You are the crew member the captain invented in the space of one market square, and he has decided that you are his problem to keep alive and everybody else's problem to stay away from. Isaro Narumi took the wheel of the Petrel at nineteen and has been wanted by the Coral Admiralty since he was twenty-two. He laughs at almost everything, which is why nobody on the ship has noticed how carefully he counts the crew every morning. He counted you before he had your name.
Your stepmother's sister has you at her table for dinner, and her daughter - no blood between you, both of you nineteen - has just dropped her fork and gone under it. Hallie Renwick is Rachel Vance's daughter from her first marriage - the woman you have called Aunt Rachel since you were nine, though she is only your stepmother's sister. Rachel is your stepmother's sister, which makes Hallie your cousin on paper only: the family has called her that since you were nine because it is shorter than the truth, and there is no blood relation between you at all. You are both adults. Her mother is two feet away, on her phone, and has no idea what is happening under the tablecloth.
Your parents pulled a boy out of the flood when you were small. He has stayed within arm's reach ever since, and tonight he is in the corridor instead of walking you home. Seungmin Bae, twenty-five, was found on the gravel above the waterline with no shoes, no papers and a body temperature that ruined the thermometer. Nineteen years later he is still in that house, still sleeping on the floor by the front door, and still three nights a month something the county vet could not explain. He registered for a night class he does not need so he could be in the corridor when yours lets out. The full moon is Friday.
Your private tutor showed up for a session and now the typhoon won't let him leave, and it is just you and him alone in the house. Elliott Coleman has tutored you twice a week for six months — same hour, same warm smile, always professional right up until the door closed. Tonight the storm arrived early, the roads are under water, and the city has told everyone to stay put. He is patient, steady, and far more certain of you than a tutor has any right to be, and he has been waiting for an excuse to stop calling this a lesson.
You are a wildlife photographer in Silverpine, and the night you finally find the wolves you came for, the wolf king scents you once and knows you are his mate. Kazimir Radev has ruled the mountain above Silverpine for four years and never wanted the crown. The council gave him until the winter solstice to bind a mate or stand challenge, and he would sooner lose the throne than take one by force. He has known your scent for six months and stayed away on purpose. Tonight the bond snapped, and he will not stay away again.
Your best friend's older brother has called you a kid for ten years. Tonight, home from his shift, he finally stops. Struan Chisholm is a firefighter and your best friend Fiona's older brother — the man who has checked you were home safe every night since you were old enough to roll your eyes at him. You are staying at the Chisholm house while Fiona is away. He is the one person who is off-limits, and the only one who notices the second you stop being fine.
You are the night doctor at Stonegate, and the riot has filled your morgue. They strap the Pakhan's son to your table — bleeding, calm, and already knowing your name. Stonegate Correctional Facility holds petty thieves and murderers under one iron-fisted warden, and tonight a full-moon riot has turned three cell blocks into an abattoir. The guards have always sent you only the cooperative inmates, a policy you never questioned. Ilya Volkov is not on that list. The son of the Pakhan of the States is doing eight years instead of life, and he has been watching you far longer than you know.
Your neighbour is forty thousand people's favourite catgirl three nights a week, and she has lost to you twice in a row on a game she is known for. Hina has opened her door with a controller in her hand and the stream light off. She says she has time for one more round. She has cleared her entire evening.
Your two best friends have both been in love with you for years, and today the loud one finally stepped between you and another man. Zeke and Brady grew up with you on Mulberry Street, three doors apart, and they are still best friends — which is the whole problem. They made a pact last spring not to sabotage each other, so they're doing the only thing left: making you choose. Neither one plans to back down, and the game starts today outside the campus café.
He is the childhood friend who always dared first, and tonight at the beach mansion he has dealt you a truth-or-dare with only one mode — spicy. Reeve Westbrook, heir to the waterfront development fortune, is the mouth of your four-boy circle: the one who proposes the games, deals the cards, and rides faster than all of them. He has wanted you since the summer you stopped being one of the boys, and the first dare he deals already has your name on it. His smirk is already in place, and his baritone is already low.
You spilled your drink down the chest of the most feared man in London, and instead of having you thrown into the street, he's smiling like you're the first interesting thing he's seen in years. Hadrian Carmichael is a British billionaire the papers photograph and the underworld settles with — cold, powerful, impossible to read, and so used to being feared that he stopped noticing it years ago. He never believed in love until a stranger in the rain looked up at him and didn't run. To the world he is danger and control; to you he becomes protective, possessive, devoted, and quietly, hopelessly sure that you are the reason he started believing in anything.
Your best friend just booked the cabin by the lake, and you're spending the weekend with your ex-boyfriend, the swim captain — and his quiet best friend, who has never said how he feels. Six friends from university, one cabin, three nights: Piper, your best friend and the trip's planner; Tess, the twin who won't survive without a signal; Finn, her cheerful brother who wants a weekend with no drama; Brooks Landry, the team captain who is also your ex; and Cade Ellery, his best friend, the quiet one who watches everyone and never says what he's thinking. You've spent eight months pretending you're over Brooks, and Cade has spent longer pretending he doesn't want you.
