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016 | Racing Hearts and Racing Minds
Last Updated:
2023-10-31 06:24:27
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The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 017 | History Repeating Itself
Ethan’s POVI headed out to the training grounds. I tried to ground myself, to focus on the slap of the ground beneath my soles, and blood buzzing in my ears, but all I could hear was her.Aria’s voice echoed through my head. Each knock of her words against my skull hurt more than the last. “I think you’d better leave.” She’d sounded so cold, so firm. I wasn’t used to people talking to me like that.Nobody else dared to talk to Alpha Ethan Savage so bluntly. Even their disagreements were packaged in flowery nonsense to soften the sting of their disapproval. But Aria? She’d cut straight through the bullshit. She’d even glared at me until I’d left, tail between my legs. And what was that about? I was an Alpha. I didn’t feel ashamed. If it had been anyone else, I would’ve told her where to stick it.Why did Aria have such a hold over me?‘You like her,’ teased Sterling.I ignored him – pointedly – and rolled my shirt sleeves up. Eternal Bonds’ training grounds were, in my personal and v
Last Updated : 2023-10-31The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 018 | Zoe Talks
Aurora’s POVEven after scrubbing my skin raw in a boiling hot shower, I could still feel Ethan’s hands on me. Worst of all? I didn’t hate that feeling as much as I wanted to.I checked on Sammy – sound asleep, thank goodness – before texting Zoe.I need to talk to you.Come up to my office, she replied immediately. Another one came through straight after; Zoe texted the way she talked. Everything okay?I’ll explain in person, I sent back.Sure, babe. Just tell me one thing: is this a tea or wine level emergency?I bit my lip, then typed: Wine.Our friendship felt the way it always had. I realised I was smiling to myself, despite everything. ‘I hope you’re right,’ I muttered to Violet.‘I always am. What about in this instance, though?’I pulled a face at her, but my heart was too full after Zoe’s warm familiarity to really tease her. ‘That Zoe is still my friend.’My brain was in a daze as I crossed the grounds to the pack house. I realised how silly I’d been to sneak over before; n
Last Updated : 2023-11-02The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 019 | Liar, Liar
Zoe’s POVI didn’t know why I lied to Aurora. It just came out. She looked so crestfallen over my dallying with Ethan that I had to soothe the ache somehow.So maybe I did know why I lied. It didn’t make doing it any easier.But looking at her now, I knew I could never tell her the truth about us. The real truth.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Aurora’s POV“He what?” I gaped at her, sure I’d heard her wrong. Ethan had left me for Selene. Now he regretted that?Good. He deserved to hurt after everything he’d put me through. Grim satisfaction swept through me. “He loved Selene, before you. When you… left, and he married her, he realised she was nothing compared to you.” Zoe seemed to find her stride; now she’d opened up, it all seemed to spill out of her. “She wasn’t the woman he remembered her to be. You, though? You’d never tried to be anything you weren’t.”“So – what? He’s gone off her because she tries to b
Last Updated : 2023-11-03The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 20 | Ethan Knows
Aurora’s POV “Hello, Aria.” His smile was dazzling enough to set my heart pounding – but it didn’t, because I hated him. Before I could say a word, he added, “Have dinner with me?”He looked well today. Too well. Too well to have been as sick as he’d claimed the night before. Grinding my jaw, I ignored his offer and instead said, “You seem better.”“It was just a bout of man flu.”“Oh. Right.”“Now – about that dinner?”I looked everywhere but at him. I looked at the trees swaying softly and the dim light coming from his guest room and the wooden planks of the steps. I looked at the autumnal wreath and counted every maple leaf in it – only four, darn it – and then, finally, when he cleared his throat pointedly, I forced myself to meet his eyes.It was a knife to the gut. In the dark his eyes looked black and bottomless, like a clear lake under a coal sky. That was the kind of lake a girl like me could drown in. I had, before.I would keep my head above water this time, though. I refu
Last Updated : 2023-11-06The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 021 | Dinner Date
