LOGINShare
35. The Gamble
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56~ RIG ~
I stood in the middle of my room, arms folded, glaring, as Natalie greeted Charlie, then walked in like she owned the place.
I closed the door—the only way to be certain our conversation wouldn’t be overheard. I’d had the room soundproofed before we moved in so I could have privacy—then turned to face her, my back to the door.
“What?” I bit the word off.
Natalie raised an eyebrow. “It’s nice to see you too.”
“Cut with the crap, Natalie, why are you here?”
“Your dad is getting suspicious,” she said promptly. “At the party this weekend we have to make it look like there’s something goin
Related chapters
Hunted by My Alpha 36. Feeling Squirmy
~ CARA ~A few days later, I woke up feeling odd. In truth, I’d been feeling odd for days. Walking with Ralf the night before I’d finally recognized the feeling—why when I kissed Rig I didn’t freeze up the way I always had in the past.I’d been walking through the dark, my hand trailing on Ralf’s fur—because he still showed up every night to walk with me—and I’d realized I was just strolling. Enjoying the night. I didn’t feel afraid. Because I knew if anything happened, Ralf would take care of it.That had made me remember the thing Rig had said in the pet store that day.He’d been staring down at me, and for the first time I’d felt like I was seeing Rig Landon without the mask of flirty mischief. He
Hunted by My Alpha 37. Non-Negotiable
~ CARA ~My eyes flew wide in concern. Rig’s head was buried in my shoulder, his shoulders rising and falling quickly with his panting breaths that I could feel against my neck.“Do what?” I pleaded, trying to pull up his chin, still arching against him.Then, though he’d resisted my efforts to lift his head, he lifted it on his own, his eyes glinting, his chest still heaving.“Don’t make me be the one to remind you… your first time should be special... with someone special... right?” he said.It could have been bait. It could have been resentment. But there was none of that in his tone. His
Hunted by My Alpha 38. Conceding
~ CARA ~It was a great relief when Meg and I left the lab on Friday morning. My hands shook not because the blood tests had been too painful, but because I didn’t like thinking about what they might reveal. But then, Meg kept warning me that they might not reveal anything.“Because we don’t know what we’re looking for, I just did a full panel. Hormones and stuff. But I’ve also thrown in the DNA test, and I’m going to try and sneak in the genome sequencing when we do that assignment in a few weeks. Just… I’m not a doctor, Cara. I might not find anything abnormal at all.”Meg was being kind. I hadn’t meant to tell her, but as we were alone and my nerves increased, I’d ended up blurting a lot of it out. I didn’t tell my friend about the strange d
Hunted by My Alpha 39. Cinder-Ella
~ CARA ~“Do you have any dresses that are formal?”I stood in the doorway to Meg’s room, heart fluttering in panic.Meg gaped at me. “I have like one, but I don’t think it would fit you in the chest and besides, I don’t think peach is really your color.”I slumped. “You’re right. I didn’t think about that. Damn. I didn’t think about any of this. I’ve only got ninety minutes. I’m going to have to tell Mack I can’t go.”“Rig should have been the one to ask you, anyway,” Meg said, her forehead furrowed.“Wait—what?!”A
Hunted by My Alpha 40. Road-Trippin
~ CARA ~“…so, I mean, imagine this: Rig is standing there, naked, with his mouth open, and his mom’s staring at him and he goes, “It’s not what it looks like, I swear.” And we’re all rolling.”The passenger seat of the car, I was laughing so hard my sides ached. “Stop. You have to stop. I’m going to cry and ruin my makeup,” I gasped.“You should. You don’t need all that crap on your face,” Mack said, his eyes bright and smile more relaxed than I’d ever seen it. He turned to wink at me before turning back to the road.Still giggling, I flipped the sun visor down and wiped my eyes carefully. &ldqu
Hunted by My Alpha 41. Pick a Side
~ RIG ~As the two females, glittering and giggling, left my table, both casting glances at me over their shoulders, I smiled tightly and waved, waiting until they’d passed behind one of the big pillars in the cathedral-style ballroom before sitting back in my chair and clawing a hand through my hair.Fuck I hated these things.White tablecloths, chandeliers, snooty human servants bringing drinks and serving at the food table, everyone dressed in their finest and trying to out-handsome, or out-beautiful each other… Wolf gatherings were so stuck up and… political.I was the Alpha King’s heir, which meant every eye was on me, all the time. But especially tonight. Tonight they all knew they were competing for my attention, and my father’s app
