All Chapters of The First She : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

MAEVE They closed in until their shoulders almost touched and the circle left me nowhere to look but at their boots. "Shift." I held still. My claws dug into the dirt. Shifting meant bare skin and bare skin meant they'd know in one look. I'd take their teeth before I gave them that. One of them chuckled. "For his size, he looks like a pup who never finished growing. Stubborn, too." He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. The alpha isn't so merciful." "On your feet, follow us." Arguing would only get me bitten. I was surrounded, outnumbered and tired down to my bones. So I lifted my head. If I had to go, I'd go on my own four legs, with my chin up. Wolves in the pack lined the path as we walked. They stood in doorways and along fences and the growls started low and followed me like a draft. I growled back, louder. No one got to bully me. Not here and not anywhere. Then a door came into view, and a scent slipped out of it. Smoke and tobacco. Something warm underneath that tugged at

BLADEMy hand lifted without my permission. I touched her hair first. It was softer than anything had a right to be. Then her neck, where her pulse hammered against my fingers like a trapped bird. She was still shifting, filling out, her skin burning hot under my palm.I needed proof. I needed it to be real. My hand dragged lower, to the swell of her breast."Don't touch me!"Her scream bounced off the walls and went straight through my chest, but it didn't stop me. My wolf was howling so loud I could barely hear her."You’re a female," I muttered, to no one, to myself. "You’re mine. You’re mine."She scrambled backward across the floor, away from me, until her shoulders hit the wall. I shook my head and moved closer. I couldn't help it. It was like there was a rope tied around my ribs and she was holding the other end.I reached for her legs. I needed to see all of her, to know that this wasn't a trick, that the moon hadn't played one more joke on me. My palms slid down her thighs, t

BLADEI opened the door just wide enough to slip through and pulled it shut behind me before any light from the room could spill into the hall.Eric stood three steps away with his hand raised, ready to knock again.Of course he did.I turned the key, dropped it into my pocket, and leaned back against the wood like I had nowhere else to be."What's the problem?""Good evening to you too, Alpha.""Eric."He lowered his hand. For a moment he only looked at me and I knew that look. It was the one he gave border reports that didn't add up. Then his nose twitched.He sniffed me hard. Not carefully, either. I should have thought of that. Her scent had followed me out. It was on my hands, my collar, my skin, sweet and warm and impossible to wash off."This might sound crazy," he said slowly, "but is there a female in there?"Everything in me went tight. My face didn't move. I'd had years of practice with that."Mind your business." My voice came out flat. "Whatever you came here to report,

BLADEI let out a long sigh and opened my mouth to explain.I never got the chance.The door slammed open so hard it hit the wall. One of my guards stood in the doorway, chest heaving and eyes wide."Alpha. A female." He gulped for air. "We caught a female at the border. Some of the men have her. They're holding her down."Everything in me went still.For a second, I didn't hear Eric or the guard or my own breath. There was only one picture in my head: the female i had taken to my room.The window. Of course. I had locked the door and never once looked at the glass. I should have known. A woman who would cross a border for a rabbit would not stay behind a door.I ran.I don't remember the stairs. I remember the corridor blurring past, the cold slap of night air as I hit the doors, and my wolf clawing at my ribs. Mine. Mine. Mine. Under it, far off but growing louder, came a scream. I would have known it anywhere.Eric's boots pounded somewhere behind me. I didn't wait.By the time I r

MAEVEBlade shouldered the door open, crossed the room in a few strides, and set me on my feet in the middle of his floor.Not gently. My knees nearly buckled.I stood there for a second, breathing hard, staring at the same bed, the same window, the same tobacco smell I'd woken up in. I had been so close to the trees. I had been so close to escaping.Then the anger came up through me so fast it burned. I stormed across the room, gripped the post at the foot of the bed, and spun around."How dare you?" My voice shook, and I let it. "How dare you bring me back here?"Behind him, the lock clicked. He'd turned the key without even looking. I hated that sound more than I hated him."Do you know how important it is for me to be out there?" I flung a hand toward the window. "My brother is sick and he needs me."Blade leaned his shoulders against the door and folded his arms. He took up so much space that the room seemed smaller around him. "He's a man," he said. "He'll survive."I laughed. I