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Chapter 9
Huling Na-update:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Kaugnay na kabanata
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 10
MaraI can’t sleep. I am exhausted, but no matter how hard I try, I can't fall asleep.So, I just lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling, listening to the night sounds. It’s different here. Noisier somehow, but at the same time more peaceful. The evening air is alive with the soft woosh of the wind rustling through the trees, the far-away hoot of an owl, crickets chirping in the garden, frogs croaking in the distance.I wish my wolf senses were still as keen as they used to be. I bet I’d be able to hear a perfect symphony if Aria was awake. Even the bizarre interaction with the vampire, and the shock of hearing how much Johnathan paid for me, can’t rob me of my peace tonight. Maybe that's why I can't sleep. It's too peaceful. I'm not used to it.It’s strange. I haven’t felt anything like it in a long while, and I can’t remember the last time I was at perfect peace like this. Maybe before my mother died? But I was so little when she passed on that it’s almost impossible to remember
Huling Na-update : 2024-10-29In Service of the Alpha Chapter 11
Mara“The humans are coming for us, Mara,” Johnathan says. “They want to eradicate us. We have to be ready.”I look at the Alpha with new eyes. He sounds a little unhinged. Downright paranoid. But he believes it. I can see it in his eyes. I don't. The world is a big place, and I’ve never seen the humans working together to achieve anything. They hate each other as much as we seem to hate each other, and they're always at war with one another. “Are you going to say something?” Johnathan asks sarcastically. “Or did you swallow your tongue again?”That stings a little. Can he not see that I'm trying my best? “I mean...I don’t know what you want me to say. I don’t think humans are capable of wiping all of us out.”“You should speak to Susarah,” he says. “Find out what happened to the wolves where she lived.”“That’s one place. Red Ridge is safe.”“Red Ridge belongs to your father. Like Haven’s Crest belongs to me.”I press my lips together, afraid that I'll say something stupid. During
Huling Na-update : 2024-10-29In Service of the Alpha Chapter 12
JohnathanPreston enters my office for our regular meeting at exactly nine a.m. He lives on the compound in a cabin, but not in the main house with me. The place is big and there’s more than enough space, but unlike most pack wolves, we both like our privacy.Rogues are just built different.“Where’s Mara?” he asks as he closes the door behind him.“Out by the pool. I think she’s napping,” I answer.Before I phone Douglas and give him the ear washing he deserves, I want to get my daily meeting with Preston behind me.“Napping?” Preston asks surprised. “Shouldn’t she be attending the meeting? Isnt' that her job?”“She didn’t sleep last night.”A smile plays around my Beta’s lips. “Are you bending the rules, Johnathan Banks?”“Just this once.” I didn’t sleep much either, but I’m used to it. Mara looked like she was ready to collapse when she came down for breakfast. “Johnathan Banks, changing the Bankonian calendar for a she-wolf.”I growl a soft warning at my Beta before I pull the v
Huling Na-update : 2024-10-29In Service of the Alpha Chapter 13
JohnathanMara isn’t at the pool. I follow her scent to a shrub on the edge of my property. There’s a low fence to stop anyone from falling over the cliff, and she managed to roll up against it where she fell asleep in the shade.Thank fuck I had the forethought to put that fence up when Greg started walking, or she’d be at the bottom of that cliff now. I kneel next to her and take in her appearance. She’s healing slower than most human I know. The last bruises Lucas left on her skin are still dark blue and purple. If anything, the bruises have gotten much worse today than it they were yesterday. There’s a particularly bad one on her forehead, and greenish-blue one on her jaw.She's just bruises on top of bruises. I can’t even begin to imagine what her body must look like. She keeps hiding herself, even in the stifling heat, by wearing long sleeves. Last night, she pulled the sheet all the way up to her neck so I couldn't see her arms and legs.Today, she’s dressed in a hoodie and je
Huling Na-update : 2024-10-29In Service of the Alpha Chapter 14