Aurora’s POVWhen I performed surgery, my hands never shook. I could keep my cool in even the most pressurised circumstances. I’d removed lungs and hearts and replaced them quickly enough to save lives rather than take them.But as I reached for the door handle, my hand shook. I opened the door slowly, giving myself a moment to breathe. This was like surgery, I reasoned. There were risks worth taking and multiple aspects to consider. My words were the slice of a scalpel, and my gestures were a needle and thread. I could do this.Ethan smiled crookedly at me. It wasn’t quite a smirk, but it was lopsided, cheeky. The earlier malice was gone, and my knees went weak at the sight of him here, for me, his dark eyes glinting with something secret, his suit perfectly pressed, and a bunch of sunflowers held out to me.“You seem like someone who’d like sunflowers,” he said.My throat bobbed. I didn’t have a favourite flower, but I’d always liked ones that fit the season we were in. Snowdrops
Last Updated : 2023-11-07The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 022 | Something's Not Right
Ethan’s POVI wished Aria had just agreed to have dinner with me. Forcing her into it with a vague threat had never been my intention, but here we were. Why she wouldn’t want a handsome, powerful Alpha to cook for her was a mystery – but that was her all over, wasn’t it? She was a mystery wrapped in an enigma, and damn, it was really working for me.My charms seemed lost on her, though. Whatever secret she was keeping had to be a pretty juicy one, because the second I’d wielded that tactic like the poisoned chalice it was, her sharp expression had crumbled.I had no idea what that secret was, of course. I just wanted her to have dinner with me.As I smoothed down my suit, running not at all sweaty palms over its sleek lapels, I recalled the way she’d barely managed to choke out a, “What?”She’d not given anything about it away, but she’d told me enough. There was something I could hold over her, blackmail her with, even, if I wanted to. Not that I did – yet. It was always wise to make
Last Updated : 2023-11-08The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 023 | Not You, Not Again
Aurora’s POVAfter our dinner, I made plans to see Ethan again. The thought of spending even more time with him made my skin crawl – but there was a tiny part of me that was excited at the prospect.I had loved him once, after all.There was an old familiarity to our conversations that night. I’d always thought I’d never need a man again, after what he did to me, but – though I despised myself for even thinking it – it had been nice to chat to him, to eat with him, to share smiles and feel the crackle of anticipation in the air between us.I had to bury that part of me deep if I wanted my plan to work. I couldn’t break Ethan’s heart if mine was in any way involved.I threw myself into work. There was something I was missing, and with Remington’s condition getting worse every day I saw him, I knew I had to find it – and fast.Somehow, I got the feeling that Ethan was the missing piece I needed. Whatever was going on at Silver Shade had something to do with whatever was going on with Re
Last Updated : 2023-11-09The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 024 | Trust Nobody
Aurora’s POVI wasn’t sure what reaction I’d expected from Ethan, if any, but it certainly wasn’t the hurt that lashed across his face. Like sudden, heavy rain, his expression darkened.“She did?” I nodded. Guilt ate me up inside, but I couldn’t let it show. I’d dug this hole for myself; it was my responsibility to deal with the consequences. With nothing else to go on, and nowhere to go but down, I picked up my shovel again and carried on digging.“She told me that… that your ex-wife died in mysterious circumstances.”His eyes narrowed. “She what?”I gulped. I’d have to make this up to Zoe somehow. “She just said that things ended badly between the two of you, and then, a few months later, she died. A lot of people think you killed her,” I blurted out, realising how stupid I was being only after it was too late.“A lot of people think I killed my ex-wife?” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “A lot of people? And Zoe told you this?”“Yes. You were right; we do know each other.” Better to ad
Last Updated : 2023-11-10
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The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 076 | Fatherhood
Aurora’s POV Ethan spent the night. Not in the way I’d anticipated or even hoped - and yet it was infinitely better. I longed to share a bed with him, skin on skin, a melding of bodies and minds as we kissed and talked and made love… But instead he was here, taking care of us. I had a front row seat to watch my son’s relationship with his father bloom. Before everything had happened, I’d dreamt about bringing up a child with Ethan. Then I’d feared him ever finding out the truth. Now, telling him the truth felt like the most natural thing in the world. How he hadn’t seen it for himself I didn’t know. They looked so alike, sat together on the sofa, heads bowed as they spoke. Ethan ruffled Sammy’s hair; my heart squeezed painfully. ‘It’s only a matter of time until he works it out,’ Violet said. ‘He knows who you are now, and he knows how old Sammy is. It wouldn’t take a genius to put two and two together.’ I bit my lip. ‘I hadn’t thought of that. I’ve had so much else to think
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 075 | Who Took Him?
