MasukShare
The Cursed Alpha
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2024-09-27 00:00:27Aviva
The meeting hall is crowded from wall to wall. I hug one of the walls, my back pressed flat against it as I try to blend in with the dark stone. Everyone is merry as they walk between tables laden with food and drink. Everyone in attendance has worn their finest fabrics and beads. Many of the single, of age, young women have truly gone all out, in fact.
I cross my arms under my less-than-ample breasts and tap my nails against the long gold chains looping around my neck, inlaid with multicolored beads of turquoise and amethyst.
The necklace is one of the few things I have left of my mother except for Shosanna and Lora. Mercy didn’t want the necklace because turquoise is a stone rather than a gleaming gem, and amethyst “washes her out,” or so she says. In fact, she didn’t want much of mother’s things at all when she died six years ago, a few days after Lora came into the world. Her dresses were taken ap
Bab terkait
The Alpha King's Breeder I Don’t Like You
Ryan“You’re sure there’s no way out of this?” Jacob asks Andrew two hours later. We’re sitting around a campfire roughly a half mile outside of the village.Andrew nods, glancing at me before hugging his knees. “These tribes are steeped in tradition, guys. I don’t know what else to say. If Alpha Ryan refused the girl, he would have been offered another, and another, and if he’d refused to marry outright, she would have been given as a… concubine, perhaps.”I close my eyes for a moment and sigh around the rim of my water jug. The sweet, heavy wine and mead I’d been served over and over again, my cup never empty, has my head pounding already.But the second I close my eyes, I see her. Aviva. What a name. It dances over my tongue like a song, and it seems fitting for her.She’s a very strange woman, and I mean that in the nicest way. She has a gla
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-09-28The Alpha King's Breeder Imprint
AvivaRain patters across the wooden roof covering one corner of the old temple. I roll off the makeshift bed of hay and wool blankets I keep here. I stretch, rolling my neck. My hands are still bloody from the rogue I encountered last night as I gather my weapons and head down to the creek. I sleep out here sometimes, especially when the weather is nice. The old temple is just far enough from the village where I don’t have to worry about running into anyone during my nightly hunts but also close enough to keep me out of harm's way from the beasts that linger in the thick forest beyond the village.I’m washing my hands when I catch Alpha Ryan’s lingering scent. I forgot he’d come here last night, encountering me by accident, I believe. I try not to think about it as I walk back to the village, but it’s hard not to imagine every facial expression, especially the wry twist of his lips whenever I spoke.
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-09-29The Alpha King's Breeder A Wager
Ryan“I feel like we’re in college again,” Jacob murmurs as we lean against the side of one of the earthen buildings on the outer ring of the village. He rolls his shoulders before crossing his arms over his chest, purposefully flexing. Andrew leans forward to peer at him, snorting, “Yeah, and just like in college, the chances of you getting’ any tail tonight is slim to nonexistent.”“I’ve put on like thirty pounds of muscle since then,” Jacob hisses, flexing his biceps in emphasis. I’m standing between them with my arms crossed as we watch the group of hunters–two dozen or so, by my estimation–prepare for the hunt. One group is entirely female and has my group's full, unwavering attention.“Do you remember the night,” Andrew laughs, pointing an accusatory finger at Jacob, “when you brought Gretchen Crosby to the fall formal afterparty?”“I don’t want to talk about that–”“And her boyfriend showed up, and instead of kicking his ass and taking her back to our dorm room, you ended up
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-01The Alpha King's Breeder Hunter Becomes the Hunted
AvivaAlpha Ryan is the largest wolf I’ve ever seen by a longshot. While his overall mass is incredibly shocking, if not a little intimidating, he’s much slower than me.I can hear him lumbering through the woods behind me as I dart around trees and fly over creek beds, sprinting deeper and deeper into the outer ring of the ever dark, ever untamed forest that sits on the outskirts of Endovian territory.The spring hunt is technically taking place in the sacred hunting grounds our tribe guards year round, but I’ve had my fill of deer. Plus, Alpha Ryan already snagged a golden elk, which up until two nights ago, had been my ultimate prize. Now that pelt is hanging in the meeting hall–a trophy–and a constant reminder of how my bride price was paid.I shake the thought out of my head and pick my way down a sharp decline into a shadowed valley where the trees rather suddenly drop off, revealing noth
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-02The Alpha King's Breeder Who’s It Going to Be?
