ALPHA HARLEY
Damn it. Damn all this to hell! Why her? Why out of all the people it had to be her? There is no way that woman is my mate. It was just simply not possible. But then again… Thinking back to that night, that one night that for the first time in my life I felt… emotion… She was the one there. It was only her. Up to now, I still find myself sometimes wondering what it is exactly that tugged at my heart or my feelings when I stood there, staring at her intently. And even when I used to see her around, I always sensed something odd around her which is why I hated being near her. Any time we were in the same room, all I wanted to do was to be away from her. It turns out it was because I couldn’t face the truth that maybe, just maybe, she was more than just a nobody to me. She was more than that godforsaken nickname everybody in the Pack knew her as and I know damn well that I can’t be with anyone else but her. I know damn well that I will do everything in my power, everything and anything, just to have her in my arms, in my hold, and ready to be marked. Because she is no longer just No One to me… As a matter of fact, she is the one woman I can’t fucking live without. She is mine… At least once those two other fuckers get out of my way so I can finally claim her. If they think that they can win my Alessandra and take her away from me, they must be damn near mental because I’ll fight to death before that could happen. Trust me, she’s going home with me and only me. ALPHA GAVIN I never believed in mates. The day my father abandoned my mother and I to fend for ourselves, I lost all admiration and respect I had for the so-called “miracle” of being our kind. Everybody praised it, said it’s the best thing that someone like us could ever have. A once in a lifetime kind of feeling that you could never break apart from. Well I say bull-fucking-shit. I watched as my mother cried herself to sleep every single day and night and almost went lifeless from drinking herself to numbness. Do you know how much it would take for a body like ours to take in the effects of alcohol? A fucking lot. From that day forward, I swore to myself that mates were nothing but a form of torture disguised as something beautiful. I swore to myself that I would never, under any circumstances, let myself be blinded by it or anyone that claimed to be my mate. But then she came, her scent being the first thing that caught me off guard, and then when she looked at me, fucking hell, it was like all my walls came crashing down and all I wanted to do was to hold her and never let her go. Fuck! It wasn’t supposed to be like this! I’m trying my best to not let her sway me, but every time she’s away, I can’t stop thinking about her. I need her close to me. I need to feel her touch and take in her scent. I… I need… her. And those two other assholes who think they can have her? Who can have my mate?! Hell will freeze over before I let that happen. ALPHA LUCA All my life I’ve known nothing but structure. Everything had to be organized, nothing left out to chance. Every single detail, from the moment I wake up, until the very second my eyes close to sleep, it was calculated. It was the life I have lived for as long as I can remember, as someone who was born and raised into one of the most influential noble families in Italy. So when I can let loose, can feed the hunger of chaos that often grows as each day passes, there’s no way that I let that opportunity pass. They call me many names — a player, a fuckboy, a no good man but definitely good in bed. Frankly, I really couldn’t care less. The women, and some men, keep coming either way. I use it to escape the rules that I’ve been binded to. I use it to feel just a little bit of freedom even if it only lasts for one night… or whatever time of the day it is. I guess I was so caught up in drowning myself with other people that I forgot that somewhere out there, the Moon Goddess had given me just one person I was truly meant to be with. I quickly realized that too much time has been wasted without her already so I’m making sure that every single second I spend with her, she knows that she’s all that matters to me. I no longer care about the other women or anybody else. Not that I cared much even before, but this is different. None of them are my mate, Alessandra is. Now if only I could figure out how to get her attention. It’s hard enough that I’ve gotten so used to others just fawning over me with barely any effort, but now I have two other guys to compete against for her to even look at me? None of us know why she has three mates, but what I do know is that I’m going to need to step my fucking game up if I plan to be her one and only mate by the end of all this. None of us will know until we try, so I guess… Let the fun begin.Do you ever wonder where you took a wrong turn? Where your life became the exact opposite of what you always wanted it to be? My name is Alessandra Noone, and five years ago… My parents were killed right in front of me. That was also the day my life became a living hell. — “Alessandra! Alessandra! Get up!” The desperate shouts came out of nowhere, and I wondered if I could just be having a terrible nightmare. All of a sudden, my body starts to get shaken and this abruptly wakes me. I turned around and opened my eyes to see a frantic expression on my mother’s face. I had never seen her look so terrified, like she had just learned about something horrifying. “Wh— what time is it? What’s going on, mom?” I asked her as I rubbed my eyes open. “There is no time to explain, my love. I just need you to get up, change into outdoor clothes, and get just one valuable item. We have to leave. Now!” My mother’s grip tightened on my arm when she said that last word. There was someth
