All Chapters of The Harbinger’s Forbidden Mates: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

POV: Rory HaleThe thing about promises is that they break as easily as glass.I promised myself seventeen would be my year. My year to escape heartbreak, my year to finally breathe. But instead, seventeen became the year everything shattered like someone had taken a hammer to the fragile bits of my life and smiled while they watched me bleed.“Just one year,” I mumbled under my breath, glancing at the shattered restroom mirror in the school’s hallway. My image peered back at me with storm-gray eyes that seemed too old for my age. “One year. Stay unseen. Survive senior year. That’s all you need to do.”But of course, the cosmos has a terrible sense of humor.By lunch, I had already perfected the art of invisibility. Hoodie up. Head down. Earbuds in, even if the music wasn’t playing. Don’t look at anyone, don’t speak unless you’re forced to.The cafeteria smelled like grease and disinfectant. I brought my tray to an empty corner and sat alone, thinking that was precisely where I wanted

POV: Rory HaleThe first thing I noticed when I woke up wasn’t the pounding in my skull. It was the silence.Too normal. Too incorrect.The classroom looked precisely the same as before the teacher scribbling calculations, students chatting about homework, Tyler flinging paper balls across the room. Like nothing had occurred. Like the lights hadn’t exploded. Like time hadn’t stopped. Like Kael Draven had never existed.But his voice still echoed in my head.Remember my name… because I’m the only one who can keep you alive.By the time I stumbled home, my nerves were raw. My stepfather’s pickup was already in the driveway, crooked as usual, like he didn’t care if it blocked half the street. The peeling paint on our modest yellow house made it look worn, much like me.I promised myself I’d sneak upstairs before he noticed me, but the second I opened the door, voices filled the living room.Not his voice.Strangers.I froze, hand on the doorknob. Three people in dark suits stood in our l

POV: Rory HaleI dropped my luggage on the empty bed and sat down cautiously, the mattress squeaking beneath me. “I didn’t ask to be here.”“None of us did,” Maya answered swiftly, a flicker of something unpleasant in her voice. “But you’d better get used to it. Because once you walk through those gates, you don’t get to leave unless they want you gone.”Her remarks stabbed deeper than I wanted to admit.I murmured, “So I’m trapped.”Maya leaned forward, eyes keen, her voice softening to almost a whisper. “Call it what you want. Prison. Academy. Hell clothed as a palace. Doesn’t matter. Just learn soon, Rory, or someone else will teach you the hard way.”Silence stretched, heavy and stifling.I attempted to push back, to sound braver than I felt. “Why do you care what happens to me?”For a moment she didn’t answer. Then she smirked again, but it didn’t reach her eyes this time. “Because I like having roommates who survive.”Her gaze flicked to the door just as it opened without warnin

I forced a smile. “Nothing. I’ve never even met him.” “Then why did he say it’s you?” I had no answer. Only the echo of his voice, creeping under my skin.  The class began, words streaming from him at a lovely pace, but I couldn’t focus. Every time he moved, every time his shadow crossed the room, my body tightened. When he posed a question, I didn’t hear it. Until his voice snapped like thunder. “Rory Hale. Answer.” My head jolted up. The entire class stared. “I… I don’t know the question.” His lips curved, but it wasn’t kind. “That’s because you weren’t listening. Distracted, are you?” A bitter laugh spread from the back row. Darius’s voice. “Maybe she&rsquo

POV: Rory Hale   The stares were worse than knives. Everywhere I moved in the academy halls, whispers followed me like smoke. Heads bent together, voices went low, and eyes hungry, terrified, hateful to me as if I’d suddenly grown a crown of fire. “They say she survived dragon fire.” “No, it was the wolf. He lost control and she calmed him.” “Look at her arm. The mark is real.” “The Marked One…” The words clung to me like a curse. I held my books to my chest and attempted to go faster, but the murmurs crawled under my skin until I couldn’t breathe. Finally, I snapped, wheeling on them. “Say it to my face!” The corridor went silent. A girl with silver eyes scoffed. “Wh