MaraI come to as Johnathan lays me down on the bed and disappears into the bathroom. A few seconds later, I hear the splash of water as he opens the taps and starts to fill up the tub.He comes striding back into my room, wiping his wet hands on his tan coloured shorts. His jaw is set, dark eyes already flashing a warning. “Take that fucking thing off,” he says.I have nothing on underneath the hoodie except for my bra. I thought if I added another layer it would be too much to handle in this heat. Now I know why everyone here dresses in shorts and t-shirts or the skimpy dresses. It's so hot here that I expect to see fried birds falling from the sky."Mara," he says in a low, dangerous tone. "Take that ridiculous hoodie off right now."I don’t want Johnathan to see me in the my underwear. I don't want anyone to see me naked for that matter.Wolves aren’t usually bashful about nudity. We’re used to shifting in packs and getting naked in front of each other, but it’s been so long sinc
Huling Na-update : 2024-10-29In Service of the Alpha Chapter 15
Mara“I feel fine,” I say.I don’t really. The buzzing inside my skull is getting worse, the world blinks in and out of existence, and for whatever reason, I’m terrified.The fear is the worst of it. I’ve never been so scared in my life. It’s as if the grim reaper is standing next to me, squeezing my heart.And I can’t breathe.I sag to the floor, still keeping my breasts covered. Johnathan kneels in front of me and almost roughly forces my hand away from my chest. “Stop fighting me,” he orders. Still frowning, he places two fingers on my pulse. “Your heartbeat is weak,” he says. “I can barely feel it.”This has happened to me before. The first time, Lucas sent for a healer, the second time he told me to stop being so fucking dramatic. “My blood pressure,” I say through little gasps of air. "Sometimes it drops."“What blood pressure?" Johnathan asks with a smirk. "It’s not there.”I’m vaguely aware of the Alpha turning his head in the direction of the door and calling out, “We’re in
Huling Na-update : 2024-10-29In Service of the Alpha Chapter 16
JohnathanI have seen some gruesome shit in my day, but nothing shocked me as much as seeing the many healed and healing scars that criss-crossed Mara’s back.Two years. He did all of that in just two years. Beating her must have been a daily ritual. Something he did to pass the time or amuse himself.I’ve seen worse than that on other wolves, but seeing Mara’s injuries angers me more, and I want to rip Lucas’s intestines out through his mouth.It explains a lot. As I walk to Gregory’s room, I quietly curse myself for being so irritated with Mara and impatient with her for being so meek. I didn’t know the extent of her mistreatment. I did not think it was possible for a little Omega to take that much abuse and live to talk about it.It says something about her will to live. Her true strength.Greg comes sailing around the corner, holding a toy plane in the air and making whooshing noises. “Daddy!” he screams and leaps into my arms.“Hey, big fella,” I say and ruffle his hair. “Did yo
Huling Na-update : 2024-10-29In Service of the Alpha Chapter 17
JohnathanI spend the rest of the day sitting outside Greg’s room, listening to him as he throws an epic tantrum. It hurts my heart, but I force myself to stay where I am. Giving it to him will send the wrong message.I can hear the crashing of toys and furniture, but I don’t go in until he quiets down. I find his room in ruins. Broken toys and furniture strewn all over the place. My exhausted boy is lying of the mess where he cleared a little space for himself, fast asleep.He pulled all the linens off his bed, and shoved the heavy mattress almost halfway off the frame. I rearrange his bed, pick him up and gently lay him down, making sure that the aircon is blowing directly on him.He’s covered in sweat, and his cheeks are bright red.People sometimes think Alpha boys are just regular children. They’re not. They’re stronger than children twice their age, smarter than most adults, and stubborn as all get out. They can take a punch that will knock a grown human male flat on his ass.We
Huling Na-update : 2024-10-29
Pinakabagong kabanata
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 75
