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Chapter 22
Last Updated:
2024-10-14 23:52:20
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In Service of the Alpha Chapter 23
MaraDespite sleeping most of the day and half the night away, I have no trouble falling asleep. I only wake when a bell rings through the house. I found out yesterday that there are two different bells - one to wake the house, and one to summon everyone for breakfast.The waking bell is loud, shrieking like a fire alarm, and it's impossible to miss. I grunt and rub my hands over my face. My eyes feel swollen and my head fuzzy. I glance at the clock on my nightstand. It’s six. I vaguely hope that Johnathan relaxes the early waking hour over weekends. I can't imagine waking this early every single day.I stumble to the bathroom and go through my usual morning routine. Twenty minutes later, I am standing in front of my wardrobe, surveying the clothes I bought. Most of the items have long sleeves, but I did buy a few sundresses - mostly to please Rhoda, but now I’m glad that I listened to her.The light green dress brings out the colour of my eyes and only shows the vivd bruises on my a
Last Updated : 2024-10-15In Service of the Alpha Chapter 24
Johnathan The car ride into town is quiet. The air between us thick and heavy. Gregory is sulking in the back seat, his bottom lip quivering, but he’s trying his best to be brave. Mara’s quiet presence helps. She’s good with him, and he takes the things she says to heart. I’ve never seen him pay that much attention to anyone. I don’t know how Mara does it, but she’s not doing it on purpose, she just seems to have a way about her that makes Gregory stop and think. I’d get jealous of her ability to have an impact on my son, but right now I am just quietly grateful that someone managed to get through to him. She stays with Gregory while I talk to Joshua, the school master. I watch them through the window that overlooks the long hallway. She's sitting on the bench with Greg on her lap, whispering something to my son. He looks just like me when he gets anxious. His little jaw is set and his lips pulled in a grimace. “Don’t worry, Alpha,” Joshua says when I’m done explaining the si
Last Updated : 2024-10-16In Service of the Alpha Chapter 25
JohnathanThe rest of the week passes smoothly. I can’t bring myself to tell Mara about that night I fled my pack, and she doesn’t ask any questions about it. I can't put it off forever, but I keep finding excuses not to do it.Within days, Mara settled into my routines, and upon my request joins me for meetings and discussions with the town's leaders. Despite Joshua’s job offer, I still want her to learn pack business and politics. When the time is right, she can decide for herself where she wants to be. Here with me, running the pack, or at the school, wrestling with the pups.Most of the day, she aimlessly wanders around the house, or I can find her in the garden, puttering around in the dirt. She found a little patch of land and asked me if she could plant some seeds.I agreed, although I have no idea what she planted. She’s happy out there by herself, and growing more confident by the day. She doesn’t care who sees her bruises anymore, although they have now faded to the point w
Last Updated : 2024-10-17In Service of the Alpha Chapter 26
Johnathan“Douglas,” I start, then realise I don’t know what to say next. It’s not as if he can exert any influence over his Alpha. There is one thing I want to know though. It's been nagging me for a few days now. “Why are you still at Red Ridge?”"Kyson only agreed to dissolve Mara's marriage if I promised to stay here," Douglas says."So that's why you won't leave?""Not exactly, no."“Are you looking for a new pack?” I ask on a whim. "A way out? I can help you."“You don’t seem to understand,” Douglas says. “If I leave... they are coming for me. They will kill my daughter. She’s all I have. She’s the only thing in this world that I love.”“You have a funny way of showing it. Marrying her off to that rabid maniac.”“Kyson made the match. I didn’t know that Lucas…he seemed like a good kid. I did what I thought was best for Mara.”“Good job,” I say dryly.“Yes. By the time I realised I made a mistake, it was too late.”I actually feel sorry for Douglas. I don't want to, but I understa
