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Nothing Wrong with a Few Standards
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2024-10-31 22:07:55Related chapters
The Alpha's Warlock Malicious Compliance
Chapter 2 Malicious Compliance“I’m going to need another few grand this month,” said one of my least favorite voices in the world.The spreadsheet in front of me blurred into a meaningless grid, and my hand tightened around the mouse, plastic creaking in my grip as I fought the urge to use that hand to push my glasses up my nose. That move would be guaranteed to bring on a flurry of mockery from my asshole brother. I forced my fingers to loosen. Even a werewolf without alpha strength could wreak havoc on computer components.“Blake,” I gritted out, glancing up and blinking at him. He came into focus, leaning casually against the frame of my office’s door, hands stuffed in the pockets of his stupid designer jeans—if you were going to spend that much money that wasn’t even yours, wear a suit, dammit, and look like an adult—and with a twisted smirk making his handsome face ugly. At least to me. Plenty of other people seemed to find Blake charming.Well, they found his bank account and
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock Big, Dumb, and Polite
Chapter 3 Big, Dumb, and PolitePechorin’s price for mating me turned out to be a hundred thousand dollars. I choked a little. That would wipe out the money I’d been able to put aside from my monthly payments from my trust and from my salary. The lifestyle my family required me to lead—the expensive clothes and car and dinners and accoutrements—took most of my income. And I was also pretty sure I’d have paid that much not to take his knot, but here we were. That said…I still didn’t have any better ideas.“Jesus Christ, how much do you owe?” I had to ask, when he named the sum.“Sixty grand,” he said easily, without any hesitation. He’d leaned back in his chair, sprawled with one elbow propped on the armrest like a man without a care in the world. Only the faint golden glow in his eyes betrayed him. “But I borrowed the money for reasons that still stand. I need the other forty. And I won’t do it for less. Plus a stipend if this mating lasts a while. We can discuss that.”“Reasons? Be
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock You’re Stalling
Chapter 4 You’re StallingWe didn’t have a snappy soundtrack, and Dimitri didn’t demand that any store clerks give me their ties, but otherwise our day out shopping reminded me powerfully of Pretty Woman. Desperate, weirdo rich guy paying for someone way more objectively attractive to pretend to date him: check. Simmering awkwardness between the protagonists: check. Sidelong looks from everyone who helped us in the stores: very much check, because we made a suspicious pair, me dressed in clothes ten times more expensive than the ones I was buying for him with a no-limit credit card, and him glowering at ties like he expected them to leap up and try to strangle him.We even got pizza despite my objections to the plastic-like cheese and not-organic sauce—although we carried it ourselves to a small, grimy table in the mall food court, rather than having it delivered by a flunky.We already had a pile of bags around us, and Dimitri had rebelled at the idea of trying on “one more fucking
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock Point of View
Chapter 5 Point of ViewMy sense of ease had drained away completely by the time I unlocked the front door of my house and awkwardly ushered Dimitri inside.“So. This is home,” I said, pushing the door shut behind him with an echoing click.Or maybe it only echoed in my throbbing head.Dimitri dropped the bags and glanced around the foyer before shrugging and taking off into the house without even being invited.Well, the hundred thousand dollars I’d just transferred to him so that he’d be willing to fuck me probably qualified as an invitation, to be fair.“This is McMansion hell.” His voice drifted back to me from somewhere deeper in the house. “Is there some reason why everything’s all kind of tan-colored?”The short and truthful answer: my mother thought beige was “classy,” and I didn’t have a spine.The answer I gave, once I’d swallowed down my rising irritation: “It’s neutral and you don’t need to worry about it not matching anything.” I followed him out of the foyer and down a
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock It Gets Bigger
