Mason, golden and gentle, whispering words of love against my throat. Ethan, green eyes blazing, taking me apart withclinical precision. Leo, laughing even as he made me scream, finding every sensitive spot and exploiting it mercilessly. Caleb, always Caleb, silent and intense, those ice-blue eyes burning into mine as he claimed me in ways I couldn't even articulate.
I woke gasping, drenched in sweat, my hand between my legs again. Night had fallen while I slept, leaving the room dark, and only a single lamp illuminating the shadows. My body was worse—the fever higher, the cramps more frequent, the slick a constant flow that had soaked through everything beneath me.
I wasn't alone. Caleb stood in the doorway, a massive shadow backlit by the hall light. He wasn't moving. Wasn't speaking. Just watching me with those pale eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness.
"Caleb." His name came out as a whimper. I didn't mean for it to sound like that—like a plea, like a prayer. But my body was past caring what I meant. He still didn't move. Didn't speak. But something shifted in his expression, that stone-carved face showing a crack of something raw underneath.
"Please," I heard myself whisper. "Please, I can't—I need?—"
I didn't know what I was asking for. Didn't want to know. But my hand reached out toward him, trembling, desperate for something I couldn't name. Caleb's hands curled into fists at his sides. His whole body was rigid, every muscle straining against some invisible force. He wanted to come to me. I could see it. Could smell it—the sharp spike of Alpha arousal that cut through the air like lightning.
He didn't move.
"Not yet," he said, his voice rough as gravel. The first words I'd ever heard him speak directly to me. "Not like this."
"Why?" The word came out broken. "You have me. You all have me. I can't fight anymore. I can't?—"
"Because when I take you." He stepped into the room, just one step, and stopped. The light caught his face, those brutalangles and ice-blue eyes. "When I finally have you under me, when I knot you for the first time, when I make you mine, you're going to be present for it. You're going to feel everything. And you're going to remember it for the rest of your life."
A sob caught in my throat.
"I want you to know," he continued, his voice low and dark and devastating. "Every moment. Every touch. Every time I make you come apart. I want it burned into your memory so deep that you'll never be able to forget. So you'll never be able to pretend it didn't happen. That you didn't want it. That you didn't beg for it."
"I won't beg," I whispered, but we both knew it was a lie.
Something that might have been a smile flickered across his face. "You will. And I'll be there when you do." Then he turned and walked away, leaving me alone in my nest, surrounded by their scents, burning alive with a need I couldn't satisfy.
Twelve hours, Leo had said. The worst is still coming.
I curled around myself and waited for my body to finally destroy me.
CHAPTER NINE
TEN YEAR OLD AVA
The Harper estate was the biggest house I'd ever seen.
I pressed my face against the car window, watching it grow larger as we drove up the winding driveway. It looked like something out of a fairy tale—all gray stone and tall windows and ivy climbing up the walls. There was a fountain in the front, water sparkling in the afternoon sun, and gardens that seemed to stretch on forever.
"Ava, stop smudging the glass." Mom's voice was gentle but tired. She'd been tired a lot lately. Ever since Dad left. "Remember what I told you. Best behavior."
"I know, Mom." I sat back in my seat, smoothing down the blue dress she'd made me wear. It was itchy and too fancy and I hated it, but Mom said we had to make a good impression. Mr. Harper was important. He was going to help us.
I didn't really understand what that meant. I just knew that we'd lost our house and moved into a tiny apartment, and Mom cried at night when she thought I was asleep, and now we werehere, at this castle of a house, because Mr. Harper was an old friend of Mom's and he wanted to help.
The car stopped in front of the massive front doors. A man in a suit opened Mom's door, then mine, and I scrambled out onto the gravel driveway, craning my neck to look up at the house.
"It's so big," I breathed.
Mom took my hand, squeezing tight. "Stay close to me, okay? And remember?—"
"Best behavior. I know.” The front doors opened before we reached them, and a man stepped out. He was tall and broad, with salt and pepper hair and sharp eyes that crinkled at the corners when he smiled. He looked strong, distinguished, the kind of man other men listened to.
"Elena." He pulled my mother into a hug, and I saw her shoulders shake just a little. "It's been too long."
"David." Mom's voice was thick. "Thank you. For everything."
"Nonsense. You're family." He pulled back and looked down at me, and his smile got even wider. "And this must be Avalon."