Last Updated : 2024-10-18In Service of the Alpha Chapter 27
MaraAs I shower and get ready for supper, I realise that this will be my first weekend at Haven’s Crest. I’ve been here since Monday afternoon, and the week flew by in a blink and blur of activity.It amazes me how quickly I settled in and how comfortable I am. So much so that I plan to ask Johnathan if I can go into town tomorrow. I want to treat Rhoda to lunch. I haven’t seen her since they brought me here, and I want to thank her for all her help.There’s still a little money left on the card Johnathan gave me, and while I'm in town, I want to buy a swimsuit. The Alpha was right, I regretted not having one. I watched the father and son sliding down the smooth rocks, splashing into the deep, cold pools below, and I wished I could join them. Johnathan already saw my scars, and I think Gregory will just accept them the same way he accepted my bruises.I think I'll be okay if it's just the three of us.I saw a different side of Johnathan today. A playful, fun side. I saw a man who kn
Last Updated : 2024-10-19In Service of the Alpha Chapter 28
MaraI sit on the edge of the pool, dangling my legs in the cool water. It's another warm night, and the urge to simply slide into the water is powerful.The wind is blowing from the direction of the town, carrying with it the sound of laughing humans and a cacophony of different kinds of music. The air smells like barbeque fires, alcohol, and suntan lotion.The town is alive tonight.It sounds, smells, and feels like the summers at Red Ridge when I was a little girl. Before life came around with a series of blows that almost robbed me of the will to live.“Oh God, what a day,” Johnathan says from the patio doors and walks out onto the deck. “Did you tell Preston he had to beat Ally?”I nearly dislocate my neck when I whip my head around to look at Johnathan. “What?” I ask, alarmed by his question. “No! I would never do something like that.”“According to Ally, you did.”“I told her that I was spoiled too, until Lucas beat it out of me.” I pull my legs out of the pool and shake the wa
Last Updated : 2024-10-20In Service of the Alpha Chapter 29
JohnathanThe panic that rises up in Mara is palpable. Not that I blame the girl. I don’t feel much better about the whole mate issue and rushed mating ritual. We have another two weeks until the next full moon, and I did plan to ease Mara into it. If it weren’t for Douglas’s plea to mark his daughter still ringing loudly in my ears, I would have told the whole lot of them to go to hell.This is not the right way to do it. Mara is still terrified of me. There are moments, glimpses, when she lets her guard down and shows me her true strength. And then there are nights like tonight, when I snap at her and instead of fighting back, she pulls back into herself, shutting me out."Answer the girl," Felicity urges me. "Does she have to be marked tonight?"“Yes,” I finally say, wondering how much of my conversation with Mara's father I have to relay to her. “Your, uh, your father also requested that we do it as soon as possible.”“My- my dad?”“Yes.”“Why?”I look at Felicity who is regarding
Last Updated : 2024-10-20In Service of the Alpha Chapter 30
JohnathanFelicity returns just as the curfew alarm jangles in the town.Tourists are told that the curfew is for their own safety. We put notices up in all the bars, pleasure houses, clubs, hotels, and the mountain resort. The official excuse is that the town attracts wild animals, and we don’t have enough rangers to patrol the town.No one ever questions why said wild animals don’t enter the town during the day. The promise of stiff fines and the possibility of being eviscerated by wolves and bears is enough to keep them in check.Sometimes, fear, or the threat of danger alone, is enough to keep humans compliant. “So?” I ask the vampire.“She’s still alive,” Felicity says. “I couldn’t get close enough…the witch put up some kind of barrier.”“What?” I snap and jump to my feet. “How is the spell-”“It is a powerful spell. A dangerous one. You knew that. Sit down and relax.”As if it’s that easy. My mate is out there. Alone and in peril. The desire to protect her is all-consuming, and
