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023 | Dad's so not on a hunting trip
Last Updated:
2023-03-10 09:40:07Related chapters
An Affair with the Alpha 024 | I'll tell you everything
Hyacinth’s POV“Rhi?” I frowned at her, grabbing her arm and towing her away from Alpha Caleb.“I have to talk to you,” she hissed, putting her hand over the top of mine and squeezing. Her knuckles turned white.“Were you just–”She put a finger over my lips and raised her eyebrows at me. “I’ll tell you everything,” she said, then dropped her hand and looped her pinky finger through mine. My mind spun through a thousand possibilities, but it kept landing on the same one. I glanced back at the closed office door, trying to picture what the ding-dang-doodle had been going on in there. It had sounded like she’d been having sex with Alpha Caleb. But that was impossible – wasn’t it?‘I think you just walked right into a honey trap here, Cin,’ said Dolly.‘Do you know what a honey trap is?’‘Something real sticky,’ she said, with so much confidence that I didn’t have the heart to correct her. I looked over at my sister. She was bright red in the face and her hair was all mussed. Her leath
Last Updated : 2023-03-11An Affair with the Alpha 025 | Unicorns are real and oh, yeah, my sister is unfaithful
Hyacinth’s POVI shuffled back until my back pressed against the wall. “All of it?” I joked weakly. “So unicorns are really real?”“Cin,” she sighed. I bit my lip. “I heard the two of you together. I thought it was the Luna, but then you came out…” I looked up hesitantly. “What about Stephen?”“Goddess, I know.” Rhiannon dipped her head, strands of silver falling over her face as she sucked in a rasping breath.“He’s your mate,” I snapped, my own pain morphing into righteous anger. “How could you do that to him? How can you even look at another guy after feeling the mate bond snap into place? I thought–”She cut me off. “Because Stephen isn’t my real mate.”And I felt like my world imploded. What in all of the goddess’s green earth was that supposed to mean? I’d been there when they’d felt the mate bond join them together forever. I’d seen the way they’d been ever since: barely able to keep their hands off each other, staring at each other with those huge, adoring, puppy-dog eyes, g
Last Updated : 2023-03-12An Affair with the Alpha 026 | A scoundrel in a pickle
Stephen’s POVI realised what I was doing a moment too late. My lips were pressed to Cin’s. I could taste her tears on my tongue, feel her petite body crushed against mine. I pulled away – but I could’ve sworn Hyacinth lingered for a second. ‘Stephen!’ Brian chastised. ‘Back away from this nice young lady this instant!’My heart was beating so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. I stumbled backwards and gaped at Hyacinth, apologises burning their way up my throat. “I’m so, so sorry,” I whispered, shaking my head in horror.Why had I done that? It didn’t make any sense. None at all, in fact. I’d never thought of Cin that way, had never wanted anyone other than Rhi. And now, all of a sudden, I’d done… that?‘I should give you a right talking to!’ said Brian. ‘Or your lovely Rhiannon should. I cannot believe you would scorn your good woman in such a way.’ He tutted at me, disapproval rolling off him in waves.‘You should,’ I agreed, numb to everything as I stared at
Last Updated : 2023-03-13An Affair with the Alpha 027 | What's happening to me?