JohnathanI’m actually impressed by my own level of control and patience with Mara. There’s a reason why I never chose to sleep with virgins, or inexperienced women in general, in the past. They require too much patience - a quality I mostly lack when it comes to sex.But Mara is my mate. She’s special. She’s not just another cum receptacle or a temporary body to warm my bed or company to keep my loneliness at bay.She is my mate. And the memory of her previous mate is still too fresh in her mind. I have to keep reminding myself to be gentle. To be patient.I thought it would annoy me, it usually does, but it’s the opposite. Slowing down, forcing me to concentrate on her and what she needs, grounds me, connects me to her.I settle between her legs and look up at her flushed face. Even though I’ve known it for a few weeks now, even though I marked her, her presence, her very existence, still feels fantastical and impossible.Yet here she is. Lying under me. Beautiful and vulnerable, tr
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 74
MaraI stare into my mate's onyx eyes. He opened himself to me. Showed me a vulnerable side no one ever gets to see. He trusted me enough to reveal that part of himself, and it had to take a lot of courage for him to let his guard down like that.The least I can do, is give him that same kind of trust.His hands linger on my waist, not pushing, not pulling, just waiting. “Can you tell me what you want?” he asks after a while.I want to do that so badly, but I can’t. I don’t know how. No one ever cared enough to ask me, so I never learned.He cocks his head at me and smiles. It’s like he knows that I can’t say the words. This must be so frustrating for him. Having a sexually anorexic mate who swallows her tongue when he needs her to open her fucking mouth and speak.But he doesn’t seem to mind.“Can I show you then?” he asks, his voice low and soothing. "Tell you what to do?"Numb and mute, I can only nod.His thumbs trace slow circles around my hips, grounding me in the moment, lettin
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 73
MaraThe door closes with a soft click that sounds louder than it actually is. I’m a bundle of nerves and excitement, filled with conflicting, swirling emotions I’ve never felt and don’t know what to do with. For a moment, the only sound is my breathing - too shallow, too fast. Johnathan doesn’t speak. He just watches me from his side of the room, his dark eyes steady, waiting.He’s always like that with me, always so patient. I don’t know how he does it, and I expect him to explode at any moment, to go back on his promise and take what’s his anyway. Back at Luna school, they always told us that Alphas have ferocious appetites, and we have to prepare ourselves for it. I don’t know if Johnathan’s just different, broken, or has exceptional self-control. He’s not like any Alpha I’ve ever met, read about, or heard about.His quiet patience and understanding is unnerving. It makes me want to scream and cry and, but it almost makes me want to lean into him, give myself over to him in ever
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 72
MaraBy the time Johnathan comes upstairs to tuck Gregory in, I’m seething with rage. I didn’t expect to form a friendship with Rose right away, but I didn’t think she’d ask me to share my mate with her. I’m eternally grateful that I didn’t grow up with the Lunae, and for the life of me I don’t know why my mother went back to that place when she had other options. My father gave her money. She could have gone anywhere, and she went back to live with monsters.For Gregory’s sake, I pretend nothing’s wrong when my mate finally shows up. While we waited for him, I gave Gregory a bath and read him a story. We’re now sitting on the floor, playing with his dinosaurs.Johnathan doesn’t say a word about Rose when he joins us. “Are you okay, buddy?” he asks when he sits next to me. “You seemed upset when you left the table.”“I don’t like the new giwl. Mawa says it’s hew sistuh, and she's going to stay hewe now.”“Yeah maybe.” Johnathan crosses his legs under him and pats his knee. “Come sit h
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 71
JohnathanDinner passes rather tensely. Mara keeps shooting me dirty looks, as if she’s just waiting for me to say something in Rose's defence. I decide to keep my mouth shut. The vision is still too fresh in her mind, and we have the uncanny way of self-fulfilling prophecies if we’re not careful.The Rose thing is going to come back to bite me in the ass. I should have sent her back home, but my conscience wouldn’t allow it. She’s a child, brainwashed by a cult into believing that she has to start breeding for the good of her tribe.The Lunae must be desperate if they’re sending their children out to have babies. Their pack was decimated - they probably want to repopulate as fast and as soon as possible.Rose came home with me, but I’m not her Alpha. She did not swear loyalty to me. I'm under no obligation to protect her, and she will never accept my authority over her.Yet, I want to protect her - even against herself if need be - just like I want to take care of every lost child. M