Hunted by My Alpha 42. Betrayed
~ CARA (Minutes Earlier) ~Why hadn’t Rig told me about Natalie? Why hadn’t he admitted that his parents had picked her for him?The questions that I couldn’t answer kept circling my brain, faster and faster, as we drove.I had tried not to betray how afraid I was, but I knew I was distracted and tense—and that Mack could tell. He’d been very kind and gentle, turning on music so I didn’t feel obliged to talk, and giving me warning when we got close to the hotel.“Just relax, it’s probably going to be fine,” he’d said softly as we pulled into the parking lot.“But what if it’s not?”Mack turned to me with
Hunted by My Alpha 43. The Kiss
~ CARA ~I went completely still. My entire body feeling like even the slightest touch or movement might shatter me into a thousand pieces.Rig gripped Natalie’s arms tightly. When he pulled back from the kiss, his face dark, for a moment my hope rose. Then it was plummeted to the marble floor beneath my feet as a deep voice called over the noise of the crowd.“It’s about time you two stopped playing games!”The entire crowd roared with laughter, whoops and whistles echoing through the ballroom as Rig turned his head quickly to look at the man who must be his father, but whose face was obscured by the people standing between us. But as his father spoke again—loud enough for everyone to hear—I couldn’t absorb any of it. I couldn&r
Latest chapter
Hunted by My Alpha 249. No Negotiation
~ RIG ~ I let my upper lip curl up and bare my teeth. Let him see that he was dealing with a helluva lot more than a spoiled rich kid. His instincts were dulled by humanity and alcohol, but even his dimwitted senses caught the flash of my teeth. He stiffened. I smiled. “My wife wants to share her wedding with her Mom—we eloped, but we’ve just watched some friends getting married and it’s making her think about what we missed, so we’re going to do it properly. Make another memory. And Cara wants to share that with her mom. So, we’re going to renew our vows in front of everyone we care about. Which, sadly, includes you.” He smiled and I wanted to bite his face off. “You are invited,” I growled. “But you
Hunted by My Alpha 248. Who the @#$% are You?
SOUNDTRACK: “Your Daughter” by Chase McDaniel. ***** ~ RIG (Three weeks later) ~ Getting out of my jeep in the driveway of the house that was the site of Cara’s torture turned my stomach. My Alpha power—still difficult to contain at times, making me itchy and prone to aggression—surged as I took in the cracked cement with weeds and grass growing up, the overgrown flower beds now little jungles of three foot weeds, and the grass that was thin and patchy, and mostly dead. This was the place that her fucking father had made her believe no one could love her. This was the place she’d been hurt. This was the place I wanted to burn to the fucking ground. But for today, at least, that wasn’t the assig
Hunted by My Alpha 247. Fight For You
SOUNDTRACK: “Unbearable” by Nathan Wagner. ***** ~ CHARLIE ~ Watching Mack salivate over Natalie as she walked up the aisle was a very specific kind of torment. Because even though I was supposed to be watching our friends publicly vow themselves, my eyes kept drifting back to Meg who, alongside Cara and Tessa, was standing with Natalie today. She looked… stunning. Natalie, always with the impeccable taste that I didn’t understand, but could fully appreciate, had draped all the girls in floor-length, light-green, figure-hugging-but-not-clinging dresses that revealed flesh without being suggestive. It was fucking torture.
Hunted by My Alpha 246. The Gift
~ MACK ~ When Natalie and Cara finally reached us on the stage, I knew that there was an exchange with the officiant. Cara and Rig said something, but I didn’t hear it. I just took Natalie’s hands and pulled her up to stand in front of me. I was aware of people speaking after that. The officiant—a wolf who’d been among the rebels, whose aunt was human, and had become ordained—spoke for a few minutes about marriage and what it meant, but all I could think about was the deep pools of her eyes, that hollow in her throat that she’d offered me the night before last, and how my entire blood hummed with love and desire and— There was a ripple of laughter. “Oh, what?” I asked. Someone had asked me something. Oh, right. “I do!”
