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039 | Someone I left behind
Last Updated:
2023-03-29 22:57:26Related chapters
An Affair with the Alpha 040 | You have to listen to me
Kieran’s POV‘Just go in. You already know that’s what you’re going to do, so rip the plaster off and do it,’ said Bo. As he had a thousand times already. I’d been stood outside of my old home for what felt like hours, but had probably in actuality only been about ten minutes.I kept staring around, letting the present bleed into my memory. Everything was overlaid: years of following my parents inside, after training or breakfast or dinner, and my heart swelled with a sharp, pinching kind of agony that I preferred to forget.Everyone had lost someone in the war. That was what everyone said.But I’d lost more than most before that.I picked at my thumb nail. ‘I’m scared.’‘You’re a Warrior Wolf, boy.’‘That doesn’t mean I can’t feel fear, idiot. It just means I have to go on patrol and fight in battles.’‘This is no battle. This is your grandma. She’ll be happy to see you.’I stared at the door, at the faded green paint that was peeling at the door’s corners. The Warrior Wolves all liv
Last Updated : 2023-03-30An Affair with the Alpha 041 | Eternal Loneliness
Amelia’s POV‘I know who poisoned you. It was the Omega, Rhiannon.’‘I – I’m sorry?’ I pursed my lips and blinked at nothing. I was exhausted from travelling and from playing nice with my parents all day, and now – this?I simply could not fathom it. Why on earth would she want to poison me? It didn’t make any sense.‘I’m sorry, Ames– Amelia.’ Kieran cleared his throat. ‘I didn’t want to tell you like this, I wanted to tell you in person. I…’‘Stop waffling on, Kieran.’ I glanced over nervously at Cal, who was thumbing through a well-read copy of The Beta’s Daughter that I’d left on my childhood nightstand and pulling amused faces at it. ‘I’ll come and meet you,’ I whispered, even though it made no odds to Caleb. He couldn’t hear my mindlink to Kieran – though he could feel every emotion Kieran’s words were making me feel.“Everything okay?” Caleb asked, dog-earing a page of my book and resting it flat across his knees, which made me wince.“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.” I couldn’t mak
Last Updated : 2023-03-30An Affair with the Alpha 042 | Bold of you to be throwing accusations around
Caleb‘s POVI kept tossing and turning in the bed. Don’t laugh – but I was too damned hot. I wasn’t used to sleeping in silk fucking sheets, either. Everything about this place was making me itch. I’d thought I’d be able to relax once we’d retired to the guest room – once we were finally away from the Alpha and Luna’s prying eyes – but I couldn’t settle. My need for Rhiannon was ever-present, and stronger now than it had been in the day. With nothing to distract myself from it, I was stuck missing someone I at once both craved intimately and barely knew.I woke up and reached for Ames, only to feel the cool, empty indent where her body had been.Sitting up, I reached for the glass of water on the nightstand and sipped at it, rubbing one of my temples with one of my thumbs. A headache was blooming there. As I focused on it, it grew sharper. I winced. Then came the pain. Not my own physical pain, oh no. This was the spicy kind, the kind that I felt only from Amelia through our forced
Last Updated : 2023-03-31An Affair with the Alpha 043 | Doubting you is a hard job, but looks like I'm the man for it
Caleb’s POV“What the hell do you mean?” I stared at her like she’d grown another head.Amelia put her hands on her hips, as if this was all so obvious and I was an idiot for not being able to keep up. “Maybe you don’t know her as well as you think you do. Or maybe you simply don’t know her at all.” Her expression hardened. “Was it worth it, Caleb? Risking everything we’ve worked for, just for some Omega with her fingers in my things?”A muscle flexed in my jaw. Did she know Rhiannon had stolen from her, too? And did that mean she knew that I’d let her? I decided it was safest to change tack. “Why didn’t you ever tell me that you had a true mate?”“What good would it have done?” she hissed. “Now you’re looking at me like you pity me, and I am not a woman who likes to be pitied. It doesn’t change anything, Caleb.”The stab of disappointment I felt at that was so, so wrong. This was fucked up. Hell, I was fucked up.“Kieran is staying here. You’ll never have to deal with him again. Bes
Last Updated : 2023-03-31An Affair with the Alpha 044 | Let's play pretend
Rhiannon’s POV“Hey.” Stephen leant down and kissed the crown of my head, before moving down to scratch behind my fox’s ears. The little creature came everywhere with me, now. I hadn’t named him, not properly – I just called him Foxy, which Cin had taken and morphed into Foxy Spangles, for some reason that I honestly doubted even made any sort of sense to her. I smiled up at him, tipping my head back so I could kiss him. “Hi,” I said against his lips, my smile growing wider as he grinned against my mouth. I dropped my book onto the sofa beside Foxy, who huffed softly at the disruption. “If I were any sort of mate, I would’ve had dinner ready for when you got back.”“I don’t think that’s on you, Rhi. I reckon you can blame the Eternal Winter for that one.” As if to punctuate his point, his belly growled with hunger.“How was your shift?” I asked, lifting up Foxy and heading through to the kitchen. I still expected to see Dad at the counter every time I went in there; I still felt the
Last Updated : 2023-03-31An Affair with the Alpha 045 | Now my Beta, too?
