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064 | Not out of the woods yet
Last Updated:
2023-04-22 17:07:32Related chapters
An Affair with the Alpha 065 | Lost time
Rhiannon’s POVMy hands were bound roughly behind me with rope.“Hey,” I snarled. “Is that really necessary?”“I can’t take any risks.” Alvin shrugged, then yanked the rope even tighter. “You can’t seriously think I’m behind this.” I wriggled my wrists around, trying to create a bit more space in my bonds. “It doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what the Gamma thinks.”Alvin dragged me into the pack house. I met the gaze of every Warrior Wolf that stared at me, keeping my expression cold, almost bored, as I was pulled along. He took me down the main corridor before turning off into a room I’d never been in before. Hell, I hadn’t even ever noticed it before.The doorway led to a stairwell, which took us down what felt like half a floor. The lighting grew dimmer as we descended, the stairs coiling around before opening up into a large, grey room.I understood why I’d never seen the inside of the room before the second I was forced inside it. It was tucked away from the hubbub of t
Last Updated : 2023-04-24An Affair with the Alpha 066 | Tried for treason
Rhiannon’s POVNova sent for Beth at once. Then she sat back down opposite me, a frown creasing her face, and she apologised.“I can’t let you go. I know the Alpha has vouched for you, but his mind is not his own at present. With the poison in his system, I can’t be sure that his word is fact as I usually would. I am sorry, Rhiannon.”“I understand,” I said reluctantly. I did get it, but it didn’t make it any easier to bear. She went quiet a moment later, and stayed that way for a minute or two. I guessed that she was mindlinking with someone. The seconds dragged by, but eventually she looked up at me, blinked as though she was just coming back to herself, and offered me a tight smile. “I’ve been informed that Beth is waiting for me upstairs. I won’t be long.”Then she grabbed her notes hastily and, clutching them to her chest, she scurried out of the room.I moved into action the second I heard the door at the top of the stairs close. It wasn’t like Nova to make a mistake like leavi
Last Updated : 2023-04-25An Affair with the Alpha 067 | Woke up on the wrong side of the bed
Rhiannon’s POVI woke up slow and groggy, my mouth gummy, my eyelids practically stuck together. I went to scrub at them and found that my hands were tied together behind my back.Huh, I thought, a sliver of amusement curling through my chest, this is becoming something of a habit. The air smelled musty, and from the dim light turning the insides of my eyelids red I figured I was inside somewhere with a window. I couldn’t be outside; I was cold not but sat-out-in-the-snow cold. I knew, from the mate bond, that Stephen was beside me. Thank the goddess for that. I’d found him – but at what cost?At last I managed to peel my eyelids open. Fuck, what I wouldn’t give for some makeup remover. I blinked, feeling crusty mascara crumble onto my cheekbones, and wrinkled my nose. Disturbingly, that wasn’t the worst thing I felt.I pressed my dry tongue to the back of my teeth. It stuck to the roof of my mouth and wouldn’t budge. Worse again was the soft, repetitive pounding in my head, the cras
Last Updated : 2023-04-26An Affair with the Alpha 068 | Realisation hurts
Hyacinth’s POVI felt like I’d been looking for Stephen for hours. Rhiannon hadn’t sent me another mindlink since her earlier one had cut off, and worry was brewing in my belly because of it. I was terrified for them both. I kept picturing Stephen unconscious on the floor, hurt, bleeding, limp, and it made shards of horror jab deep into me with every new image I conjured up. I was frantic, racing from room to room, my heart pounding out so loudly that I felt like it was screaming and screaming at me to find him, find him, find him...I didn't even have my twin sister to help me. I could always rely on Rhiannon. Without her, I felt as lost as a mouse in a very big house. ‘It’s okay, sweet thing!’ said Dolly. ‘You’ve still got me and I’ve still got you. Come on, we can find Stephen together!’‘You’re right.’ I forced a smile as I darted up another flight of stairs. I’d been everywhere around the medical centre and found nothing. ‘But I’m out of ideas, Dolly. Where should I look?’‘Hmm
