Page 20

I glance back, my eyes are drawn to her small frame like a heat-seeking missile. She’s lit by the soft glow of the overhead lights in her room, hands poised to open the balcony doors. Her head is bowed, and her long white hair hangs like a curtain around her face.

Straight, white teeth bite into her lower lip. She takes a deep breath, pushes the doors open, and steps out onto the balcony.

I lurch forward and, honest to the gods, stumble over my own damn feet. Once I steady myself and glance back up, my lungs officially stop working.

I can’t breathe. I can’t move.

This girl… she isn’t just beautiful. She’s beautiful in a way that feels like being sucker punched.

Like taking a round-house kick in the diaphragm, struggling to function through the shock of the air in your lungs being forcefully expelled.

There’s an other-worldliness to her, almost like she doesn’t belong here. Like, there was a mistake after her creation, and she was placed in the wrong world. The wrong story.

Her skin is pale, and as the moonlight filters through the clouds, I swear she glows. There’s a faint luminosity, like she’s lit up from within.

My hair stands on end, every atom of my DNA pulling me toward her. I feel like I’ve been lost my entire life and have finally found home.

Every instinct inside of me roars to life, firing up all at once for the first time in centuries. I fucking need this female. I want her more than I want my next breath.

My Alpha instincts have never felt so fucking close to the surface. I usually ignore them—push them back to focus on what matters.

Not this time.

This time, I have no control. So when the Alpha inside of me snarls, I don’t fight it. I know what it wants.

It’s the same thing I want.

Her. The girl.

I fucking yearn for her. Which is insane, because I’ve never yearned for anything in my life.

Mine.

The word strikes like lightning, settling and soothing my instincts the moment I acknowledge the truth of it.

I lick my lips, absolutely enraptured as she lifts her head to the sky, taking a deep breath of the cool night air.

Fantasies of cupping her delicate jaw with my rough, calloused palms appear in my mind and refuse to leave. I imagine swiping my thumb softly over her high cheekbones, right under those big, blue, beautiful eyes. Eyes that are wide with excitement, as though being outside is the best thing that has happened to her in months.

My chest fucking aches. The awareness from before feels like it’s growing, shifting, and making itself a home. Distantly, I acknowledge that this should feel strange. I should be fighting back. I should be worried.

I’m not.

Whatever this is, I want it. On a primal level, I relish its existence.

You’re losing your mind, Caelan. You need to get checked out by Calder when you get back.

My logical brain tries to fight back against whatever the fuck is happening, but that voice is weak at best. I don’t want to be pulled out of this moment. The way I feel when I watch this girl is new and exciting and right.

I’ll listen to it later.

Or… never.

A hesitant smile appears on her full lips, and like a moth to a flame, I’m drawn closer. Biting on the inside of my cheek until I taste blood, I force myself to choke down the growl of possession vibrating in my throat.

I want my lips on hers. I want to taste them with my tongue. Discover if they’re as soft as they look.

I shouldn’t, but I let myself indulge in the fantasy. I want to do so much more than kiss that perfect mouth. I want to lick her entire body, starting with her lips and working my way down that slender neck. I want to peel that sweatshirt off and wrap my hands around her delicate frame and mark every inch of her with my teeth.