there, but I contained myself.For the first time, I felt like an actual normal human.But of course, this illusion is short-lived, because not even hours after, Savina and many more from my past come back to haunt me and kill people in the process.From then on, I knew everything would just start going downhill. I was anxious and angry, especially when I found out that Lazaro infiltrated the party just so he can tell his daughter to stay away from me.I didn’t and still don’t think that anything about that is wrong. I want Chiara, but what I want for her more is her safety. But she came to me, asked me to show her who I am, willing to forget everything else if I just showed her that I’m not the monster that her

Alessio“If you get me lost, I swear to all the deities,” I warn Benedetti sternly as I watch him point my driver to another corner that seems to lead to nowhere. “I will chop you up so finely your family will have nothing to bury.”He only laughs in the backseat. “Relax, Alessio. We are heading to Arachne.”I arch an eyebrow. “And that’s supposed to be in the bumfuck nowhere?”“Well, kind of, yes.” Benedetti adjusts the collar of his shirt, getting nervous as our eyes meet through the rearview mirror. “I know this doesn’t feel correct, but trust me. I’ve been in this place and I’m pretty confident your girl could be here.”‘Your girl’. For some reason, those words make my heart constrict, but I don’t say anything as the car drives at a faster speed.Now we’re in a field of some sort with dirt roads and trees reaching into the darkening sky. On and on the dirt road stretched before us, seemingly with no promise of an end and a certain destination. My anger is slowly simmering, my hand

ChiaraEverything is hazy and I have no idea what is happening.I feel like I’m hiding behind a veil, helplessly reaching out to things and people that pass by me but never making contact. The last thing I remember is being injected with some kind of liquid that instantly made me feel like I’m floating on a cloud.At first it was good. I was actually . . . liberated in a way. I know it’s just the chemical doing something to my brain, but it felt nice to escape from reality, even if it meant being in a constant state of floating.But then, this veil starts to lift a little, giving me glimpses of what’s happening on the other side. The only problem is, I don’t know if this is real.Because what I see right now is a very blurred image of men pointing guns at me.Somehow, Alessio also made his way into the hallucination.I can recognize his icy blond hair, his dark gray suit, and his mask. I will know that image anywhere. I can also catch a faint whiff of his woodsy smell, penetrating thr