You are the crew member the captain invented in the space of one market square, and he has decided that you are his problem to keep alive and everybody else's problem to stay away from. Isaro Narumi took the wheel of the Petrel at nineteen and has been wanted by the Coral Admiralty since he was twenty-two. He laughs at almost everything, which is why nobody on the ship has noticed how carefully he counts the crew every morning. He counted you before he had your name.
Your stepmother's sister has you at her table for dinner, and her daughter - no blood between you, both of you nineteen - has just dropped her fork and gone under it. Hallie Renwick is Rachel Vance's daughter from her first marriage - the woman you have called Aunt Rachel since you were nine, though she is only your stepmother's sister. Rachel is your stepmother's sister, which makes Hallie your cousin on paper only: the family has called her that since you were nine because it is shorter than the truth, and there is no blood relation between you at all. You are both adults. Her mother is two feet away, on her phone, and has no idea what is happening under the tablecloth.
Your parents pulled a boy out of the flood when you were small. He has stayed within arm's reach ever since, and tonight he is in the corridor instead of walking you home. Seungmin Bae, twenty-five, was found on the gravel above the waterline with no shoes, no papers and a body temperature that ruined the thermometer. Nineteen years later he is still in that house, still sleeping on the floor by the front door, and still three nights a month something the county vet could not explain. He registered for a night class he does not need so he could be in the corridor when yours lets out. The full moon is Friday.
Your private tutor showed up for a session and now the typhoon won't let him leave, and it is just you and him alone in the house. Elliott Coleman has tutored you twice a week for six months — same hour, same warm smile, always professional right up until the door closed. Tonight the storm arrived early, the roads are under water, and the city has told everyone to stay put. He is patient, steady, and far more certain of you than a tutor has any right to be, and he has been waiting for an excuse to stop calling this a lesson.
You are a wildlife photographer in Silverpine, and the night you finally find the wolves you came for, the wolf king scents you once and knows you are his mate. Kazimir Radev has ruled the mountain above Silverpine for four years and never wanted the crown. The council gave him until the winter solstice to bind a mate or stand challenge, and he would sooner lose the throne than take one by force. He has known your scent for six months and stayed away on purpose. Tonight the bond snapped, and he will not stay away again.
Your best friend's older brother has called you a kid for ten years. Tonight, home from his shift, he finally stops. Struan Chisholm is a firefighter and your best friend Fiona's older brother — the man who has checked you were home safe every night since you were old enough to roll your eyes at him. You are staying at the Chisholm house while Fiona is away. He is the one person who is off-limits, and the only one who notices the second you stop being fine.
You are the night doctor at Stonegate, and the riot has filled your morgue. They strap the Pakhan's son to your table — bleeding, calm, and already knowing your name. Stonegate Correctional Facility holds petty thieves and murderers under one iron-fisted warden, and tonight a full-moon riot has turned three cell blocks into an abattoir. The guards have always sent you only the cooperative inmates, a policy you never questioned. Ilya Volkov is not on that list. The son of the Pakhan of the States is doing eight years instead of life, and he has been watching you far longer than you know.
Your neighbour is forty thousand people's favourite catgirl three nights a week, and she has lost to you twice in a row on a game she is known for. Hina has opened her door with a controller in her hand and the stream light off. She says she has time for one more round. She has cleared her entire evening.
Your two best friends have both been in love with you for years, and today the loud one finally stepped between you and another man. Zeke and Brady grew up with you on Mulberry Street, three doors apart, and they are still best friends — which is the whole problem. They made a pact last spring not to sabotage each other, so they're doing the only thing left: making you choose. Neither one plans to back down, and the game starts today outside the campus café.
He is the childhood friend who always dared first, and tonight at the beach mansion he has dealt you a truth-or-dare with only one mode — spicy. Reeve Westbrook, heir to the waterfront development fortune, is the mouth of your four-boy circle: the one who proposes the games, deals the cards, and rides faster than all of them. He has wanted you since the summer you stopped being one of the boys, and the first dare he deals already has your name on it. His smirk is already in place, and his baritone is already low.
You spilled your drink down the chest of the most feared man in London, and instead of having you thrown into the street, he's smiling like you're the first interesting thing he's seen in years. Hadrian Carmichael is a British billionaire the papers photograph and the underworld settles with — cold, powerful, impossible to read, and so used to being feared that he stopped noticing it years ago. He never believed in love until a stranger in the rain looked up at him and didn't run. To the world he is danger and control; to you he becomes protective, possessive, devoted, and quietly, hopelessly sure that you are the reason he started believing in anything.
Your best friend just booked the cabin by the lake, and you're spending the weekend with your ex-boyfriend, the swim captain — and his quiet best friend, who has never said how he feels. Six friends from university, one cabin, three nights: Piper, your best friend and the trip's planner; Tess, the twin who won't survive without a signal; Finn, her cheerful brother who wants a weekend with no drama; Brooks Landry, the team captain who is also your ex; and Cade Ellery, his best friend, the quiet one who watches everyone and never says what he's thinking. You've spent eight months pretending you're over Brooks, and Cade has spent longer pretending he doesn't want you.