He was going to break my heart. He was going to break my heart, and I was going to let him.All of this, everything I had done to try to heal the wound he'd left in my chest when he quietly rejected me for the sake of finding his future mate, the house hunting, the tears, the heavy anchor wrapped around my heart... It would be for nothing if I let him do this.Even so, I had no strength to deny him. I cared about Evan. I cared about him so much -- I probably even loved him, even though we had only known each other for no more than a few months. And I couldn't find it in me to tell him no.He carried me toward the house, still kissing me feverishly but picking up the pace. The drive to the manor, he had only barely restrained himself, but now it was too late for that. He left the car parked haphazardly in the driveway instead of leaving in the garage, and at this late hour, no one stopped us as he carried me through the doors and took me upstairs.The jour

I would have stayed to spend the day with Evan, if not for how I had already missed several days' worth of classes from traveling to Dark Moon territory recently. Lagging even more behind would only steal time away that I could spend with him in the coming days, so despite my reluctance, I washed up and got ready to drive to campus.Evan and I showered together, and his hands lingered over my body as he ran his fingertips over the reddened marks he had left all over my shoulder and neck. I shivered, delighting in the touch I never thought I would ever feel, the touch of Alpha Evan who I'd thought I lost before I ever had him. But he went no further, keeping his touches intimate but fleeting, not arousing.He had only ever showed this tenderness to me. I'd never seen him let his guard down with anyone else. I leaned into him, eyes closed as I soaked up the warm spray of the shower and the heat of his body behind me. With a contented sigh, he wrapped his arms around me a

Rafael hadn't been expecting Evan to yield so easily. When he told her exactly what she had never thought he would ever, ever say, it took her aback so much the room fell into silence for a long moment.I took the opportunity to put my hand on her shoulder and squeeze. "Everything is okay," I said softly. "Thank you, Raf. It's late, you should go or Leon will be worried. I'll see you tomorrow at lunch, okay?"She didn't want to leave me alone, but at the same time she must have known the moment was long-gone for her to salvage anything from it. Her hopes that Evan would show his true colors and reveal that he was a cruel monster all along had come to nothing, and while she was relieved he seemed genuine, she still didn't believe him.But time would tell, I heard her thinking. She would be sticking around to make sure nothing happened to me.Evan and I walked her downstairs to the front door and to the driveway where she had parked her car at a clumsy angl

Evan had to go away on business again. There was so little time for us to spend together between his Alpha duties and my classes, especially with the time for finals creeping ever closer.There was also the added stress of Rafael taking me to see her gynecologist so I could start birth control, another thing she held against Evan for his carelessness in not handling himself, since he was legally my guardian and I would have no reasonable way of knowing how to handle myself.Maybe the compounded stress was the reason for the strange nightmare that plagued me two nights in a row. His absence made me so uneasy in the wake of the new turns in our relationship.I couldn't remember the entire dream, but what little I did recall was dark and terrifying enough to bathe me in sweat when I awoke.  Something about Evan, and blood, and screams.It was on the third day when I dozed over my homework at my desk that I remembered it all at once: the nightmare took s

"Which of the following will react most easily with hydrochloric acid to form an alkyl halide? A, primary alcohol, or B, secondary alcohol, or C, tertiary alcohol, or D, all of the above?"Rafael slammed her forehead on the table. "This is pointless. I'm going to fail and there is nothing I can do about it. Just let me die.""Raf! Sit up, we're going to finish these flashcards if they kill you!""Please! That would be a mercy killing at this point!""You haven't even started your Calc 3 review packet, don't wimp out on me now.""Why are you suddenly snapping the whip like a taskmaster now of all times?" Raf moaned. "Where did the nice, sweet, understanding Claudia go? No compassion at all for the suffering...""You're not suffering anything, Raf. Except for the consequences of procrastinating all semester."She coughed a few times into the desk. "Ah... I'm feeling weak... Did I tell you I used to have asthma when I was younger..."