Hunted by My Alpha 245. Finally
SOUNDTRACK: “Don’t Give Up on Me” by Andy Grammar ***** ~ MACK ~ I had been shitting myself. Absolutely, one hundred percent, about-to-claw-my-own-hair-off, crapping my pants. When Cara told me about the human traditions around a wedding, and what she was planning to do with Rig for their vow renewal—which included not seeing or sleeping with each other the day before the ceremony, which sounded crazy—I’d joked with Natalie that we should do that too. I’d thought it would be cute and maybe increase anticipation for when we did come back together after the ceremony. I hadn’t banked on my mate getting cold feet about doing this in front of the packs, and how her nerves would kick my insecurities into gear—and that the whole damn thing would b
Hunted by My Alpha 244. In the Right Place
SOUNDTRACK: “Break Your Fall” by UNSECRET and Marc Scibilia. ***** ~ NATALIE ~ “This is stupid and… and indulgent and it doesn’t matter! I should never have agreed to this. It’s nothing but a dumb, human tradition and… it means nothing. I’m not doing it.” I stood in the bedroom that we’d made into a bridal suite—complete with three-way mirror—and folded my arms. I’d been staring at myself and all I could see were the imperfections. Tessa had done a beautiful job on my make up, but everything else just felt… sticky. My dress was a touch too tight around my breasts. There were too many people here and they were all going to be staring. I could feel Mack out there panting with nerves, but what if he didn’t like the dress? I should have shown it to him! Why had I let Cara talk me into all this traditional nonsense? “Natalie, you get your gorgeous ass out there and marry that man before he sweats through his Armani suit,” Cara growled. “Seriously, don’t make me turn it into an orde
Hunted by My Alpha 243. Done
~ RIG ~I started towards her, but was halted almost immediately as I watched in awe while my mate carved through lines of wolves as if they were butter.Claws, teeth, whirling body—despite her bulk, she moved like liquid, tail lashing and claws like wicked hooks designed to tear through fur and flesh.I shook and trembled because my father’s power was shifting to me and my veins were boiling with it—while the rest of me simmered in the rising rage and terror of the wolves around us.The transfer of Alpha should have been peaceful. There was an established hierarchy waiting, swelling with the newfound power. But my father was a liar and cheat, and he’d encouraged his wolves towards the same.The hierarchy, the elders, his advisors, every pack and family of power rolled towards us, howling in rage and fear.And my wolves, newly risen and brimming with the triumph of victory and the added confidence of success, tore right back to meet them.Mack, Charlie, Jack, and Natalie tore for me,
Hunted by My Alpha 242. When Hell is Broken
SOUNDTRACK: “Legendz” by AG and Devvon Terrell ***** ~ RIG ~ Everything slowed to a crawl, time seemed almost not to move at all as I watched my father go for my mate and I turned, twisting, pushing my body in ways I never had, panic screaming in my head, frantic to reach him before he got her. I couldn’t move fast enough. He was going to land at her feet before I did and his power would carry him right to her throat. She wasn’t equipped for this… It all washed through me in that second—the rage for what he’d done, the fury about his injustices, the anger that he would still cheat, even before the witnesses, and the shocking weight of grief because that was my mate. But then the second wave arrived that left me desperate, panicked, humiliated and hating myself. If she died right now it was my fault. My side screamed in pain as I launched myself after him, but my father seemed to hang in mid-air. I had time to see Cara bare her teeth and crouch. Everything moved so slowly I could
Hunted by My Alpha 241. Death on Four Legs
~ RIG ~My father saw the opening he’d been waiting for, gathered himself on his haunches and launched at me, the light of victory in his eyes.Instinctively, I didn’t even try to meet the attack, just leaped straight into the air in an attempt to deflect, dropping my chin, trying to hide my throat as my father snaked in—and to my horror, he would have taken me, except that was the moment Stephen howled in the link, then sent images to us both:Himself. Head bowed. Shoulders rolled forward. His human form submitted.To me.It was a boom of thunder right over my head. In any context, the submission of an Alpha brought al