AvivaAlpha Ryan shifts back to his human form, cloaked in shadows. He’s breathing heavily as he lumbers through the camp, crouching to rip into a clothing cache.I watch his shadow in silence, my heart beating out of rhythm. I only look away when the wind parts the treetops and allows moonlight to spread over the clearing again, illuminating the hellhound lying broken and in pieces at the very edge of the tree line.It takes two shallow breaths before it starts to fall in on itself, turning to ash that’s carried away by the wind.I slowly turn my gaze back to Alpha Ryan who is standing now, wearing a pair of pants that don’t fit him at all, the button holding them in place undone. Moonlight ghosts over his frame. Instead of tight, wiry muscles, he’s just… huge. There’s nothing lean about him. I can see the outline of his abdominals as he turns slightly to face me. The muscles in his che
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-03The Alpha King's Breeder Day of Change
AvivaRyan and I walked in our wolf forms back to the village by sunset, each of us dragging makeshift sleds fashioned from items we found at the abandoned camp to carry the meat and pelt from the goat.While I wondered if we could mind-link somehow after I’d heard him call my name when I’d fallen, neither of us spoke. We arrived at the village shortly before the sun set when the sky was painted gold, and the moon had just started to rise again. We weren’t even the last hunters to arrive. The entire village was alight with music and dancing to celebrate a very successful hunt.But I didn’t partake in the celebration. I left the pelt with Ryan and immediately shifted back to my human form and walked out of the village again, to the creek, where I splashed frigid water over my dirty, aching skin until I was clean. I then returned home and sank into the hottest bath I could handle, brushing out my braids, picking ou
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-04The Alpha King's Breeder Joined by Blood
RyanThe entire village is quiet and dark, which is strange. All of the lights and fires have been put out in the individual homes, and even the main fire in the large, open pit at the center of the village has burned down to embers that glow like stars. Andrew, Jacob, and I walk side by side into the village after taking the afternoon to rest and prepare for tonight, unsure of what’s to come. I only managed to lie on my sleeping bag for a while staring at the roof of my tent, my mind whirling. Married. I’m getting married. And it doesn’t mean anything but unity between my pack and my bride’s people.I have a lot of business to take care of tonight other than bind myself to a woman I barely know. I was able to talk to Jerrod briefly this morning while showing him Aviva’s goat hide, but he’s a busy man and promised he’d find me after the ceremony before he walked off with Mercy to discuss the feast and
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-05The Alpha King's Breeder Wedding Night
AvivaRyan moves like a large, lumbering animal, but I knew that. He’s not light on his feet whatsoever, but I can’t fault him for not knowing any of the steps to numerous dances passed down from generation to generation as I tug him around the fire, spinning in dizzying circles while my right hand throbs as it heals from being sliced open and slapped against his, our blood mingling.It was, admittedly, a very odd sensation I still can’t put into words. Even now, two hours later, my hand feels all tingly, and those tingles have worked their way up my arm and deep into my chest, blooming into something new, heavy, and strange.I’ve never danced so much in my life, but eventually Ryan and I were parted by other celebrators who joined the dancing. I lost him in the crowd an hour ago, but maybe that’s for the best. I need this veil of delusion to lift so I can think clearly and come to terms with what has to ha
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-06
Bab terbaru
The Alpha King's Breeder Regrets
BrieI can’t be your friend. I lean my forehead against the railing, closing my eyes as I dangle my legs through the rails. What feels like fathoms below me, the ocean stretches toward the milky light of the last minutes of what had been the most spectacular sunset I’d ever seen in my life. Stars flicker into view overhead, nestled against a blanket of deep orange and crimson, and behind me, I listen to Sawyer and Logan pouring over a map spread out on a table bolted to the floor just beside the helm–the massive wheel used to steer a ship only a pirate would have. Logan doesn’t want to believe we have, in fact, been thrust through time and now sail the open seas in the company of pirates. In his rational defense, I haven’t seen a single person with a peg leg, a parrot, or an eye-patch, so he’s probably right. It’s a fun thought, though. I kick my legs, my bare toes chilled by the wind whipping into the sails as we practically fly over the water. I like this better than the yacht.
The Alpha King's Breeder Let's Just Be Friends
LoganSunlight pours over the deck of the Asteria, glinting off the sails. I watch the Artemis drift past, Alex waving from the upper deck before fading into the bright glare of the sun. I grip the railing, closing my eyes for a moment and taking a much needed breath that catches in my throat the second footsteps sound on the stairs nearby. Sawyer grunts softly as he reaches the top of the steps and turns in my direction, squinting against the sun but smiling as he says, “You settled in?”I nod, biting back that breath I desperately needed and all the other feelings threatening to make themselves known the next time I see Brie, which is hopefully several hours from now after I’ve had a chance to cool off. “The Asteria’s the oldest and slowest,” Sawyer says under his breath, joining me at the railing. “But she’s a solid ship. A good girl. My favorite of the fleet, actually.”“Why aren’t you captaining her, then?”He grins and shrugs. “The same reason I’m not on the Artemis with Alex.