Aurora’s POV I glanced back at Ethan. He nodded, his jaw set. He stepped closer to me, a silent promise that he - quite literally - had my back, no matter what I opened the door to reveal. I opened it. Sammy lay crumpled on the floor. I dropped to my knees with a cry. “Sammy, sweetheart, look at me,” I pleaded with him. He mumbled something incoherent. I scooped him into my arms; Ethan held the door open for me so I could bring him inside. His eyelids flickered as I laid him down on the sofa. “Sammy?” I whispered, pushing a lock of dark hair off his forehead. He looked so pale, but I could see the steady rise and fall of his chest and hear the soft intake of his breaths. “Shit,” Ethan cursed, running both hands through his hair. He looked between me and the still-open door. “They only just knocked. Whoever took him has to still be close, Aur. I can go after them, or I can stay here with you and Sammy.” I cradled Sammy’s icy cheek. I wanted him to stay, to comfort
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 074 | Sammy is Missing
Aurora’s POVWith shaking fingers I clicked on the light. The cold white flash burnt my retinas. “Sammy?” I called out softly, still hoping he was in the bed, still hoping he was where he was meant to be. I took a step closer.The duvet had been pulled back. A book had been left abruptly, as if dropped, face-down with its spine groaning. Sammy would never leave a book like that.My gut churned.“Sammy!” I cried, panic flaring in my voice.I tore around the room, flinging back the curtains and opening the wardrobe. There were no thoughts in my head, nothing concrete or sensible that would help me find him. There was just terror, raw and biting.Ethan was drawn into the room by my shout. “Is everything okay?”“Sammy’s gone.” I spun around to face him. My bottom lip wobbled. “He’s not in here.”Ethan nodded, reaching out a hand to comfort me even as his expression hardened. I knew that look; that was the Alpha in him stepping forward, the part of him designed to deal with any crisis. H
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 073 | Volcanic
Aurora’s POV“What’s wrong?” I asked. He hadn’t pulled back from me, not an inch. Not even a millimetre. “Don’t stop,” I pleaded.If I paused to think about this, I might never get the chance to have it again. Our relationship was too precarious. “I can’t do this out here,” he whispered, pressing tiny, butterfly kisses up my neck until his breath warmed the shell of my ear. “You’re freezing cold. And… it doesn’t feel right, our first time being out in the open.”His lips brushed over my skin with every word. Shivers of pleasure rolled freely down my spine. I was lost to them. I was lost to him.“I don’t care,” I said breathlessly.He laughed, low and sinful, and I dragged his mouth back to mine. Every piece of him felt like unchartered territory; I wanted to map each stretch of muscle and each sharp line of his face with my lips and tongue. I wanted to know him again, with no pretence between us.“You will care, later. I don’t want to stop, but I don’t want to take you like this. Yo
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 072 | Under the Cover of Darkness
Aurora’s POVMy heart leapt at his words. It felt like my soul surged towards his, that energy buried deep inside me desperate to entwine with his. It wasn’t that everything I hated about our shared past had suddenly vanished; it was simply that my need eclipsed everything else. For a split second, I was no longer the hardened woman I’d become. I let my pain slip away. I let it reveal the vulnerable heart underneath, the one I tried so hard to conceal around him.Oh, Ethan…His gaze flicked from my eyes, dipping lower, caressing my lips. “I still love you,” he rasped, like he was realising it himself for the first time. “You have every right to hate me. I know there’s so much we still need to talk about. But I know how I feel, and I know what I want.” His eyes met mine. “You.”My stomach swooped. There was still so much for us to discuss – but I had to stop kidding myself. I might have set out to get revenge on Ethan, but my feelings for him were still just as real as they’d been a
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 071 | Lies Unearthed