Caleb’s POVThe first thing I did when I got home was go straight to the medical centre. Every fibre of my stupid heart wanted to go to Rhiannon, to make sure she was okay in the wake of all this, but I forced it to shut the fuck up. She was probably the cause of all this, not a victim of its trauma.As he’d said he would, Kieran had remained in the Moon Chasm pack. I couldn’t say I was too sorry to see him go. Now I knew the truth, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before. He was so obvious, with his puppy-eyed pining looks and the eager way he always offered to work when Amelia was involved.It was better that he was gone. That was one mate issue down… and one to go.Harley’s cropped black hair was splayed up across the starchy white pillow. She rolled her head towards me, her eyes heavy-lidded. She’d taken the studs and rings in her ears out and didn’t look like herself; her olive skin was wan and the usual glint of daring amusement in her honey-coloured eyes was gone.An image o
Last Updated : 2023-03-31An Affair with the Alpha 046 | The Alpha will see you now
Rhiannon’s POV‘Rhiannon?’The sound of Alpha Caleb’s voice infiltrating my mind had me bolting upright. I’d been lying on the bed with Foxy Spangles, ruminating over my terrible life choices and watching as the dull midday sunlight almost managed to break through the white cloud cover outside.I shot out of bed so fast that Foxy gave me some serious side-eye. My hands shook. I picked at the scabs on my palms and took a few deep breaths before I replied coolly.‘Alpha?’‘I’d like you to come up to my office, please. Now.’Oh goddess, oh goddess, oh goddess. I started to panic.‘What for?’ I shot back.It had to be my interrogation – Stephen had reported seeing a lot of other Omegas heading into the pack house, one by one, from his position by the window downstairs – but as far as we knew, Nova and Anderson had been conducting them. I’d only known Caleb had even got back because the mate bond had lit up like a fucking firework and tried to drag my sorry ass straight over to him. ‘You
Last Updated : 2023-03-31An Affair with the Alpha 047 | So many fantasies
Caleb’s POV“Come in, Rhiannon.” My hands were trembling. I shoved them under my desk and set my face in a cool mask, wanting to give away nothing when she entered. Rhiannon didn’t seem bothered by our time apart at all – she’d marched down the hallway outside like she owned it and hadn’t hesitated even a second before she’d knocked. The girl had balls bigger than any Alpha I’d ever met, I had to give her that.My heart was still thumping away, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. Taking a deep breath, I sat tall and waited as the door swung open.Fuck, she was beautiful. I gaped at her for a moment, my thoughts getting more scrambled than a damned egg at breakfast as she lifted her chin and met my gaze with impenetrable grey eyes. The creased leather jacket she wore hung off her, despite her tall, broad-shouldered frame; paired with her nose ring, eyeliner, and slick braids, she looked like the sort of badass I wouldn’t want to mess with if I met her in an alley at night. Or
Last Updated : 2023-04-02
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
