Home / Werewolf / Hunted by My Alpha / 47. The Apple and the Tree

Share

47. The Apple and the Tree

Author: Aimee Lane
last update Last Updated: 2023-02-25 01:30:45

~ CARA ~

Something was wrong. Something was really, really wrong.

As Charlie silently ushered me out of the hotel and into the parking lot, towards the massive, extended-cab truck that he drove, my entire body shook. And not just with tears.

Oh, I was crying. But it was rage that shoved the tears over my lashes and down my cheeks, and fury that made my hands sweat.

My head spun with it, and my chest was tight. I panted short, shallow breaths and my jaw was clenched so tight I was afraid I’d crack my teeth.

I was furious.

And heartbroken.

And my

Locked Chapter
Continue to read this book on the APP

Related chapters

  • Hunted by My Alpha   48. Open Your Eyes

    ~ RIG ~I stormed out of the room, stabbing a finger on my phone to call Charlie because he was out of range of the link.Jack had made sure they’d made it out of the neighborhood without being followed, then returned while I was still working out the plan. Now he, Mack and Natalie were all behind me, getting ready to return to the ballroom to make sure no one had seen or heard anything suspicious. They’d cover for my departure by telling anyone who asked that I was just taking a phone call.But I hoped… I hoped I was going to do far more than that.“Charlie?” I growled when my best friend picked up. “Where is she?”“I just dropped her off at the house. She didn’t want me

    Last Updated : 2023-02-25
  • Hunted by My Alpha   49. Save You 

    ~ RIG ~I pulled my now sobbing sister into my chest and held her while she shook, trying desperately to stifle her cries so no one would hear her. But even as I stroked her hair and held her tightly, my mind spun and fear screamed through me.Was it possible she was right? Had she really uncovered the truth I hadn’t been able to find about our brother’s death?No. There was no way. No way our father would have killed Stephen. He had been our father’s pride and joy! Dad had never stopped bragging about him. I had always been so jealous…But then, as I turned the events of those weeks before Stephen’s death over in my head, the things that had always made me uneasy started to click together…

    Last Updated : 2023-02-26
  • Hunted by My Alpha   50. In the Pit

    ~ RIG ~Kissing Natalie turned my stomach. Everything in my body revolted, shoved at me to throw her aside and back away, but I forced myself to sustain the kiss as long as I could, keeping my face relaxed. At least they’d misinterpret my shaking hands.Around us, cheers and whoops rose for the second time that night, but as I pulled away, Natalie’s eyes wide and following me, I only stared at her.She could feel it in me, I was certain.We’d been close before. We knew each other. She’d know that kiss held nothing but disgust for her.For a moment I saw the sadness shadow her eyes, but then she blinked, and it was as if a switch had been flipped. Her eyes grew heated. She ducked her chin and looked up

    Last Updated : 2023-02-26
  • Hunted by My Alpha   51. Turning Hearts 

    ~ CARA ~Half an hour after barricading myself in my room, I had wiped my eyes and gotten myself together. I didn’t have much time. My father was passed out, but I could hear my mother crying and fussing downstairs. If he didn’t wake soon, she’d cave and start trying to revive him. That meant I had to get out of there.So I took a deep breath and pushed to my feet, pulling my bag up onto the bed and opening it. This might be the last time I stepped foot in this room. I had to make certain I didn’t leave anything important.The truth was, there wasn’t much for me to take. A few books. My old journals. And the quilt my late grandmother had made for me.I didn’t want any of the things that smelled like this place, or reminded me of my yea

    Last Updated : 2023-02-27
  • Hunted by My Alpha   52. Ride It Out

    ~ CARA ~“Cara, thank god. I’m—”His voice on the other end of the phone made something inside me rush and swirl—but right behind that initial euphoria, was a pang so acute, I had to bite my lip. I couldn’t listen to his sudden, hurried assurances—all the lies he wanted me to believe. I interrupted him and kept my voice as toneless as possible.“I don’t want to hear it, Rig.”“But—”“I don’t need an explanation. There isn’t one. I’m not calling to make up with you. I’m… I’m disgusted by you and that… I can’t believe you turned me into a bet!”

    Last Updated : 2023-02-27
  • Hunted by My Alpha   53. Not Now

    ~ CARA ~I had sat on the damp ground in the shadows of the trees on the corner of my neighbor’s house figuring Rig would arrive in his Jeep and I'd see him coming and wave him down as he approached the house.So, when an SUV I didn't recognize rocketed into around the corner and accelerated, I just assumed one of the neighbors was coming home drunk and gripped Purrkins cage harder.But then the car whipped into our driveway and stopped so fast the tires gave a little squeal and the entire vehicle bobbed and jiggled with its momentum. Before I could finish getting to my feet and grabbing my bag, Rig had thrown the car door open and was sprinting for the front door, banging on it and calling my name.“Shit! No! Rig!” I hissed. But he wa

    Last Updated : 2023-02-28
  • Hunted by My Alpha   54. Too Late, Too Late

    ~ CARA ~“The Animal Shelter is on exit forty-three. It’s right off the highway. It’ll take five minutes,” I said, hoping he didn’t hear the hitch in my breath.“Cara, I’m not taking your cat to the Animal Shelter,” he said, shaking his head.“We don’t all have the options you’ve got, Rig,” I muttered, livid that he was making me talk about it in light of everything that had happened. “I can’t take him to the dorm, and I don’t know anyone else who has—”“I’ll take him,” Rig said quickly.I heard Natalie give a little cough in the backseat. Rig’s shoulders tensed, but his jaw was set.

    Last Updated : 2023-02-28
  • Hunted by My Alpha   55. Eff You, Rig

    ~ CARA ~At the curb just outside my dorm, I stood at the back of the SUV, the exhaust from the running car swirling around my knees, staring at Purrkins in the broken down pet carrier. He stared back at me, his body curled low and small, meowing his protest.Rig stood right behind my shoulder because he'd been about to get my bag for me, and I moved so he couldn't reach it.“I don't know what to do,” I blurted.“I told you, Cara, I’ll take him. Just tell me what he needs and I’ll make it happen.”I turned on him then, because it was so unfair that he kept pretending this was just… nothing. “He needs a bed, and food, and water, a litter-box, toys, flea-treatments an

    Last Updated : 2023-03-01

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

DMCA.com Protection Status