LOGINShare
No Second Chances
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Ryan
I leave Aviva in the bedroom and immediately walk outside into the cool, rainy morning air. I clutch the railing of the deck and hang my head, trying to steady my thundering heart. I can’t go into the village like this. I can barely walk in a straight line with this ache between my legs, but I sure as fuck can’t go back inside because I’ll rip her dress off and pin her to the bed like I wanted to only moments ago.
That little sliver of restraint is all I have left at this point.
I run my fingers through my hair, now wet from the rain. A thick fog hugs the valley, and only the outlines and pitched roofs are visible as my gaze sweeps the village. I had a long list of things to do this morning that are nearly impossible in my condition, and it’s my own damn fault. I didn’t mean to fall asleep with Aviva in my arms last night, but I did, sucked into a kind of peace I don’t think I’ve ever known
Related chapters
The Alpha King's Breeder Not the Old Ways
Aviva“I know that feels better,” Freya says, frowning at the frantically bleating sheep, who is now sheared clean and pretty much naked as it gallops off to join its herd. She wipes her brow, squinting into the sunlight as she gathers up an enormous handful of raw wool and carries it over to the creek where I’m crouching in the water, rinsing another batch of wool until it shines a soft white. “Who’s next?”“That one,” I laugh, tilting my head to the giant, gray and black ram with spiraling horns that looks like he wants nothing more than to kill us both. He stamps his hooves and lowers his head in emphasis, snorting and shaking his fuzzy head.“That fucker,” Freya growls, tucking her hair behind her hairs and stretching out her arms over her head. “He’s been getting in my way all morning.”“I can take him, if you want.”She shakes h
The Alpha King's Breeder Ambush
Ryan“What was that for?” Aviva asks breathlessly as I pull away.“I’m not sure. Sorry.” I clear my throat–clear my head, more like it. I’ve been out in the sun all day helping stack stone for a new house being built in the village, and apparently, that hadn’t been enough to wash Aviva’s taste from my mouth, and my body decided it needed more.We stare at each other for a moment. Her eyes shine like fine whiskey in the sunlight cutting through the shadow all around us. The clouds move swiftly to the south, which is why I had to talk to her.“Jacob and I are leaving in an hour with Shosanna. I sent scouts in every direction to monitor the weather, and it looks like there’ll be a break from the rain tonight.”“You said a week–”“I don’t really have a week to spare,” I admit, when in reality I need to get a
The Alpha King's Breeder Family Killer
RyanWe’re met in Endova by warriors armed to the teeth. The sun has set, and the village is glowing with torches, the fire at the village center burning brighter than usual. I’d sent scouts ahead of us by several hours to inform Jerrod of our earlier than anticipated arrival, but they’re nowhere to be seen, and that sinking sensation in my stomach explodes as we walk into the village, and Jerrod rushes toward us, his eyes wide with both stress and relief to see Shosanna safe and sound.The wound on my back throbs as Jerrod wordlessly ushers us into his meeting hall. Still in our wolf forms, Jacob and I are given clothes and left alone to change while Jerrod scoops up Shosanna and takes her away to be tended to.“Let me see it,” Jacob insists, grabbing my arm to turn me around. He hisses out a breath. “It’s deep, man.”“It doesn’t hurt that bad,” I lie, pulling my
The Alpha King's Breeder That’s His Mate
AvivaMoonlight ghosts over my skin as I stand at the highest point of the valley that overlooks Silverhide. Wind whispers through my fur, and my keen eyes scan the valley below for movement before I move along the narrow rocks, careful of the steep drop-offs hidden in the shadows. The stars are out in full overhead, bright and wild against ribbons of deep, swirling purple.It’s a perfect night. The kind of night I always longed for after days of rain and clouds. But I’ve realized why Ryan and his men came to Endova to join the spring hunt and get their fill of deer in a single night. The valley of Silverhide is empty, save for small critters like rabbits. I won’t be bringing home a deer tonight, not if I stay within the valley like I promised.But it feels good to be out in the wild after a very long day of village chores. All of the wool we sheared and washed this morning is hanging to dry so we can brush it out and
The Alpha King's Breeder I’m Saving Him
AvivaI wake in a cold sweat, finding it impossible to catch my breath. I didn’t dream last night, but I feel like my mind has been moving a hundred miles per hour without a moment’s stop in the hours I spent sleeping beside… sleeping beside Freya.I look around, pushing a patchwork quilt down to my feet as I take in a new space, a new room, memories of last night flooding back to the forefront of my mind. I’m in Freya’s cottage in the village. I came here instead of sleeping alone in Ryan’s house. I curled up in bed beside her after leaving the mountain, after swimming in the hot spring, after I felt like I had something sharp lodged in my chest….A shout echoes from outside. More shouts, all male, follow. It’s an argument.“Freya?” I hiss, feeling over the bed. It’s still warm, like she’d only been here moments ago, but it’s so early that the sun ha
The Alpha King's Breeder Make No Promises