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 70
JohnathanI get up and massage the soft spot below my thumb. Mara’s vision lasted a long time, but I did not expect it to be so detailed. I’ve seen seers go into trances for hours, only to come out of it and give me a useless little vision that couldn't have lasted more than five minutes. Half the time, the biggest challenge for a seer is to come out of the trance.“You did well for your first time,” I say and return to my desk to get my notebook. I tried to write everything down exactly as she told it. I want to keep a record of her visions so I can remind myself from time to time. I used to record seers’ accounts on my cellphone, but I have a tendency to lose my phones. I lock the notebook in the top drawer of my desk, then return to the thick file Douglas sent. I hold the file up for Mara to see. “From your father. Money.”“What?” Mara asks. “The humans didn’t just take it?”“No. Your father was clever. He hid his tracks well. On paper, every penny belongs to a human.”“What human
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 69
MaraI stop talking. I’ve reached the difficult part. The part where Johnathan dies. I don’t want to talk about it, much less think about it.But the image is there, forever etched into my brain like a brand.“Mara?” Johnathan asks and looks up from his notebook. “Is that it? Are you done?”I shake my head. “Remember? I told you… I told you that I saw you dead.”He nods and picks up his wine glass. He doesn’t look nearly as worried or afraid as he should be. “We can stop for now. Pick it up tomorrow.”I hesitate, gripping the stem of my wine glass like it’s a live preserver. The premonition plays itself out in my head again, vivid and unbearable, but I force myself to forge ahead. "No. I want to get this over and done with.""Okay," my mate agrees. "Go ahead."“After Rick took me-” I clear my throat in an attempt to get rid of the frog that caught there -“he took me into the mansion. To my father. They had him locked up in the wine cellar.” I let out a mirthless little laugh. “You sa
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 68
MaraWhile I spoke, Johnathan wrote everything down. There’s a small frown between his eyes as he reads back. “What did Rose do?”I shrug. “I don’t know.”“But you told Kahn things with her didn’t work out.”“Yes, but I don’t know what she did. I suppose it still has to happen.”He puffs his cheeks up and slowly blows the air out of his lungs. “Fucking premonitions. I now kind of want to kick her out, but I don’t have a reason.”“That’s what you’re worried about?”“Yeah. We can stop Donovan. Now that we know she’s coming, I can go get Haley before she comes here, make sure she’s safe.” He keeps reading, the frown between his eyes deepening. “This doesn't make sense to me... I'm not the kind who'll just discard a pregnant she-wolf like that.”I shrug. “I guess a lot of shit’s gonna happen between now and then.”He nods and pours a glass of the spiced wine for himself. “Can- can the future be changed?” I ask.“Yes, that’s the whole reason the Goddess sends premonitions, so we can alter
In Service of the Alpha Chapter 67
** TRIGGER WARNING: Infant death. **MaraSix months after Donovan joined Haven’s Crest, Haley showed up here alone. I saw her when she entered town, coming over the mountains. She was haggard, her clothes torn, and clearly starving. She was at the end of her pregnancy and could barely walk.I was surprised that she hadn’t given birth yet.My first instinct was to attack her. She had taken my mate. Caused my banishment. But then I saw it for what it really was. My pride. She wasn’t a danger to me. If anything, the tables had turned, and I was now a threat to her. She did me a favour, really, and the least I could do in return was to make sure she was okay.I had forgotten all about the threat Donovan made all those months ago. He had become a part of Haven’s Crest, and Johnathan paired him with a new Alpha called Luther. They were always off in the forests somewhere, training with their new squad. Johnathan wasn’t with me when Haley showed up. Like everyone else, he was preparing for