“Stop! Please!” My pleading is instantly lost in the bathroom as laughter fills every corner instead. At nine in the morning, even before classes could start, I was already being subjected to whatever tortures some of my Pack members deemed entertaining for them as of this moment. Right now it was being drenched in almost boiling water. “Wait, did you guys hear something?” Victorina spoke, her face contorting into a fake confused expression as she looked around her peers. “What? I don’t hear anything but mouse squeaks.” Blythe answered with a grin, followed by the others bursting into laughter. “Yeah, you’re right. That was just a dirty stupid mouse. Next bucket!” Victorina ordered and not a second later, Marc, who was standing atop a chair behind the toilet cubicle poured more hot water on me. I squealed in pain and shock, every nerve in my body struggling to keep it together as the hotness seeped into my skin. This was hell, and I’ve been living in it for what felt like an
“Get up,” he said merely two words yet my entire body shook in even more fear. Oh, Goddess, please help me. This is it, isn’t it? My life is over before it could even begin. I’ve heard countless stories and rumors that have yet to be confirmed true, but I’m sure they wouldn’t be too far off. It was always Alpha Harley this, and Alpha Harley that around here. He was cold-blooded, ruthless to the point of no absolutely no mercy. If you so much as blink the wrong way at him, he’d have your throat slit in seconds. I never understood why Victorina and the other girls admired him, almost as if they would die for him. I guess it was because he is the Alpha and he has that sort of powerful aura around him. Or maybe it was his dark hair and slightly tanned skin, or the eyes that were the color of glacial water – clear blue with some hints of silver under the light, that made him look so… close to dangerous perfection. Either way, none of that mattered to me because every time I loo
Time passed by a little too quickly as it always does in school. Surprisingly, I sometimes wished it would go slower because here, I felt more at peace than at the Turners. In here, I was invisible. I was just like any other kid, nothing of note or importance, and I planned to keep it that way. The less people knew about me, the better. “Are you sure you can’t come with me to the grocery store? Pretty please with sprinkles on top?” Milla cupped my hands as she gave me pouty eyes and so did her little brother and the three kids next to her. I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but I really need the extra credits so I have to stay at the library for an hour or two. I’ll meet you back at the house as soon as I can.” Milla crossed her arms. “Hmph, extra credits, my butt. As if you need any more, you’re literally a straight A student!” “Hey, what can I say? The A’s just can’t get enough of me.” I jokingly bragged. “So you guys need to study hard too if you want to be as cool as me.” I
I stared at the screen, blinking at it a few times until I finally came back to my senses. It was only when I looked at the date that I realized… It was my birthday. My eighteenth, to be exact. Milla and the little kids were the only ones that cared about this day, so it made sense that they already had something planned for me. None of us could have predicted the heartbreak that would happen instead. I debated on doing it, getting up and checking said box, and after time passed, I don’t know how long, I finally did move. I’m sure it’s what she would have wanted for me. Heck, I could almost hear her nagging at the back of my head for me to move my ass already. As bittersweet as this whole thing was, I knew in my heart what I had to do. With my hands still trembling, I got the box and sat back down to open it. There were three envelopes – a small one that was filled with stickers, making it obvious that it was a letter from the kids, a very pink and yellow one, obviously
“Sister Alessi, where going? You leave us? But why? Where is sister Milla? Mikel?” The confused questions and heartbroken expressions from the little kids I was leaving broke my heart as I rode the bus to Lakewood, where I was indefinitely going to be staying from here on out. If I had just more power and more money, I wouldn’t have hesitated to take them with me, but unfortunately, those were two things I was far from having, which is why I had to do exactly this. As much as it hurt, I chose to leave them in order for me to make something better out of myself and in turn, hopefully in the near future, I could give them a better life, too. On the brighter side of things, leaving the Turners’ house for good was easier than I thought. I guess it makes sense that they no longer really had to care about me the second I turned eighteen. By law, I was an adult now, so after I dried my tears and had my plan set that morning, I faced Mr. and Mrs. Turner and the very first words tha
