The Echelons

Scenes, some places, events, and characters in this book are all invented.

This story contains profanity, violence, drug use, mature and sexual themes, and other content not intended for young readers.

Read at your own risk.

Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this story or plagiarism of any kind is prohibited by the law.

Some chapters contain non-English dialogues (not pivotal to the plot, though).

P.S.

Hi, dear readers ♡ 

This is Book I of the ♛ ♔ ♕  Secret Heirs Series  ♕ ♔ ♛

Thank you for giving this a shot. Much appreciated.

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EXCERPT

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Pain.

Pain.

All she could feel was pain.

But it would go away. It had to be temporary. The knife-like pain would stop. Eventually.

Except...

It stayed deep in her flesh. Deep under her skin. Stinging. It burned. It made her eyes tear up. Praying didn't work. She already tried shoving him off, but her limbs...too weak. Stiff. Barely able to move.

Why? She had no clue. One thing she knew for sure:  her left shoulder still bled like a faucet. Warm liquid oozed from the wound. The metallic smell alone told her enough. It was her own blood, dripping all over her shivering skin.

Eyes squeezed shut, Mykaela prayed in her head some more, mustering up the will and strength to stop him.

He continued to feed. Drinking. Sucking in blood with no inhibitions.

Seconds ticked by but his cold mouth still wouldn't leave the wounds he'd inflicted.

Good God...   It just hurt too much.

Why was she letting him do this? Every part of her felt helpless, sore, trapped by his weight and his strong arms and legs. Was it wrong? Was she indulging his craving?

But he didn't simply crave blood—he needed blood.

As far as she understood, it got rid of the stomach and liver pains he endured on a regular basis. Being a "pureblood" wasn't all fun and exciting games, like Ricchar and Cloe said. Still, no matter how much she told herself she was only doing this to help Miles, the profound ache in her made her cringe every second she waited.

Pain.  Pain.  Tears.

The endless, piercing pain...

Miles...please make it stop.

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EXCERPT

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"Were you just on the phone with him?"

The question almost surprised her, but Kel knew he'd been meaning to ask her the moment she'd excused herself from the dining table and left him alone with his family. "Why?"

Her timid and fairly deflecting response made him scoff and turn to face her. Miles crossed his arms below his bare chest, looking at her intently. "You're going back to the States with him?"

"No." Kel looked away, confounded by the thought of sneaking out of dinner just to be able to talk to Drew over the phone. "He's on a flight back to L.A. for work." It wasn't a lie, but something in Miles' dead serious expression just made her break off their staring.

"You didn't tell me what the letter said."

Letter? He knew she'd received a letter from the university?

Oh. Right. She'd found the envelope in her room yesterday morning; he most likely left it on the nightstand himself. "They rejected me," she muttered. The reality of the statement still left a stinging pain in her.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Miles sighed and turned to the starless sky again, then threw his damp shirt over his shoulder.

"I was gonna." Her voice was a whisper to her own ears. She didn't bother telling him more about what the letter said, or her disappointment in herself, especially since it was the fourth time she'd been rejected by a scholarship program.

"You don't wanna try again?"

"I should just...go home and get my degree. After I visit my dad and sort out some stuff with the agency." Kel took a step closer to her cheerless friend. Nice that she could still smell his cologne. Even sweaty he smelled good.

"Drew's suggestion, I assume." Miles faked a grin. He wasn't looking at her face again.

Although their conversation remained calm and rather neutral, she couldn't help frowning at his gloomy mood and snorty replies.

When she kept mum, Miles shifted his weight to his left foot to regard her reaction. "What? You think I'll just let him brainwash you again?"

Brainwash?

"Talk you into making poor decisions that'll leave you depressed and self-loathing again?" He was talking louder now. "D'you forget already what made you leave New York?"

His harsh and bitter tone hurt her ears, and it made her avoid his intent gaze. Although she wasn't used to him being this frank and eristic, Kel knew he meant well. But did he have to make her feel like she was the most stupid, naïve girl on the face of the Earth?

"I know he keeps calling you. Why didn't you tell me?"

His accusing tone confused her more. She stared back at him with furrowed brows. "Drew's not brainwashing me. I'm actually capable of making my own decisions, y'know."

A sigh was all Miles gave in reply. His knuckles protruded as he gripped the balustrade. Then he faintly shook his head, his lips pouting in another deep frown.

"I need to go home. My mom begged me to."

"Fine. Go." Miles massaged his temple, his palms almost covering his face, and he still refused to look her in the eyes.

"W-Why are we even arguing about this?" she complained, annoyance and confusion building up in her chest. "You know I wasn't planning on staying here for long."

He didn't reply.

"I've been applying for scholarships here all year;  you know that. No luck. At all." She stepped closer to him while some part of her chest tightened. "Maybe it's time for me to face reality and just...go back home."

"But why keep it a secret?"

"What?"

"Why didn't you tell me about the letter?" Miles asked rather quietly. "Didn't even say anything about your dad being back in the ICU."

"I was gonna. But you've been busy we barely talked all week. I-I've been busy, too."

"Not too busy to go on a date with him." Miles scoffed.

Ugh! Crap. He didn't just say that.

"Mistakes are meant for learning, Kel, not repeating," he mumbled while he leaned against the railing, clearly unaware of his petty grievances.

Her initial reaction was another frown. "Anything else you wanna argue about?"

He kept staring skyward.

"It's late. Goodnight." Kel trudged back to the bedroom. Dismissing the vexation his attitude was giving her took a while, but she kept trying. She didn't even want to bring up the subject of him snooping on her phone the other night. She was just too tired.

Before she could hide under the thick covers and sleep it all off, Miles caught her arm. His hand tugged and pulled until she turned around to face him.

He stood still. Shadow darkened his tall figure as they remained in the space between the balcony door and the empty bed.

Tension strained her neck as she stood before him, frowning, chin tilted upward. They exchanged stares in the dimness, and Mykaela couldn't do much but lift her arms to touch his face. "You're being weirdly argumentative." She sighed. "Stop. It's driving me nuts."

"You wanna give it another shot." Still shirtless and brooding, Miles gently pushed her away. "Just say so. No need to deny it."

"Deny?"

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END OF PREVIEW 

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