Last Updated : 2023-04-27An Affair with the Alpha 069 | Before it's too late
Hyacinth’s POV‘Cin, sweetheart?’ murmured Dolly.I hadn’t moved. Alpha Caleb had a hand on the door and was looking at me expectantly.It was so unfair. Now I’d let myself consider it, this great truth that had been lurking over my shoulder this whole time, it had shattered me. I couldn’t dismiss it; it made too much sense for me to do that.But I didn’t have time to let it break me, either. If I wanted to see Stephen, to tell him, maybe, I had to find him – and fast. I straightened my shoulders and nodded at the Alpha. “Let’s go.”The door swung inwards before we could leave. Alpha Caleb staggered backwards, reaching out to grab anything to steady him. All the blood rushed from his face and fear gripped me. He looked like he was a breath away from death.“Alpha?” I murmured.A middle-aged woman swept into the room before he could speak, though he did jerk upwards and attempt to make himself look a bit less like he was on the brink of collapse. It was oddly endearing, seeing our ever
Last Updated : 2023-04-28An Affair with the Alpha 070 | Like the wind
Hyacinth’s POVI ran straight into a Warrior Wolf. He grabbed me by the shoulders to steady me. “Woah there, little Omega,” he said fondly. “Take it easy.”I blushed and ducked my head. “I can’t. I have to find them.”“We’re on the case.” He flexed his bicep and grinned at me, shaking his head slightly to ruffle his shock of blonde hair. This man was a himbo and, usually, I would have been here for it. I vaguely recognised him from training sessions – I was pretty sure this guy was the one who played pranks on his buddies and got told off for not focusing enough. He was all kinds of cute, but he didn’t exactly fill me with confidence.“I want to keep looking,” I said, channelling Rhiannon’s defiant streak and pushing my chest out. He shrugged. “Makes no odds to me, sweet thing.” His gaze drifted down to my boobs. I pulled my chest back in quickly. It wasn’t like he could see anything, what with the hundred layers of knitwear I had on, but still… ew.‘Do you feel dirty?’ Dolly shudde
Last Updated : 2023-04-28An Affair with the Alpha 071 | I would die for you still
Stephen’s POVI’d been able to do nothing but wait. I was tied too tightly and was far too woozy from whatever Marcella had given me to be able to help Rhiannon. I’d had to watch as she’d collapsed, as Marcella had re-tied her hands until the bloodied skin there had been rubbed even more raw, as she’d stiffened and told me she’d be back and not to do anything stupid, and as she’d held up another cloth infused with heady herbs to my nose and forced me to breathe it in.I’d never felt so helpless or so useless before. I was stuck.And then Hyacinth had come for me.My heart had screamed out for her, so loudly it had woken me up. I’d come out of my daze and seen her, her eyes brimming with tears, her lips bitten and red. She looked more beautiful to me than she ever had before.It was only my terror for Rhiannon that had kept me from losing my head entirely. All I wanted was to kiss her, the sweetest sort of heaven after an eternity in this hell, but I had a duty to my mate.Rhiannon loo
Last Updated : 2023-04-28An Affair with the Alpha 072 | The air in my lungs
Caleb’s POVThere was darkness, but it was not empty.I walked through it. The earth formed wherever my feet touched the ground. That was how it all was, here: things came into existence as I passed through them. I couldn’t see the trees growing around me or disappearing behind me, but I was acutely aware that they were there.An owl flew overheard, a lantern dangling from its talons. Its warm, orange glow bobbed above me, but it didn’t light my way. It lit up its own, small circle, which followed it into the distance before it, too, disappeared.“Where am I?” I called out into the darkness. Nobody answered.Driven by instinct, I shifted out. Knight’s huge form split my skin; his soul was quiet, though, leaving me alone as I padded on his paws through the dark. Up ahead, a star flickered into existence. It burned brighter and brighter the closer I got. When I finally reached it, it seemed as small as it always had. Its silver was like molten metal, shimmering softly in a light of its
Last Updated : 2023-04-29
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