RyanHadley’s blood is everywhere, coating the wallpaper, the floor, the fine furniture and gilded frames in the foyer of my brother’s house. Her neck snapped so easily. It bent like a blade of grass between my fingers. I’m still holding her. Her neck is limp between my jaws.Sarah’s voice is lifted in a scream. It echoes through my ears as pain ignites deep in my chest.I let go of my mate. She drops onto the floorboards with a smack, her arms limp at her sides. I feel dizzy, like my heart has stopped beating, and all of my blood is rushing to my head. I make the mistake of looking down at her before falling over on my side, her blood soaking into my fur.A white wolf stands in the shadow of the formal dining room just visible down the hall. It’s totally still, it’s glowing, silver eyes holding mine as it turns and disappears like it hadn’t been there at all. Inside, I feel my heart&hell
The Alpha King's Breeder He’s My Mate
AvivaThe air in my old home is humid. The sucking, sticky kind that makes me feel dirty and uncomfortable. Summer swept through the Deadlands last night after what felt like weeks of rain, and now, what’s left of the moisture hangs in the heated air, weighing me down, making me sweat, stopping the tears from completely drying on my cheeks.I brush them away with the backs of my hands and press my back to the cool, stone wall in the center hall, trying to gather myself. My heart is still beating rapidly. I arrived in Endova less than an hour ago. Far less. I still can’t catch my breath, and my legs are on fire from running like my life depended on it–because Ryan’s life was in my hands… clenched between my teeth.I run my fingers over my knife belt, counting hilts. I absently reach over my shoulder and count each arrow in my quiver. I make note of the press of the bow against my back, the strength of the l
The Alpha King's Breeder You Knew All Along
RyanI watch Jacob lead Mercy away. He’s careful not to touch her, but his hand hovers over her lower back as she lifts her skirts to pick her way out of the forest. I let out my breath and turn to Aviva, who has been sitting silently on a ledge surrounding the remains of the temple ruins she was guarding like a dragon defending its horde the first time we were ever able to speak to each other. I look at her like I looked at her that night after her father gave her to me in marriage. She’s still wild, still beautiful, and has an echo of that same furious look that cloaked her face during our first few days together. My heart beats slightly of rhythm as her scent is carried on the wind–lovely, soft, sweet. A scent that makes me curl my hands into fists to stop from touching her. This is remarkably unfair. To both of us. Because now I know what’s happening, and I still can’t bring myself to accept it. “Do you think they’re really mates?” Aviva asks. Is the first time she’s spoken t
Latest chapter
The Alpha King's Breeder Bonus
MistyTwo white wolves in a clearing.Their bodies made of mist and aether, standing side by side.Mates. A marvel of second chances and extraordinary fate.Two white wolves turn toward the sunrise knowing what they must leave behind; what he sacrificed for those he loved and her refusal to let him go into death alone.Two white wolves stand over their earthly bodies. He, battered and still.She, going into death with eyes open, cupping her mate's face between her graceful hands, her eyes locked on his at the moment of her dying breath.Their last words had been simple. I love you.They always had.They’d promised this instance in stolen moments, in private corners, when there was nothing but the stars to light their way.I will not stay here without you.I will not leave you behind.And so, it was.Two
The Alpha King's Breeder Epilogue
AvivaThe first flakes of snow fall from the sky as I watch Ryan trying to herd everyone in position. Bundled against the cold in a wool coat Freya and I worked tirelessly on for the last three weeks, I step to the side, finding myself in the center of the crowd standing in the middle of the village of Silverhide. I watch my mate and his Beta, James, nudge families together and run back and forth toward a tripod where Ryan’s camera rests, facing us, to gauge whether all one-hundred and fifty people are in view of the lens.Ryan stands behind the camera with his hands up, his hair dusted with snow. “Okay. Nobody move!”A few excited giggles whisper through the front of the crowd where the numerous children are arranged. I glance around, watching as James joins Dahlia’s side, their baby on her hip. The baby girl finally has a name. Cosette, named after a friend of Dahlia, but they call her Cossie for short. Other babies
The Alpha King's Breeder Tattooed
Two months later…RyanThe Harvest Festival has been held at the festival grounds between Endova, Teshka, and Navvan for centuries. When we arrived two days ago, leaving only a few people behind in Silverhide to make sure the animals are tended to in our absence, the wide, open space had been nothing but rolling plains.Now, it’s a city of canvas tents and twinkling lights, the air spiced with smoke and the smells of meals being cooked at each fire. Songs mingle as I walk through the festival with Aviva on my arm. I’m wearing a normal outfit. Well, not normal, actually. Mom forced me into a suit and tie with the Crescent Falls royal banner and all of my metals from my years as a warrior draped over my shoulders. Aviva is wearing that white, fur-lined dress again and a pair of new sheep-skin boots Freya and Mercy made for her, but instead of freshwater clam shells and pearls decorating her hair, her curls are w
The Alpha King's Breeder The Gilded Bow