Last Updated : 2024-10-20
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In Service of the Alpha Chapter 133
JohnathanI stumble up to my bedroom, completely oblivious to the world around me. My head is spinning, my mind trying to work out my next steps as fast as my alcohol-addled brain will allow. The vampires can’t cross into Oberon’s realm, I know that much. My son will be safe, at least. I don’t have such high hopes for myself. I will die. Probably soon. But I'll take some of those bastards with me.Tomorrow, as soon as the sun comes up, I’ll take Mara to Oberon too. She can live with Gregory. Safe. Happy. With her child by her side. They will miss me at first, but then that, too, will fade. Mara can take another mate, have more children, be happy.My heart clenches at the thought of my mate finding someone else, but I ignore it. I won't deny her love. I can't do that to her.Rhoda comes out of my bedroom as I approach. “King?” she asks, her voice faltering when she looks at me. “Uh- the Queen- we were just- are you alright, King?”“Don’t call me that,” I growl and push past her, slamm
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 132
Johnathan“Johnathan?” Kahn asks softly. Oh God no. I can’t. I’m too tired for this shit. “What?” I ask without lifting my head off the desk.My Betas have long since left to get some rest. I didn't even bother to get up. I've been sat here all night, trying my best to get wasted, steadily working my way through the second bottle of whiskey.“Are you drunk?”“Trying my best to get there,” I answer with a soft, sarcastic little chuckle. I finally manage to lift my head and look at the vampire. “Do you ever sleep?”He shakes his head. “A few hours in the middle of the day, but mostly no. It's a curse.”I slowly blink at him, trying to focus on the fussy figure in front of my desk. “Why are you here?”Kahn looks over his shoulder at my open door, he closes it, and rushes to my side. He bites into his wrist, holding the bleeding appendage to my lips. “It’s against the rules, but… drink some of my blood. It will sober you up.”I laugh at the mere thought of his suggestion. I push his arm
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 131
JohnathanMara sits by the window, staring out at the rain. She’s quiet - scarily so. The last time she got this quiet, I lost her for a while. “Don’t do that,” I remind her. “Don’t shut down like you did last time.”She doesn’t look at me, just wipe at the tears that keep streaming down her face. She's is exhausted, heartbroken. Her ability to see connections also made her feel the mutations' pain. My mate is very close to reaching her breaking point.It worries me that she’s not talking, but at least she didn’t put her walls back up. She’s allowing me to feel it all, and it’s devastating. We found three more of those creatures before nightfall. Mara killed two, Oberon killed the third one. We dragged the slimy brain corpse thing in under a ledge, and set it on fire. It was revolting.Our method wasn’t as effective as Mara’s magic, we couldn't seem to burn the whole thing, but she wasn't able to release another one. By that point she had already reached her limits - emotionally, phy
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 130
MaraMy heart fills with pity for the poor human who gave his life for the humans' misguided cause. I am not even sure he volunteered. He probably didn’t even know what he came up here to do.I can feel him. All his emotions. He's so very scared.Although, I am still wondering how the fuck he made it up here. Even Johnathan couldn’t do it, and if Oberon and Kahn are to believe, Johnathan can climb up trees and mountains like a cat.I kneel next to the human, and hover my hand over him, trying to find the energy he’s emanating, but it’s something new and foreign. It’s partly supernatural, but it has all been manipulated by human hands. “What do we do with it?” Kalypso asks. “Do we kill it or…” she shrugs, letting her words hang in the air.“I think we should attempt to disable it, and bring it with us. Study it,” Johnathan throws his two cents in the hat. “We do have scientists in town. Maybe we can find out what kind of… thing it is. What makes it tick. We can… dissect it, I suppose.
