The Tyrant alpha
He rejected me, and then he realized I’m the center of his world. Bummer.
Una
I keep my head down. In this backwards pack, females rank low, and my bad leg makes me damaged goods. It doesn’t help that I’ve never shifted. I don’t mind the late twenties single life, though. No one’s paying any attention as I build an illicit farmer’s market empire.
My roomies and I are doing it for ourselves, and if life under Killian Kelly is stifling, at least it’s predictable. We can deal.
But when biology finally kicks in, I lose my mind. I claim our alpha as my mate. And he rejects me in front of the whole pack.
It’s all good. It only hurts when I breathe. I’ll survive. That’s what I do.
Who wants an arrogant jerk for a mate, anyway? I’ve got a business to run.
Killian
To lead this pack out of the dark ages, I’ve had to be hard. Merciless. I don’t flinch, and I don’t make mistakes.
Una Hayes isn’t my mate.
My wolf might have some kind of strange infatuation, but if she were mine, I’d know it. And I can walk away, can’t I?
And if I keep coming back? If she starts living in my head?
I’m the strongest male in five generations. My pack scrambles to do my bidding. I can bring one quiet female back in line. No one can possibly be as stubborn as I am.
There’s no way I’ve ruined the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
I’m the Quarry pack alpha. I don’t lose.
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Chapter: 12I skirt the commons and follow the ridge, approaching my cabin from behind. Only elders are up this early, and I really don’t want to see them after yesterday’s naked mortification. Or was it the day before? Time’s a little fuzzy.I round the cabin, and I’m almost to my front steps when a throat clears. I jump and whirl. Thankfully, I’ve already grabbed the banister, so I keep my balance.It’s Killian, leaning against the outbuilding across the path. He’s wearing a gray sweatshirt, hood up, and his customary faded jeans that cling to his thighs. My heart beats faster, but in the way it always does around him. He’s built and scary and objectively hot. It’s a normal female reaction.I scan my body. No sign of heat.I exhale and stare at his boots. It’s as close to a bent neck as he’s getting today.“Where were you?” His voice is brusque but even.He doesn’t come closer. He’s propped one heel on the wall, and with another male, it’d look casual, but with his air of raw power, it’s menaci
Last Updated: 2025-03-17
Chapter: 11“Tea Fates?”Abertha is warming to her analogy. Her gray eyes start to dance like they do when she’s enjoying herself. “Uh-huh. Tea Fates are about the journey. Pups are great, but they’re interested in the bigger things—love and destiny and balance and justice. Destroying all sentient life and returning the world to its natural state. That kind of thing.” “Sounds like a mess.”“Oh, yes. It is. Look around. Obviously, the powers that be have to be working at cross purposes, right?”“So why do we all believe that mates are fated?” “’Cause they are.”“And when they’re not? Like Jimmy and Dierdre?”“They still are. The story’s just more—complicated. But people don’t want to think about that too much. Strains their little pea-sized noggins.” “My little pea-sized noggin is strained.”“I bet. Drink something.” She smiles wickedly. “Your choice.” She taps the plate of muffins. “And eat.”“So Killian and I are fated mates?”“Yes.”“But he doesn’t think we are?”“Appears so.”“And we’re not an
Last Updated: 2025-03-17
Chapter: 10Memories flash in my mind of the great room, surrounded by the pack, covered in blood. Killian’s unwavering voice.I have no mate. It is known.I shiver. He doesn’t now. I can feel the silence inside me where the fledgling bond had been. “Thank you.” I grab Abertha’s dry hand.She shrugs. “You’ll pay me back.”“I will. I promise.”Abertha already takes a percentage of everything we make at the market. Lately, I’ve been debating whether to cut her in when I figure out how to do online sales. I’m definitely cutting her in after this.“Let’s get you some tea,” she says. “And pants.”We pick our way through the thick underbrush back to one of the trails. I don’t remember crawling into the thicket. It was a smart move. In my heat, I was defenseless. At least the brambles offered some protection.We aren’t far from Abertha’s cottage. I must have been heading there when I lost it. It’s reassuring to see our wooden beehives busy with activity, and the herbs bushy and tall in the raised garden
Last Updated: 2025-03-17
Chapter: 9“Let’s get you out of there.” She reaches in, yelping when a thorn scratches her forearm. “I’m sorry Una’s little wolf. This isn’t going to be as gentle as I’d like.”She grabs my hind legs and drags me out from the underbrush. I whine. The pain is so allencompassing, my bad leg hurts no worse than the other.“There we go.” Abertha plops on her butt—as always, amazingly agile for a female her age— and she cuddles me between her legs, smoothing a hand over my flanks. I whimper.“You need to shift back, Una, love. I can’t help you like this.”I don’t want to. I don’t want to think as well as feel. Feeling is already too much.“Come on, now, brave girl. Come on,” she coaxes. I lay there, spent and shivering. She sighs. “It’ll go easier on you if you decide to do it yourself.” I can’t. I don’t have the energy.Abertha scoots back, giving me space. “Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Now, shift!”There’s power in her voice. I have no choice. My body buckles, limbs unfolding, and I bow with
Last Updated: 2025-03-17
Chapter: 9“Completely.”“I looped past the lone female’s cabin on my way back from patrol.”“Yeah?” My adrenaline spikes. I’m only interested because every packmate is my concern.“She wasn’t there.”“I’m sure she’s got work.” The females are always doing something.“She’s not in the commons.”That’s not surprising. She’s probably running the woods now that her wolf’s wide awake. And she’s got to be embarrassed. She’s not gonna want to bump into Haisley or her mother any time soon.“Una’s scent is stale. She didn’t go home last night.”I snarl. My incisors descend, pricking my lip. “Son of a bitch.” I suck the cut. I didn’t see it coming.That’s not possible.My wolf and I are one. We act as one.I’ve already got hair sprouted all up my back and my vision’s going dichromatic. I fight the shift. I’m not going to track Una Hayes and get people’s jaws flapping again. That’s not happening. She can go hide in the woods and nurse her wounds if she wants.It doesn’t bother me.It shouldn’t.“Hey-oh!”
Last Updated: 2025-03-17
Chapter: 8Of course, that’s not possible. The wolf and I are two forms, but one being. We don’t have different concerns. That’s a faulty construct. Like pain. It’s in your head. It’s not real. We are our wolves. Period. Every pup who was raised right knows that.Your wolf’s hungry? You’re hungry. You’re pissed? Your wolf’s pissed. Simple.“I dropped her behind the lodge,” Tye says.“By the dumpsters?” My shoulder blades clench. I have to focus on the muscles to relax. The heat isn’t doing it.“Haisley and her crew were gathered up front. I figure I’d give Una a head start.”“Goddamn.”My father never had to deal with this kind of shit. Females would have never dared to shift unbidden. Or approach the alpha and lay claim to him in front of the pack.Or rub up on him uninvited, for that matter.“Haisley’s getting above herself.” It’s my fault. I guess I’ve let her suck my dick a few too many times.Tye settles his arms along the back of the bench. “You should talk to Dermot.”“She’s not gonna lis
Last Updated: 2025-03-17
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