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29 | Never the Same
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Alpha's Hidden Chains 30 | Guilt Free
*** Liliana's POVI awake with a start, sitting up so fast that the room spins slightly, a woozy reminder of last night’s intensity. My head feels light, my throat dry. I make a mental note to start keeping a water bottle next to my bed—I’m clearly dehydrated from the night’s activities. But the dizziness is the least of my concerns as I quickly become aware of the emptiness beside me.Eamon’s scent lingers, but it’s faded, enough to tell me he’s been gone for a while. The light filtering through the blinds is still soft, early morning, but the cold space beside me confirms it’s been at least an hour since he left. A dull ache settles in my chest at his absence, an emptiness that feels oddly profound.At some point last night, Eamon explained how mates can ‘scent’ each other, a concept that seemed abstract at the time but now feels so visceral. His scent reminded me of petrichor, that distinct, earthy smell that comes after a heavy rain, particularly on a cold fall day. I’ve always lo
Alpha's Hidden Chains 31 | My Turf
*** Eamon’s POVThe moment I left Liliana’s bed, the warmth of her body still lingering on my skin, regret hit me like a freight train. The softness of the sheets beneath me, the subtle scent of honeysuckle and lemongrass clinging to the pillow—everything in me screamed to stay. But duty pulled me away, and now, sitting across from my PI, with his BO saturating the air, that regret is magnified tenfold."We found the store owner," Kirk begins, his voice pulling me back to the present. His tone is serious, laced with the kind of gravity that tells me he's onto something. "They deny any hidden security," he pauses, a faint smirk playing on his lips, "but..."I lean forward, my interest piqued. "But?"Kirk meets my gaze, his expression unreadable. "We may have a new link between yesterday's murder and other crim
Alpha's Hidden Chains 32 | Lucid
*** Liliana's POVGeesus, finally done. I hadn’t realized how long I’d been hunched over my desk, my body frozen in that same position for what felt like hours. My shoulders ached, and my neck was stiff. But at least I had finished. The presentation was clean, concise, and to the point. I’d stripped away all the extra fluff and left a solid narrative arc with a hook that would grab the audience’s attention from the start. Delivering content in a conversational tone has always come naturally to me, but this time, my nerves had made it challenging to set a realistic pace. Now, I’m in a good place. I can spend the weekend practicing my timing, rewatching my old TED minis, and making sure I’m leaving enough room for audience engagement.As I finally peel myself away from the desk, I’m hit with a wave of stiffness that almost pins me in place. My legs protest as I straighten them out, and I realize just how “old” I feel. With a groan, I manage to push myself upright, my joints popping a
Alpha's Hidden Chains 33 | Three of a Kind
*** Eamon's POVThe moment Kirk’s message pings on my phone, I’m not surprised. The warrant came through, just as I expected. We’ve got 72 hours of surveillance on the owner’s house and the three business locations tied to our case files. It’s a solid lead but I can’t shake the feeling that we’re only scratching the surface.My gut tells me the store owner isn’t human. I’ve had my suspicions from the beginning, and the more I dig into the details, the more convinced I become.Despite owning multiple businesses, the owner doesn’t show any signs of being affiliated with human-organized crime. It’s almost too clean, too perfect. There’s something else going on here, something deeper, and I’m determined to find out what.The three businesses in question—a café, a convenience store, and a donation center—don’t fit the usual mold either. They have a certain vibe to them, one that’s hard to pinpoint but impossible to ignore.There’s an unusual mix of Rogues from all species patronizing these
Alpha's Hidden Chains 34 | Business
*** Eamon's POVApprehension hits me like a punch to the gut as I turn onto Liliana’s street. By now, at this distance, I should be able to sense my mate. I should feel the pull, the warmth of her presence, but there’s nothing. It’s a hollow void where there should be a connection, a gnawing emptiness that gnashes at the back of my mind.As I park in front of her building, I catch sight of the lights on in her apartment window. It’s a small relief, but it does little to ease the dread creeping up my spine. All my senses tell me she’s not there. Not in the way she should be.Could I be overreacting? Could she have simply gone out? Sure, it’s possible. But something doesn’t sit right. Reaching out, I try to feel her, sense her emotions through the ether. Still nothing. It’s like she’s vanished, her essence wiped clean from the air. The absence gnaws at me, pushing me out of the car and up toward her building faster than I intended.I take the stairs two at a time, my instincts screaming
Alpha's Hidden Chains 35 | Skadi
*** Fenri's POVEamon has always been steady, a rock in the storm, but finding Liliana this way has filled him with a tension and fear that I can taste, raw and bitter. An there’s something else… a faint presence Eamon is not aware of yet, yet it’s there all the same, pushing against the edges of my consciousness. I can feel… her wolf, like a caged animal testing the bars, but she’s not fully here yet. Not fully awake.I push forward, closer to the surface, urging Eamon to stay calm, to hold her. We’re all connected now, the mate bond keeping her wolf from slipping away entirely. The mate bond has created room for her within Liliana.“Come forward,” I call out to her, my voice firm but gentle, coaxing. “You’re not alone anymore, Eamon and I are here for you.”There’s a hesitation, a moment of silence, and then I feel her.“You?” I feel the question almost as much as I hear it.“Yes, me.” I coax.“Fenri,” my tail wags at her acknowledgment.I’m bombarded with a myriad of visions that
Alpha's Hidden Chains 36 | Reality
*** Eamon's POVI feel a surge of relief when Fenri allows me to come forward as Liliana's eyes clear, the deep green in them slowly receding back to their usual warm brown."There you are," I whisper, brushing a damp strand of hair from her face. Her lips tremble, and I press a finger gently to them, trying to still their quivering.I can sense her confusion, her fear, but there’s something else beneath it—a rising heat that pulses through the bond we share.Liliana blinks up at me, trying to make sense of everything. I want to comfort her, to tell her everything is okay, but as I look into her eyes, I see it—her wolf, just beneath the surface.“Skadi,” Fenri interjects, his voice echoing in the back of my mind, steady and certain.The realization sends a thrill of both excitement and concern through me."You’re both safe," I murmur, leaning closer, my lips brushing against her temple. “We’re here."She nods slightly, her breath catching as she takes notice of her nakedness and the d
Alpha's Hidden Chains 37 | Waking
*** Liliana’s POVI'm flung from the bright light into a pit of physical agony. My whole body is burning, searing pain that feels as though it's tearing me apart. I can’t see anything, I can only feel. I can’t tell if it’s been seconds or minutes, but it feels like an eternity. Then, just as suddenly, the pain subsides, leaving me shaking mentally and physically.I don't know if I'm still dreaming or if I've woken up. My vision is a blur, and when it clears, I'm looking up at Eamon, though it doesn’t feel like Eamon looking back at me. His eyes are black, not the warm, comforting color I'm used to.I try to look around the room and realize I can't sit up—I can't even move. Panic wells up inside me, but my body refuses to obey my commands. I try to scale back my intentions and do something simple, like move my head or even just glance around, but I have no control over my movements. It’s as if I’m a passenger in my own body. I’m moving, and I’m even talking, but it’s not me. It’s not m
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