Novels by Juri Ann

Catherine's POV My head hurts before I even open my eyes.The pain sits heavy at the back of my skull, pulsing slowly. I can smell sweat. Cigarette smoke. Leather seats warmed by too many bodies.A car.I'm inside a car.The realization settles quietly, and my stomach tightens.I keep my eyes closed and listen instead.The engine hums beneath me. Tires scrape against the rough road every few seconds. Someone coughs from the front seat. Another person taps impatient fingers against the door beside me.Then memory comes rushing back so fast my chest hurts.The motel.God, I was so stupid.One of them knocked on my door and said he was the hotel manager. Said there was an issue with my room that needed immediate attention.I remember opening the door halfway, still annoyed because I had barely slept after crying half the night over Clinton. Then I saw them standing there.Three huge men.I didn't even get the chance to ask what was happening before one of them punched me so hard everyth

Clinton's POV I move closer to him, staring at the way his shoulders seem heavier than they did a few minutes ago. The room suddenly feels smaller, too quiet except for the sound of his breathing.“What do you mean we're doomed?”He drags a hand over his face and leans back in the chair. For a moment, he says nothing.“A prophecy came right after you were born.”My stomach tightens.I already hate where this is going.Black shifts uneasily inside me.“It said your first mate...” His voice trails off.I wait.Something cold crawls slowly down my spine.“What about her?”His eyes finally meet mine. “The prophecy says she'll be the little witch.”I close my eyes for a second and rub the back of my neck, already exhausted. Every day, something new appears from nowhere just to make this whole thing worse.“Does she know about the prophecy?”He nods immediately.I don't even need to say my stepmother's name. We both already know who I'm talking about.Black shifts uneasily inside me.She m

Clinton's POV I leave Danny's room before my stepmother can start digging deeper into whatever nonsense excuse he plans to give her.I don't even look back.The hallway feels too quiet as I walk away, but my mind is louder than everything around me. Catherine's face keeps flashing inside my head over and over again. The fear in her eyes. The way she kept stepping away from me earlier as if I was some monster about to rip her apart.I reach the staircase and stop halfway up.Something feels wrong.Not normal wrong. Worse.The image of my stepmother standing outside Danny's room comes back again. That small smile on her face. Calm. Patient. Interested.I know that look.She's suspicious.And once she starts suspecting something, she never stops until she tears the truth out with her bare hands.We don't have time for this, Black says, pacing hard inside my head now. Go to your father.I exhale slowly and force myself to move again.Dad's study sits at the end of the hallway, the double

Clinton's POV After watching Catherine disappear down the road, I sit inside my car for a long time with both hands gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles start hurting. Black keeps pacing inside my head, restless and angry, throwing the same thought at me over and over again.Go after her.As if I don't already want to.Every instinct inside me is screaming to track her down, drag her somewhere safe, and keep her there until all this madness passes, but that isn't how Catherine works. The second she feels cornered, she runs harder. I know her. I know the way her mind works when she's hurt. Push too much and she shuts down completely.Still, watching her walk away from me feels wrong in a way I can't explain.The empty passenger seat beside me makes my chest ache.I start the engine before I lose my mind completely and drive straight to the mansion. The road passes in a blur under the headlights while Richard's face keeps flashing through my head without warning. One second

Catherine's POV I don’t even know where I’m going anymore.I just keep moving.One bus turns into another, then another after that. I sit beside strangers, press my forehead against cold windows, and watch unfamiliar streets blur past while the sky slowly darkens above me.Every time the bus stops at the last station, I grab my bag, get down, and enter another one before my thoughts can settle properly.Farther.That’s the only thing my mind keeps repeating.Farther away from Woodblock City.Farther away from the Red Moon pack.Farther away from Clinton.The funny thing is, I keep expecting him to come after me anyway. Every time a bus door opens, part of me looks up, expecting to see him standing there with that intense stare of his, breathing hard after searching everywhere for me.But he never comes.By the time I finally stop moving, it’s already past one in the morning.I stand outside a small roadside motel with flickering lights hanging over the entrance and stare up at the si

Clinton's POV For a few seconds, I can’t even force words out of my mouth.I just stand there staring at her while my thoughts crash into each other so fast my head starts hurting.Catherine grips the handle of her traveling bag tighter and tries walking past me again. Instinct makes me move into her path immediately, but this time, I stop myself from touching her.I don’t think I can survive seeing that fear in her eyes again.Up close, she looks worse than I first realized. Her face is pale beneath the anger twisting across it, her eyes swollen from crying, her breathing uneven. She keeps glancing at me carefully, almost expecting me to suddenly turn into something else right here.That thought alone makes my chest ache.Danny couldn’t have told her everything.There’s no way he told her about the sacrifice.There’s no way he told her that she’s a talisman.“How much do you know?” I ask quietly.“Everything.”My stomach drops instantly.Everything.I shove my trembling hands deeper