Stephen's POV‘I’m going mad from hunger,’ I mindlinked to Brian, pacing back and forth across my family’s kitchen. I opened and closed the same pantry cupboard for the hundredth time, my stomach growling at me when it realised, as I already had, that there was not a scrap of food in the house. Not one single, solitary scrap.I’d had to get away from Rhiannon and Hyacinth for a little while. I’d felt awful leaving them – but it was for the best. I was losing my gosh-darn mind and being closed in on all sides by my mate and her sister had only been making things worse. Besides, they’d seemed happy enough to comfort each other. They shared a pain I would never wholly understand.‘You’re going mad because you’re a little rascal,’ retorted Brian, sniffing disdainfully at me. ‘The hunger isn’t new. Your infatuation with Hyacinth is.’“Oh, darn it all to heck.” I groaned, doubling over and scrubbing my hands over my head. I wished there was enough hair there for me to pull at. Anything to o
Last Updated : 2023-03-14An Affair with the Alpha 028 | Big family dinners never end well
Stephen’s POVThe pack announcements started off… okay.We were just listening to Alpha Caleb drone on about the tough times we were enduring and the light at the end of the tunnel, so it was easy enough to use him to distract myself from Hyacinth and Rhiannon.Why had Hyacinth sat that side of me? It opened up a can of worms if I really thought about it. Did she… had she wanted me to…‘Because your own Ma sat next to Rhi on her other side, you scallywag! How you didn’t notice that is beyond me. My eyes are aged, rheumy and weak, and yet I spotted her in an instant! You are searching for reason that does not exist, my dear boy.’ Brian shook his head at me.I glanced over at Rhi, who I’d been doing a spectacular job of avoiding eye contact with and, sure enough, Ma and Pa had sat beside her. They were conferring in low voices, consoling Rhi over the loss of her father.Which was exactly what I should have been doing. My belly balled into a knot; guilt made me sweat. I was behaving like
Last Updated : 2023-03-16An Affair with the Alpha 029 | The wrong decision
Rhiannon’s POV“I think we should move in together.”I gaped at Stephen. ‘He what?’ said Tiger, her eyes boggling as she stared at him. 'No, seriously, what did he just say?'‘My thoughts exactly.’ I’d just been sat in the cold with my dead dad, crying over his lifeless body, preparing mentally for his funeral tomorrow – and Stephen, the guy who had always known exactly what I needed when I needed it, was asking me to move in with him? Now?I opened and closed my mouth a few times, struggling to find the right words. I wasn’t sure where the fuck the balance between are you stable and thanks but no thanks was.Something sharp tugged on my heartstrings. I’d longed for this moment, once. Stephen and I had discussed getting our own little cabin in the Omega Quarters, how we’d share the cooking and cleaning, how we’d always have fresh flowers on the kitchen table, how he’d dance while he mopped the floors and how I’d sing while I scrubbed the dishes. It had been a beautiful dream, before.
Last Updated : 2023-03-17An Affair with the Alpha 030 | Surprise visit from the Luna
Rhiannon’s POVI swallowed down my nerves, steeled myself, and dipped my head respectfully. “Luna Amelia,” I greeted her, suddenly realising that I had even more to be worried about than I’d first thought.If she came in, she’d see her own shampoo bar next to the shower. She’d see raspberry tea next to the kettle, which I’d stashed there for Cin. If she looked into my eyes, I was sure she’d see my guilt.The silence swelled between us, thick and potent and cloying. She peered into my eyes, into my damn soul, like she could see everything in it laid bare for her. The Luna pursed her full lips, which enhanced the sheen of gold brushed over her cheekbones as they hit the morning light. “I just came by to give you this.” She bent down and picked up a small wicker basket, which I’d been too busy staring at her to notice. “The basket is from one of my care packages… as are the tea and biscuits inside. I know it’s not much, and it will mean nothing in the wake of your sorrow, but I wanted t
Last Updated : 2023-03-18An Affair with the Alpha 031 | Somebody's watching me
Rhiannon’s POVIt didn’t matter how many times I told Alpha Caleb to go to hell, to fuck himself, to die in a hole, to go do whatever other nasty things I could think of – we kept getting pushed together. If I was working, he was there, letting me serve him hot water. If I was sat by Dad’s grave, he was passing me on his way to or from a patrol. If I was walking down the hall, he was coming from the other way. A hundred tiny coincidences – that started to feel not so coincidental the more they kept happening.He stopped asking me to talk to him after the second day. He said he’d leave me to mourn. It was almost worse when he did, because I didn’t have anything to distract me from the pain anymore. But no matter what he’d said, it didn’t stop him from bumping into me everywhere. And I meant everywhere. Even when I’d slipped into the bathroom in the pack house to tidy up my makeup, I’d accidentally left it unlocked and who had walked in but, yep, you guessed it, Alpha Bloody Caleb. If
