LOGINJade's POV
Twenty minutes later, we’re at the pristine Morningstar Villa. And I'm drunk as fuck. My bodyguard offers to help me to the door but I shoo him away. I stumble out of the car with my heart in my hands, bloody and ripped to shreds. I crash into the front door as soon as I reach it. Then I lift my hands and pound on the metal surface. “Hello! Anybody home?!” Silence. It feels like ages already. I pound hard again. “Helloooo! Hiii—” The door swings open just as I lean in for another pound. And I fall face forward into the house. “Oh, damn,” I groan as I roll onto my back, spreading my arms and legs eagle-style. The eyes looking down at me knock the breath out of me. Deep, mocking brown orbs glistening from behind a pair of square glasses. “Jade, are you drunk?” I frown at the hot nerd that stands there in nothing but low-waist pants, staring down at me. He’s everything fantasy with a face and body sculpted like a Norseman’s. Drop-dead sexy. “I know you, don't I?” Heat flickers across those brown eyes. They are undoubtedly the same eyes that stared at me with electric passion when I stole that first, clumsy kiss last night. “What do you think?” A small pause follows his question. My heart is thrashing around like a hurricane. “Did you know we were step-siblings when you let me kiss you?” A corner of his lips curve in a small hint of amusement. “Does it matter?” “It does if you knew.” He runs his fingers through a mass of dark, messy hair. I squeeze my thighs together as I stare lustily. “Jade. Get off the floor.” My eyes slant further shut and I bite my lower lip. “Make me.” Maybe it's the alcohol making me bold, but the truth is…I've not been myself since that kiss. I keep thinking back to it, how it lit up my nerve ends and sent heat rushing between my legs. How the first contact had scorched me like the sun. My stepbrother swoops right down and picks me off the floor like I weighed nothing. With a soft growl that has me twitching between my legs. The same static, unnerving electricity jolts through me at the contact of our bodies. He feels it too, because his brown eyes flash a terrifying molten that looks nothing human. Then he kicks the front door shut and powers up the stairs. My heart collides against my ribcage in a frenzied marathon. I want to tell him to put me down because our parents could stumble upon this absurd sight any moment now. But I can't bring myself to move my lips. Knight does not say a word to me the entire time he carries me up the stairs to God-knows-where. And I cannot take my eyes off his devastatingly beautiful profile. God…being in his arms like this. Forbidden? Risky? Hell yes. But somehow, it just feels so…good. I want to be here forever. “You— why did you not say anything? Or stop me? We could have avoided the scandal. You heard, did you not?” He scoffs and puts me down against soft silk. My heart slams into my stomach as he begins to take off my dress and accessories piece by piece. “I'm Knight fucking Harland,” he murmurs, and I shiver beneath his fingers. “I don't give two shits about scandals.” His touch is so gentle, it makes me wonder what kind of man he is. A nerd? Or a nonchalant charmer? Too bad he's my stepbrother. “Do you want me to pay him a visit?” His voice is smooth as silver and equally sharp. “Who?” “The idiot who let you get this drunk. I can make them regret whatever they did.” It deeply moves me that he would go to such lengths for me, the stepsister he barely knows. Without thinking, I lift my fingers and run them along his ripped arm. “You'll really do that for me?” He smirks. “I think I'll do anything for a stepsister that kisses like you.” His gaze meets mine and holds for a burning minute. His body radiates a heat that soaks me down to my panties. The space between us grows tighter, smaller. My chest is tight. I think it's euphoria. Or the alcohol. It's making my head swim. An inner voice screams at me to stop, to get my hands off his delicious body, to remember how disappointed everyone is already. He leans closer, and for a delusional moment, I think he's going to kiss me. But he only diverts his head to the side at the last moment and unclips my dress from behind my neck. His fingers feel like lava against my skin. “W-what are you doing?” I murmur quietly as the silk drags against my pebbled nipples, going down. “Our parents might still be awake.” “They chose to lodge at a resort tonight.” He slides the dress over my thighs. “We have the house all to ourselves, you and I.” Something about those words sends a lightning of white-hot heat coursing through my veins. Maybe it's the promise in them. “I enjoyed that kiss by the way.” His lips tug apart in a lopsided grin, his eyes burning hot. “You blew my mind.” My cheeks burn hot and I avert my gaze. I scramble up, grabbing my dress. “Woah, woah, easy,” he grabs my wrist as I try to make a run for it. There's such intense fire in his eyes, I'm not sure I want to stick around for the part where I melt under his gaze. “Let me go,” I whisper, even as I lean towards him. He stares deep into my eyes and there's a thousand butterflies flapping their wings in my stomach. “Stay.” I feel a rush of excitement and apprehension as he