The Alpha King's Breeder In the Shadows
MaeveThe hallowed halls of the palace in Moonrise are quiet and somber. Normally, light would spill through the ancient stained glass windows lining the foyer, casting sunlight that made the golden walls gleam, but today everything is dark. Gray. Lifeless. Rain thunders across the glass ceiling, echoing down hallways usually alive with conversation and bodies bustling from room to room. Now, my only company is my shadow, and even that’s trying to curl away, just as worn and empty as I feel. It’s been nearly a week since we lost Brie. I couldn’t stay in Maatua for another second waiting for news.I walk up the grand staircase, wearing a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers, a far cry from the sweeping, luxurious gowns of silk I normally dress in when visiting my future home.Yes, one day all of this will be mine. I’ve known it–felt it in my bones since I was just a little girl. I will be queen. Soon. Three years from now, I’ll stand on the balcony and wave down at the people of Moonrise–of a
The Alpha King's Breeder Mate’s Scent
BrieAt first, I feel nothing but his mouth on mine. He inhales, but otherwise, is still as stone. The tension between us is so thick I could drown in it, and I wouldn’t bother saving myself by coming up for air.I pull away just a touch–just enough to take a shuddering breath. Maybe this was a mistake. I’m not sure what I was thinking kissing him back, but… here I am, wondering when he’s going to start laughing at me.Logan’s nose brushes mine as he closes his eyes. His hands drift to my waist, and my eyes flutter closed as his grip tightens. He takes a step toward me, then another, until I’m forced back, until my shoulders hit the wall. Time moves in slow motion as his lips brush the corner of my mouth, and he groans.Logan presses me to the wall and kisses me hard enough to steal my breath away. I rise on my toes to meet him, my lips parting as I try to suck in another breath, but his
The Alpha King's Breeder Shave… and Not a Haircut
BrieNight falls on the trio of ships. During the course of the evening, the ships had been readied, and the camp on the beach had been totally dismantled, leaving no trace that Alex’s pack had ever been there.Now, against a blanket of silver moonlight, the Artemis bobs in the shallows just beyond the mouth of the lagoon, engines purring and sails drawn.I lean against the railing and soak in the cool night breeze. It smells amazing here–like salt and tropical flowers. It’s almost exactly like Maatua but far more rocky and mountainous. Beyond the mountain shielding the lagoon, nothing but calm, open water stretches as far as the eye can see… which means we’ll be totally exposed to whatever enemies are lying in wait.The deck teems with people waiting for the two other ships to silently leave the lagoon. It’s a rough looking bunch–mostly hardened men with deep suntans and scars on
The Alpha King's Breeder A Pirate Life for Me
BrieMonica arches her brow as she plucks another petal off the flower she’s been defacing for the last ten minutes in relative silence. She’s precariously perched on the railing of the upper deck, with an insane drop to sudden death beneath her, yet she doesn’t look the least bit fazed by it.Me, however?I adjust my position on a crate nearby, neatly crossing my legs and refusing to look over the railing and the lagoon below.“Afraid of heights, Princess?”“No,” I rush out, but the word wobbles. I straighten my back, brushing invisible dust from my dress, and fix her with a cold look. “I’m not.”“Come sit with me then.” She pats the railing, a cocky smile tugging on the corner of her mouth.“I’m fine here,” I counter, narrowing my eyes.“Suit yourself. You’re missing the show.&rdquo
The Alpha King's Breeder Unexplainable Choices
LoganI don’t remember falling asleep. I don’t remember much of the past day, actually, not since washing up on the shore on some nameless island. I slowly sit up, wincing as bright, fresh pain ripples through my back. I press my hand to my chest where the bandages cover most of my skin and find them damp with blood, but it’s not fresh. No, I must have stopped bleeding like a stuck pig a few hours ago. That’s one thing going my way, at least.A soft murmur beside me steals my attention from my pain, and I turn to find Brie fast asleep, her hands tucked beneath her cheek. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her wear her hair natural before. It’s wild and… lovely. But looking at her–at the soft, relaxed expression on her face as she sleeps–has me careening back to going into the water with her and realizing that was it.I’m not sure how we survived. Call it divine intervent
The Alpha King's Breeder Tell Them Everything
BrieThis giant boat is something out of a fairy tale… well, I’ve just found out that Alpha Alex not only has these three but two more tucked away in some island chain about as far from the capital of KiloKilo as he could get. It’s hard to believe these boats even exist. It doesn’t make sense. This room and its finery doesn’t make sense.I watch Logan resting only a few feet away, his large frame eating up the dainty armchair perched in front of a dormant hearth. He hasn’t touched any of the food laid out for us, but I have. I’m on my second bowl of stew, swiping the nearly empty bowl with my fourth or fifth piece of rustic sourdough bread. With food in my body for the first time in what feels like days, I’m acutely aware of my senses and the room around me… and the people within it. The ship's ornate details come into startling view as I scan the room under the shadow of my eyelashes, carefully not
The Alpha King's Breeder Desperation
BrieI gasp as cold water rushes over my head and shoulders, flowing down my body in icy rivelets. The woman leaning against the doorframe nearby smirks at my expense as I shiver violently, trying desperately to cover my naked body with my arm braced over my breasts and my hand shielding the apex of my thighs.Another bucket of water is dumped over my head, and I swallow some of it, choking.“It’s not that bad,” Monica smirks, her arms crossed over her chest as she watches another woman, a young maid or something, start scrubbing sand from my hair for a fourth time.“Wh-why is it-it so c-c-cold?” I stammer through chattering teeth.“It’s filtered water, that’s why.” She untangles her arms and knocks on the doorframe, her pretty, angular face shining with pride. “This ship might look like something out of the stone-age, but it’s high-tech. We have