Last Updated : 2023-03-19
Latest chapter
An Affair with the Alpha 127 | Epilogue
Rhiannon’s POVSix months laterThe Night Wind Pack needed this, I realised, beaming around at the crowd as I stepped off the stage. Though there was a notable sadness still clinging to the wolves – my wolves, I realised with a heady burst of shock, not unlike being doused in cold water – most of it had been shoved aside for tonight.It was a celebration, after all.The night sky was alight with glittering stars and the full, fat orb of the moon. Our unnatural spring had blurred into the real thing, and now the first signs of summer were in the late-evening warmth and glossy green leaves on every deciduous tree.Lamplight lit up the stage and the seats before it. Smaller bulbs were strung over the heads of the crowd, fluttering slightly in the wind. Something made the back of my neck prickle, like I was being watched – but of course I was being watched. I brushed my fingers over my new ring, and my smile widened impossibly further. Caleb helped me down the last step, his grin even bi
An Affair with the Alpha 126 | I want to mark you
Caleb’s POVNight Wind settled into our new spring with trepidation. Of course, there was joy too – so much of it I’d had to look the other way when most of my Omegas turned up to their cooking and cleaning shifts still drunk on honey mead and sweet berry wine – but it was undercut with uncertainty and loss.We’d had a day of silence for Luna Amelia. Her death was a dark shroud over the entire pack. Even when we were drinking under the stars, lying on the fresh spring grass and looking up at the blooming buds on the branches above, we were toasting to her memory. I’d heard more wet-voiced, “Three cheers, in honour of our fallen Luna!” in the last week than I’d ever wanted to. It was a knife through my heart every time.We still didn’t know what had caused the Eternal Winter and, even after Rhi had told me everything she’d experienced on the border between us and Moon Chasm, over and over again until she was blue in the face, I still couldn’t make sense of it. I’d paired her account o
An Affair with the Alpha 125 | The long walk home
Rhiannon’s POVReturning home was… confusing.I was torn between awe and heartache, love and loss, a giddy, child-like glee and the raw sort of grief I’d only known once before, after my father’s death. The sun glittered overhead, the sudden spring my death had brought on as unnatural as the everlasting winter had been before it. It was beautiful, too, the kind of beautiful that made my throat catch and my eyes glisten with unshed tears. Caleb’s hand in mine was steady and grounding, and whenever I stumbled his arm looped solidly around my waist. As always, he caught me.That bliss only compounded the unfairness of it all. I had lived, but Amelia had died. Kieran’s cries still echoed in my ears.He hadn’t come back with us. Nobody had been able to move him away from Maeve’s fallen body. I hoped he was okay but I knew, I knew, that he wasn’t. I inhaled sharply.“You all right?” murmured Caleb, squeezing me.I let my weight rest a little more on him. “Just thinking about Kieran.”He sh
An Affair with the Alpha 124 | Enough is enough
Stephen’s POVI hit the floor hard. I didn’t quite black out – but I wanted to.The pain was everything. There was no part of me not consumed by it. My blood burned and my skin turned to ash. But it was my heart that hurt worst of all.It was ripped from my chest, torn and bloody and, when I thought it couldn’t possibly hurt any more than it already did, some otherworldly hand took my heart and dunked it in acid. I had a vague, distant awareness of movement. I couldn’t focus on it, on anything but the agony echoing through me.When the pain started to ease, I opened my eyes. The world turned sideways as my vision struggled to cling onto a single spot, but eventually my focus steadied on Hyacinth’s face.My lower lip trembled. “Beautiful,” I mouthed, no sound coming out.It hit me then, full force, how striking she was. There was no way I could’ve been so blind, all of this time. Rose petal lips let out a small, relieved gasp, and icy blue eyes, never before so blue as they seemed rig
An Affair with the Alpha 123 | We'll wait for the dust to settle
Stephen’s POVHyacinth was kept under observation in the medical centre for a full day after Rhiannon left, despite her repeatedly telling various doctors and Omegas that she felt fine, thank you very much. I stayed with her the whole time, leaving only to collect a basket of fruit from my family and bringing it back to her.When we finally made it back to her cabin – our cabin, although it felt weird to say that, knowing I’d moved into it to be with her sister – there was a fresh fruit basket awaiting us on the kitchen table. I muddled raspberries and boiled water, and told her to wait on the sofa, under a blanket, for her tea.“So.” She swung her legs and gripped her mug. She still looked even paler than usual and sleep-deprived, with heavy bags under her eyes and sallow cheeks. “What happens now?”My throat bobbed. “What do you mean?”She gestured vaguely towards me. “With us.”An awkward silence sat between us. I glanced at the fire, remembering the feel of the rough wood against
An Affair with the Alpha 122 | Why did it have to be her?
