Shadow Princess

He swallowed, looking away. “I’m not a good man,” he said thickly. He glanced at me as shadows curtained his eyes and he blinked to draw them back. “And you’re not either. We’re just two fuck-ups who keep fucking up.”

What was the point in having a glimpse of the future if it wasn’t clear until it was too late to do anything about it?

“Oh come on, Darcy, people do inappropriate things with teachers all the time,” he teased.

“What’s it like?” I asked curiously. “Finding your one true love?” Gabriel’s gaze softened as he thought about the girl who owned his heart and he smiled as he answered. “Like, getting hit with a truck and having it back over you several times while you lay bleeding in the dirt.”

“I had a vision about it and inviting them will make your night exponentially more enjoyable, Orio.”

She is so…everything. Does she know how everything she is?

It had been so long since I’d felt content. But with her, I was starting to see glimpses of my old self, the guy who’d loved life, who’d had a future. And I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed him. “Happy birthday, Lance,” she whispered and for the first time in fucking years, it really was a happy one.

“Numbers. Are. Everything.”

“You don’t know anything about me,” I snarled. “Yeah I do. And that’s what you can’t stand,” he replied darkly. “Because we’re the same you and me. Both fucked up, broken pieces on a game board that’s bigger than we can cope with. Both hoping to find some way of winning despite the odds being stacked against us all the damn time. Both addicted to things that push our boundaries and make us feel alive. Because at the end of the day, even feeling the worst of things is better than feeling nothing at all.”

“The four of us can do anything if we set our minds to it,” Seth said confidently. “We’re the strongest pack Solaria has ever seen. The most powerful alphas of our generation all bound together through love and brotherhood.”

“If you hurt her, I’ll kill you. I don’t care if you’re an Heir or if I end up in Darkmore Penitentiary for the rest of my fucking life. I’ll take any fate for her, so just remember that when you’re playing your little game, Capella.”

“Maybe I’m always pretending to hate you,”

“I came because all I want is to be free. And fear shackles you just as easily as chains if you let it. So do your worst…or don’t. I can’t control what you choose to do, but I can choose what I do.”

But if you were a little bunny I could keep you in my pocket and carry you everywhere. That doesn’t sound so bad.”

What could I say to her about it anyway? Don’t be with him because we were together once. For one, too brief, earth shattering moment, you were mine. And I never should have let you go.

He held up the flower, twirling it between his fingers with a smirk and handed it over. I took it, heat invading my cheeks. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s average. You on the other hand…” He pulled me in again, plucking the flower from my grip and tossing it down on my desk. “Look absolutely kidnappable.”

That shit was hashtag awkward.

You might hate me. But you like hating me way too much to want it to just stop.”