Aurora’s POV“Let me go,” I whimpered. But, deep down, I knew it was over. “I can’t.” His voice was raw, croaky. “I need answers.”I writhed against his grip. His fingers tightened around my shoulder. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said softly. “But I can’t let you go.”“You did before.” I struggled against him. My limbs surrendered to the power of my fear and relief, making me weak in his arms.My pulse pounded against my temples. It’s over, it said, again and again and again. It’s over. “I missed you every second that you were gone,” he croaked, and I jolted upright. I sought out his eyes as they met mine. I felt like I could see deep into his soul. “I knew meeting Aria – meeting you again – felt like coming home. I just didn’t know why.” “You hated me,” I whispered. My eyes filled with tears. “You forced me to divorce you. You tried to make me – make me…” I couldn’t say it. The mere memory of what I’d been through was enough to close my throat.Ethan dragged a hand through his
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 070 | Ethan, I...
Aurora’s POV“Aria,” Ethan rasped, his voice cloaked in the same shadows as his face. I could see only a ghostly figure beside the Wishing Tree, silver moonlight slicing over the broad cut of his shoulders and narrowly missing his features. But I would know his voice anywhere, even in death.I already had, I supposed. Was this my rebirth? Was this my second chance?Edging closer to him, I tried desperately to make out his eyes. When I did, I realised they were closed. “You wanted to meet me,” I murmured.Violet had been right. It would have been a relief to see Selene standing there instead of him. I hadn’t known what to expect from Ethan, but even so his harsh posture was a surprise. His letter had been so kind, and yet he had not moved an inch towards me.“I did.” I agonised over the emphasis he put on ‘did.’I swallowed hard. “Is everything okay, Ethan?”“It was,” he groaned, suddenly breaking from his stiff posture and dragging both hands through his hair. “When I sent you that l
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 069 | She Can't Be Alive
Ethan’s POV“A wolf suppressant?” I repeated numbly.“They aren’t common,” said Joel, filling my silence, mistaking it as a need for further information. “Not many people want to suppress their wolves. Although it could come in handy for me from time to time,” he added, lightly, jokingly, and there went any chance of a promotion for Joel. “Big Billy can be a right pain.”He coughed, then carried on, “There are a variety of suppressants, and they all do different things. Figuring out what this one did took a little more time, but it’s nuanced. It doesn’t remove every trace of the wolf – for instance, were you take it, you’d still be able to hear Sterling, and even shift if you needed to, although it would take more effort than normal, but it would mask his scent. To an extent, anyway. This thing’s not without its faults, but it’s pretty darn good.”“Thank you, Joel. That’s very useful information. I appreciate you taking the time to look into this for me.”“Of course, Alpha Ethan.”I h
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 068 | Patience is a Virtue
Ethan’s POVIt was dark outside. I’d watched the blue go rich and deep over dinner, agonising over every second that passed. Selene and Serena’s voice faded into the insignificant, my clamouring thoughts drowning everything else out.Had Aria got my note? Had she seen it? Had she read it? Had she decided how she felt about me? At times I was sure, so sure, that she felt for me the way I did about her, and then there were other times. Times I thought she might not like me at all. Times I thought she might even hate me.I should have asked her to meet me in the morning. Today had dragged on and on.‘Not just for you,’ said my wolf wryly. ‘Nine can’t come soon enough. But it’s not here yet, and you’re missing a prime opportunity.’‘For what?’‘Surveillance. We need to work out what that toy was doing in the medicine cabinet.’‘I’ve sent it to the lab to be analysed.’‘That might tell you what it is. I want to know what it was doing there in the first place.’I pulled a face. ‘The lab co