Naya wasn’t kidding when she basically said that we were different, and the other kids around here were absolutely not like us. It was like we came from a whole different world compared to them. Basically, it was their world, not ours. It hadn’t even been more than five minutes since I stepped out of the ladies’ dormitory and a few minutes away from the campus, expensive-looking cars and designer everything scattered the place like I had been transported to a show called ‘Rich, Richer, and Richest’ where you had to categorize each person by their materialistic things. So far, everyone looked like they were on the ‘Richest’ part of the scale. I, on the other hand… My eyes go down to the uniform provided by the academy. The first time I saw it, I was stunned by how… expensive it already looked just by itself. A hundred percent cotton polo paired with the same matching pastel blue shade as the small necktie and skirt. I’d never seen anything like it, but then again, I’ve
“AHHHH!” The high-pitched squeal felt like it wasn’t going to end and it pierced my ears just a second before the eardrums destroyer turned to face me. Although I really, really wish she hadn’t, or that I had a chance to make a run for my life before she saw who the girl was that just ruined her pastel pink uniform and very expensive-looking heels. What once was a delicious-looking chocolate drink on my food tray had now become a very bad fashion statement. “Are you effing kidding me?!” She looked down at the mess on her clothes and back at me. For a second, I thought her gray eyes had caught on fire, just as her long and straight platinum blonde hair did as well. The only thing missing was smoke coming out from both of her ears as she looked at me with nothing but rage. The three girls with their arms crossed and their jaws practically on the floor behind her didn’t help the intimidation I was already feeling either. Girls that walk with other girls behind them is
These people are insane. Like, I thought I had issues, but this was on a whole other level. I can’t believe that in all my years living in a town that wasn’t as prestigious as Lakewood, it would be here that I would experience something so crazy like being restrained with a zip tie and having a black bag over my head. All because one stupid rich girl couldn’t stand having her crush giving me attention, as if I asked any of it! Goddess, why did I have to get in the middle of all this crap? I don’t have the answer to that right now, but what I can try to figure out is how the hell I can get out of here before whatever these batshit rich people end up doing whatever it is they had planned to do with me. I know damn well it’s not going to be good. But try as I might, I couldn’t for the life of me understand what was going on. All I could hear were murmurs and some things rustling around, and I was suddenly faced with the realization that this might be harder than I expected. O
ALPHA LUCA That little shit. Who does he think he is talking like that to me? Well sure he’s pretty well known in Portugal with one of, if not the strongest Pack there, and my parents also think highly of him, but still! He doesn’t know me well enough to talk about me like that. He only knows what I show to other people and that sure as shit isn’t all there is of me. I’m seething as I am sitting in between two of the girls in the car and trying my best not to just scream bloody murder. “So, you’re going to the party, right? Unlike your friend earlier, our favorite playboy Luca Moretti never misses a good time…” Melanie flashed me with a smirk as I felt three hands start to roam all over my chest. I let out an awkward laugh and tried to shimmy their hands off of me. Usually, I definitely wouldn’t mind, but clearly things have changed. The only reason I joined them is because my little sister is best friends with Melanie’s younger sister and I know I won’t hear the end of it f
ALPHA GAVIN The tension between Luca Moretti and I was increasing by the second. I couldn’t understand why this was happening, why I had found my mate, and at the same time he did, too, and she was one person. How was that even possible? I’ve never heard of such a phenomenon, and it seems from Alessandra’s reaction that she didn’t either. “I’ve heard about it before,” Luca next to me suddenly spoke like he had just read my mind. I turned to him, trying not to look as curious but hell, of course I was. “Yeah, and?” We were waiting a few minutes before walking to the academy from the bus stop because Alessandra had told us– well, begged us to do so since she didn’t want others to see us with her. Usually, I’d have the opposite of that problem. Too many people wanted to be around me that it pissed me off, but here was this girl who didn’t seem to want to do anything with me and that thought pissed me off. For fuck’s sake, how did this all get so complicated so fast? And
When the car stops just a few steps away from the lavish grand entrance with two men in black suits guarding it, my entire body freezes in panic and all I can think about is, I can’t freaking do this. Who was I kidding?! “I know it’s crazy, but–” “Crazy? This is batshit insane! These– these people, they’re… they’re…” I can’t find the right words as I have a sort of mental breakdown. “They’re pretty fucking rich, huh? It’s overwhelming, but don’t let it get to you. These people hide behind the luscious garden and fancy fountains. We’re different, but at the end of the day, we’re all pretty fucked up one way or another. There’s a reason the quote ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ became so popular, and it’s not just because of our demographic. Even they have to fake it, too. So don’t sweat it, girly. Chin up, take some shots, and flaunt that ass your mama gave you.” Wise words by Naya Jones, everybody. I guess for one night I can deal with all of this, but I swear to Goddess, I am