rips the dress from my grip and lets his eyes roam down my body. I feel so bare in my black lace panties and bra. “Beautiful,” he murmurs as he leans into me. My heart is thrashing because I know he's going to kiss me this time. My eyes flutter close as I rise on tiptoes and tilt my face close, waiting to feel his lips on mine. I draw back at the last moment, when I feel his warm breath on my face. My heart is beating so hard. I can't stay still for another second. “W-we can't.” There's a streak of conflict in Knight’s brown gaze when I open my eyes. But it's only momentary. His eyes darken as he wraps his hand around my neck and leans into my face. “I can't stop thinking about you, Jade.” Heat explodes across every part of me and I feel a rush between my legs. I can't understand this cataclysmic attraction to my stepbrother. “W-why?” He frowns as his eyes roam my face. “You're the first human to walk into my life and ruin it in less than ten seconds with a devastating kiss. How can I not think about you?” His words steal a fist into my chest and squeeze hard. I'm out of breath, especially as he drags his fingers across my cheek. “Knight, I—” Whatever protest left in me dies as he tilts his head and claims my lips in a hungry kiss that melts me into his arms.Knight’s POVIt’s been three years since my stepsister was kidnapped right from under our very noses.Three years since I last saw her. Since I smelt her. Since I touched her. Since I claimed that body that belonged to me. Since I rejected her…I’ve lived every day since then in regret and longing. A yearning that ate deep into my being and corrupted its function. I should have told her the truth. Maybe things would have worked out? Or maybe…I should have stayed away from Jade the moment I knew who she was. It was that night I walked into a bar and heard it loud and clear. MATE. The night my wolf howled the loudest for the touch of a woman. The night a charming redhead snapped the mate bond in place with an unexpected kiss that sent me reeling.I've wondered about the Moon Goddess’ sick sense of humor ever since. Setting me up in a fated mate bond with my human stepsister. Making me crazy about her at first sight. Making me go mad for her scent. Then letting her get snatched up and
Jade's POV Knight devours me with a hunger that terrifies and lights me on fire. It's nothing like I've ever felt. It's raw. It's hot. It's demanding. I moan into his mouth as his tongue tangles with mine, electrifying my nerve ends. It's mind-numbing good until he rips his mouth away and lasers me with those brown eyes. My mouth goes dry as I watch him with half-lidded eyes. My nipples pebble under his hot gaze, heart about to explode from beating so hard and fast. Did I do something wrong? “I-I’m..”“Fuck, Jade.” He leans into my neck and draws a deep sniff. My heart swoops into my stomach. “You smell so good.” His wet lips move lightly across my earlobe, sending nasty shivers racing through my veins. “I want to eat you right here.”His breath lingers on my neck for a moment or two. “But I probably shouldn't, hmm?” His fingers tighten around my throat. Squeezing hard enough to cut my airflow. But God…I love it. My body tingles as he leans in for another kiss. I meet him with
Jade's POV Twenty minutes later, we’re at the pristine Morningstar Villa. And I'm drunk as fuck. My bodyguard offers to help me to the door but I shoo him away. I stumble out of the car with my heart in my hands, bloody and ripped to shreds. I crash into the front door as soon as I reach it. Then I lift my hands and pound on the metal surface. “Hello! Anybody home?!”Silence. It feels like ages already. I pound hard again. “Helloooo! Hiii—” The door swings open just as I lean in for another pound. And I fall face forward into the house. “Oh, damn,” I groan as I roll onto my back, spreading my arms and legs eagle-style. The eyes looking down at me knock the breath out of me. Deep, mocking brown orbs glistening from behind a pair of square glasses. “Jade, are you drunk?” I frown at the hot nerd that stands there in nothing but low-waist pants, staring down at me. He’s everything fantasy with a face and body sculpted like a Norseman’s. Drop-dead sexy.“I know you, don't I?”He
Jade's POV It was just one kiss. One drunken kiss that altered my ability to think and ruined what's left of my sour reputation. All in less than twenty four hours. I kissed a stranger in a bar the previous night because my boyfriend dared me to. And just as my poor luck goes, I find pictures of that short but toe-curling kiss scattered all over a large screen on the 64th Morningstar charity gala cruise ship, the very next evening. The cold air rushing in from the sea slaps a thousand goosebumps on my skin. The music on the ship is no longer pulsing at a high vibration, and the wind carries malignant whispers to me. “Did you do this on purpose to humiliate me? To rebel?” My father is standing before me with a scowl that communicates just how disappointed he is. I've never been able to hold his gaze, so I stare down at my stilettos. “I-I’m sorry, it was just a stupid dare—” “A dare to kiss your stepbrother and you jumped at it?!” “Keep your voice down,” my step mother’s