RyanAn hour earlier…I can’t scrub the image of Aviva dead in my arms out of my head. It’s been several days since the battle, since the moment I put her in my uncle's arms and turned back to the ravaged scene, not knowing whether or not she survived the journey all the way to Maatua.Three days. It was three entire days before Sydney arrived in Silverhide with news about my mate. I’d just arrived back at my territory, exhausted and in tatters, when he clapped a hand on my shoulder and used his powers to spirit us to Moonrise, then to Veiled Valley, then to Maatua. He’s not as strong as Ryatt. Jumping took a toll on us both, and when we finally arrived at my grandparents’ beach house, I collapsed before I even made it up their driveway.Everything since the battle is a blur. Navvan is just… gone. The few survivors were mostly women and children who’d left the villag
The Alpha King's Breeder Tides of Change
AvivaI wake with a start to bright, warm sunshine and the smell of salty air. I grope white sheets, blinking several times to clear my vision as an unfamiliar bedroom fades to life around me. Warm white walls. Pale wood finishes and sleek furniture in soft browns and creams. White curtains drift in a salty breeze coming through several open windows, and a glass door opens to a deck with a view of… a view of the ocean.I’ve never seen the ocean before. From where I lie, I can hear the waves crashing on a white sand beach. Music I don’t recognize drifts toward me, carrying two voices with it, one male, and one female.“Your parents worry about you endlessly, Misty.”“They have nothing to worry about. It’s not like I’m ten anymore, Grandpa. I can make my own way in the world now. Plus, where was their worry when they shipped me here four years ago, huh?”“You
The Alpha King's Breeder Angels of the Goddess
RyanI’ve been dreaming about tying Aviva to my bed, but I’m going to make it a reality for entirely different reasons. Now, I’ll be tying her to keep her there, forever. No more hunting. No more fighting. No more killing rogues barefoot in the woods.No more putting herself in situations like this. I will do her dirty work. I will gladly do it. I roll with Hardan in his… hellhound form? Whatever the fuck he is now. I wish, Goddess, I wish I could have faced him man to man instead of beast to beast. I would have loved to see the look on his face when I ripped out his heart for even thinking for a second he had some kind of claim to my mate, even before I found her. We roll down a decline. I sink my talons into his belly, ripping hard, but I already know hellhounds aren’t that easy to kill. We crash into an oak tree. Leaves shower over us as he tries to claw free of my grasp. He’s calling out, bellowing strange, high-pitched howls. The forest floor rumbles as I sink my claws into hi
The Alpha King's Breeder Rounding Up Rogues
AvivaI’m having the time of my life.I zigzag through the woods in my wolf form after three rogues who’ve decided they want nothing to do with me. In fact, the rogues have stopped hunting me over the past several hours and instead are trying to get as far away from me as possible. Their prey has become their biggest predator.I did my best to lead the horde away from Endova. That was my goal–the reason I made the snap decision to leave my mate behind and race into the jaws of death itself. Now, I have the horde moving away from the tribal packlands all together, herding them back into the open plains like a shepherd, and they’re my sheep–if a shepherd killed their sheep, that is.I’ve lost count of how many there are. My red fur is completely black with their blood. I catch my reflection in another small, burbling creek as I leap, seeing only my eyes shining like polished amber against a
The Alpha King's Breeder The Book of Whispers
Ryan“She’s not here, Ryan,” Mercy hisses as I run through the village. She’s hot on my heels, grabbing my fur to try to pull me to a stop but I’m not in my right mind.It’s been five hours since I last saw Aviva. Andrew and I have been scouring the forest and plains for any sign of her, but I lost her scent, and my desperate attempts to mind-link with her have come up empty and silent.I shift into my human form the second I cross into the pack house and immediately crash into one of the tables, tripping over the bench and landing on my side with a crunch. I’ve been in my wolf form since last night. Exhaustion sings through my bones as my vision spins. I hear Andrew similarly falling to the ground with a choked groan before hurried footsteps reach the pack house. Someone throws a blanket over me with a scoff, followed by Mercy’s sharp, soprano voice ripping through the air as she starts s
The Alpha King's Breeder A Golden Glow
RyanIt’s barely dawn. Four hours ago, I was taking a deep breath as I tucked my mate into our bed, and now we’re here, lying low in the grasslands ten miles from Silver, with twenty of my best warriors scattered behind me. Stars still fill the sky, shining under a blanket of deep navy and vibrant violet. It's kind of hard to stay focused when the sunrise looks like this, the first echoes of gold casting Aviva, in wolf form, in a halo of light. She’s crouched in the swaying grass just a few feet below where the rest of us are lying, hiding in the scant brush and scorched trees. I watch her edge forward a few inches, her body covered in weapons and leather–one of her special dresses from Endova. A half dozen whispers ghost through my head, mingling with the thundering of my heartbeat in my ears as we watch, and watch, the dozen or so rogues passing by, moving in a lazy formation toward the forests we, and the tribal packs, call home. ‘What are they doing?’ Andrew lies on my left sid