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 129
MaraThe trek to the foot of the mountain is relatively easy, if a bit difficult due to the rain. The neat footpaths have turned into little rivers that stream past our feet, dragging mud, leaves, and other mountain debris with it.The paths are as slippery as snot, and we fall down often, landing face or butt first in a mud pie or a puddle of water. Everytime it happens, we laugh until we can’t breathe. It’s not funny, considering where we’re going, but the laughter helps to ease our growing tension.The closer we get to the mountain though, the more I expect Johnathan to call off our search and retrieve mission, but it looks like he’s actually having fun. And as a result, so am I. It's a stark reminder of how much our respective moods wrap off on one another.I burn with guilt when I remember how I behaved. How hard it must have been for him to pretend nothing was wrong, while he basically had to walk on eggshells around me.Never, ever again, will I do that to him if I can help it.
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 128
JohnathanI’m not even sure where to start. The humans never breached our magical defences, but it’s possible that one managed to sneak by. The one carrying the weapon perhaps.There is no way to communicate with the gods. Not that they’re very talkative on their best days, but at least I knew I could ask for help, and more often than not, they'd answer. Not in words, but they'd show me the way - like Father Patrick's God supposedly shows him the way.Now I have nowhere to turn. The gods can't hear me, can't help us. We are well and truly on our own.I glance at Mara who is snug in her raincoat. She did not gripe or refuse to come outside with me, but she insisted on wearing a raincoat and galoshes. “I prefer snow,” she said as we got ready to head outside. “It’s cold, but at least it’s solid.”“What happens to the snow when it starts to melt?”“Mud.” She held up one of the galoshes. “That’s why we had these.”I laughed and swung her around into a hug. “You have an answer for everyth
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 127
JohnathanI get up and walk over to the door where I know Preston is waiting for me. One look at him, and I know he heard the entire conversation. His eyes are dark, filled with rage. It's not so much just because Pia is a shit mother, but because all of us suffered a wolf like her at one point or another. The callous disregard for her daughters hits home for all of us. “Please escort Pia back to the hotel. She will be stripped of her rank. She is to receive no special treatment. No Omega will serve her. She will serve the warrior Lunae instead.”“Yes, King,” Preston says.“Move her to a servant room on the ground floor. I want a guard on her twenty-four-seven, and her windows are to be barred with silver so she can’t escape.”My Beta nods. He doesn’t approve of my light sentence. Just like Oberon, he'd rather see Pia dead. Death is a release, not a punishment, and unless I can help it, I prefer not to give people such an easy out. Despite everything Pia had done, despite the pain
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 126
MaraThe people file from the library, including the vampires and Johnathan’s two advisors. “Come here, Pia,” Johnathan orders.My mother folds her arms under her breasts and gives Johnathan a defiant look. “I don’t take orders from men.”My mate slams the sturdy table so hard that it cracks down the middle. “You will do as you are told. Get over here. Now.” His tone is hard. Final.It sends a shockwave of pure delight down my spine. A few months ago, this version of Johnathan would have scared me. I would have hidden from him. Only now do I realise that he made himself softer on purpose, all so I’d learn that there’s no need to fear him.He talks about the blessing I am to him all the time, but I don’t think I’ve ever told him how much he means to me. What a blessing he has been for me. He took all my broken pieces, and patiently, lovingly, glued them back together with gold.I have been selfish, hiding in the folds of his love, using that same love as my shield, while he had to carr
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 125
MaraI sit quietly next to Rose who is regarding the proceedings with lively eyes. Pia is here, but Johnathan made her sit in the corner like a naughty child. I look at her, searching for the love I used to have, but it's all gone. The warm spot my mother used to occupy is now cold and dead./Kalypso, Oberon, Ilse, two women I’ve never seen before, Kahn, Preston and Donovan are all here, gathered around a round table in the library. It was the only place we could prepare on such short notice.Jonathan goes around the table and introduces everyone. He points to the first stranger sitting next to Kalypso, “Cora, leader of the changelings,” he says, and next to her, “Aurora, high priestess of the witch coven.”Cora shakes her head. Her long, blonde hair rattles and she changes into a little girl no older than five. She giggles and changes back. Changelings give me the heebie-jeebies. It’s said their true appearance is quite terrifying, but apparently their men find them irresistible an