Kieran’s POVI stared down at Maeve. I tried to see around the blood drying across her fur. I tried to see past the slack way her jaw was hinged, past the tiny sliver of glazed eye peeking out beneath her closed eyelids.I couldn’t. Not anymore. Those things were focal points now, the only parts of her I could really see. There was no life left in her. There was only death.My hands curled into fists in her fur. Another sob tore apart my throat. I didn’t feel like a person anymore; I was an empty shell, the wreckage of a ship left to drown. I was a scattered hull and deck, planks of wood and metal, all floating separately to drown in the darkness of an unforgiving sea.Gentle hands touched my shoulders, breathing a mimicry of life into my lungs. “Kieran? Kieran, is she…”I twisted around, my eyes as glazed as Ames’s as I looked up at Rhiannon. I would’ve frowned, had I been alive enough to do so. I hadn’t registered much in the last… how long had it been? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Day
An Affair with the Alpha 121 | A million miles away
Rhiannon’s POV “Rhiannon?” Caleb cupped my cheeks. His hands felt a million miles away. “Rhiannon, this isn’t funny. Wake up,” panic leaked into his voice, “please, Rhi, wake up!” I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to hold onto him. I wanted… I wanted… What did I want? The darkness was closing in. There was no way out of it, this time. That knowledge settled deep in me, heavy as a stone sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Even the pain of my wounds was starting to ebb away. My neck had been one burning, pulsing, point of red-hot pain, so sore that even the flow of blood over my torn skin had hurt, but now it felt more like the after-ache of getting a piercing. Soft, gentle, but still a little sore. Not the ripped-to-shreds agony of having my throat torn out of my neck. Instead of comforting me, it panicked me. The further from the pain I got, the closer I got to leaving my life behind. Caleb. Hyacinth. Stephen. Even Amelia and Kieran. And, oh my goddess, little Foxy Spangles.
An Affair with the Alpha 120 | All things end
Caleb’s POVI watched Rhi fall to the ground in slow motion. It was eternal, that moment, as her body slumped, her weight suddenly too much for her to hold up, and she fell to the earth. Her limbs cartwheeled; blood poured from her neck.I reached her as she hit the ground. “Rhi,” I rasped, pressing my bound hands to her wolven shoulder and shaking it gently, terrified of hurting her more. “Fuck, Rhi, oh, goddess, fuck.” I couldn’t think properly, couldn’t say anything more useful than the string of mumbled curses falling from my trembling lips.“Liam, enough!” roared Luna Fiona. “This is wrong! The war is over; we should never have… never have…” Her throat closed around a sob as she looked down at her daughter.But Alpha Liam wasn’t listening.And then he turned his attention to me.I snarled at him. My heart was beating so hard I couldn’t hear myself think, but I stared him down, in his huge wolf form, his jaws stained with my mate’s blood, and I knew – I knew – that if it came to i
An Affair with the Alpha 119 | Alpha Can't-Handle-His-Emotions
Rhiannon’s POVPaws battered my side, my neck, my cheek. Red-hot pain lanced across each of those places. Alpha Liam was too fast for me; he clawed me, pulled back, clawed me. I could barely see his movements before he landed each strike.‘Move!’ Caleb screamed into my mind. 'Move now, Rhi!'I darted back, letting Tiger take over as Alpha Liam lunged at us again. She ducked down, narrowly escaping the slash of his teeth, the lock of his jaw. I heard his teeth clack together above my head and shivered.Blood rolled down my side, burning hot against my chilled fur.I was, to put it frankly, fucked.“No, Liam!” cried Luna Fiona, from somewhere off to the side. “This isn’t right!”I turned to look at her, confused by her seeming to side with me, and saw her bowed over Amelia, her face set in a cold mask. The only emotion was in her eyes – and they were swimming with agony.I’d let myself be distracted a moment too long. Teeth clamped down around my neck.That was it, then. I squeezed my e