I’ve been opening and closing my wardrobe for the past hour as if somehow the next time I open it, new clothes would magically appear in it. It was just like back then at the Turner’s house when Milla and I would stare at the food cabinets and wished more would appear since we usually gave our share away to the kids and our stomachs would rumble like crazy. It still baffles me that I came from starving to being way too full since I was fortunate enough to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner provided by the academy and the dorm. Now here I am, worried about an outfit for a party that was being thrown by a bunch of kids that had way too much of their parent’s money. “Ah, fuck it, who cares if I wear just a white shirt and torn jeans?” I mumbled to myself before grabbing said clothes and quickly putting them on. It was a quarter to ten o’ clock when there was one knock on the door and before I could open it, Naya came barging in. “Oh my freaking gosh, Alessandra. I knew you
To my surprise, I managed to survive almost an hour of being stuck in the same room as the two boys who I still can’t wrap my mind around were both my mates. Of course, it didn’t turn out to be as easy as I hoped it would be. One of the reasons being Luca kept flirting with me even though he was sitting behind me. How can one know so many pick-up lines, anyway? Another thing I didn’t know was possible either was for a person to feel tingles by just someone staring at you, and that’s all thanks to Gavin, who unlike Luca, didn’t use as many words. I mean seriously, every time I (mistakingly) turned to look to where he was seated, which was on my left, he was already looking at me with those gorgeous eyes of his. It didn’t help at all that the sun was perfectly shining on him like some spotlight and he looked like he was glowing, and not the Edward Cullen kind of glow. It was like… he was magic. Basically, as soon as the bell rang, I sprinted out of that room in less than a
I should have known the news of something like ending up in a bus in the middle of probably the two most popular guys in the academy would end up spreading like wildfire. It seems I expected too much of my invisibility. Heck, at this point it’s laughable for me to even think that I was anywhere near invisible. For a second I guess I thought they would focus more on the fact that the two guys were in a bus, a completely cheap and public transportation instead of their fancy cars, but that narrative quickly changed when they too found out I was in the picture. And to think that was after I managed to convince them to stay at the bus stop for five to ten minutes until I was properly away from them already. How naive of me. “Hi!” A greeting from a girl with pastel pink hair and pink from head to bottom surprised me as she appeared out of nowhere. I looked to my side and back to see if she was talking to anybody else, but to my surprise, everyone seemed like they were talki
Their heads instantly snapped back at each other, I almost thought they would come off. I’ve never seen such aggravated expressions on anyone’s face, combined with furrowed brows. So it seems they were disagreeing and based on how much it looked like Gavin was going to tear off Luca’s head, they were certainly not the friends I thought they were earlier. “I was here first,” Luca reasoned, which was fairly true, I guess. “Who cares? I saw her first and have been meaning to talk to her since yesterday.” Gavin pointed out and well, he did have a point, too. “Yeah, and? That’s not fair because I wasn’t in the academy yesterday and–” “Why weren’t you? That’s not my fault you weren’t there so it doesn’t matter. I technically saw her first so I should have the right to drive her and–” “No! I have the right to drive her!” Luca cut him off, his voice getting much higher, I was afraid people would start looking at us. The two started bickering like a couple who had been togeth
Mates, mates, mates… What in the world did my parents tell me about them again? I was very young the first time it came up. I think I was only about eight years old or so and the only reason I got curious about them was when I attended my first marking ceremony in the Pack. “What are they doing? Why are they going to bite themselves?” The naive little girl asked as her eyes widened in shock and confusion. “They are going to mark themselves, baby, so that everyone knows that it’s just them for each other from now on and forever.” My sweet mother explained as she watched with a smile on her face, and her eyes somewhat reminiscing. “Is that what you and father did? You marked each other? Didn’t it… hurt?” I placed my hand over my neck, rubbing it gently. My mother smiled, amused by the innocence in my question. “It does for a fleeting second, yes, but after, it becomes all worth it. That feeling of a special bond getting stronger between you and your destined mate is incomparabl