Chapter 6 It Gets BiggerThat can-do attitude lasted until the late morning of the next day.I’d slept the rest of Friday plus all night, finally waking up at the unthinkably late hour of eight-thirty on Saturday morning. Usually I had an alarm for six-thirty and woke up half an hour before that. Even on weekends.Dimitri emerged from the guest room across the hall as soon as I stirred, standing in the hallway between our open bedroom doors and running a hand through his messy hair to get it out of his face.The bastard looked like an underwear advertisement.I probably looked like someone had dragged me backward through a couple of hedges.“Hungry?” he said. “I’m starving. I’m going to figure out if you have anything in your kitchen if you don’t need any help.”I shook my head, the thought of Dimitri’s “help” in the shower, or with getting dressed, making my blood run cold. Yeah, he might be shockingly sympathetic and nonchalant. But I’d humiliated myself quite enough, thank you.H
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock I’ll Be Expecting More
Chapter 7 I’ll Be Expecting MoreAt last, the overwhelming sensory input from the formation of the mating bond faded slightly, and I opened my eyes and tried to readjust to reality. Same white pillow. Same off-white wall. The familiar sounds from outside: a lawnmower in the distance, the buzz of a helicopter passing overhead. Birds chirping in the tree by my bedroom window.But it all hit me at a slight angle, off-kilter. Like the world had shifted around me, only I knew it hadn’t. I was the one who’d changed.And I had Dimitri wrapped around me, his cock buried inside me, and his bite on my neck.A shudder ran through me, and Dimitri stiffened. “Fuck, please tell me you’re not having another seizure,” he said roughly, his breath ruffling my hair. “You were shaking when we fucked, too, and your muscles clenched up. Dammit, if I’d known I wouldn’t—”“I’m fine,” I whispered. For a certain value of fine, anyway. “Not a seizure.”Every cell in my body tingled and twitched. But not becau
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock A United Front
Chapter 8 A United Front“Explain yourself,” my father said heavily. “I understood that you were too unwell to deign to go to the office yesterday. And now we find you capering around the house with…someone like this.”Ah. So it wasn’t only Dimitri coming in and out of the gate that’d triggered this parental “concern.” My day off had rung some alarm bells, apparently.I opened my mouth, even though my mind was spinning like a hamster in a creaky wheel and I had no fucking clue what to say, but Dimitri got there before me. “It’s traditional to spend some time alone with your new mate, and I decided to humor Brook when he wanted the day off.” Humor me? The fuck? “Maybe you should explain why you came in without waiting for us to open the door. You’re lucky a little capering is all you walked in on.”My head went light and floaty, spots swimming in my vision. We should’ve been at my parents’ place by appointment, dressed perfectly, a cool and collected power couple making our announcem
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock The Best Defense
Chapter 9 The Best DefenseThe glass and concrete front of Castelli Industries’ main campus shone blindingly bright in the morning sun, which had risen about the same time I did. By the time I pulled into my assigned parking spot right in front, it’d gotten high enough to light the building up like a beacon.Only a couple of other cars scattered the lot: my father’s, of course, in its very special parking spot even closer to the entrance than the handicapped spaces—possibly illegal, but no one said anything—and also a couple of others farther back, belonging to security guards and janitors.Dimitri had seen me off, much to my surprise. His absurdly rumpled bedhead, ferocious scowl, and slitted eyes had confirmed my impression of him as not much of a morning person. But he’d started the coffee machine while I took a shower, grunted something that sounded encouraging as he handed me a cup, and hadn’t killed me.Overall, not the worst way to be sent off at the crack of dawn to a meetin
Last Updated : 2024-10-31
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The Alpha's Warlock Epilogue :You Don’t Want a Choice
EpilogueYou Don’t Want a Choice“Mr. Castelli,” Laura said, and smiled warmly. “Go right in. He’s never too busy for you.”“You know it’s Blake.” She shook her head, laughed, and went back to typing.I hadn’t yet given up on trying to convince Declan’s assistant that I didn’t deserve any particular formality; after nearly four months of trying, though, I’d started to fear it was hopeless.I set the double latte I’d grabbed on my way at the edge of her desk—if she insisted on calling me Mr. Castelli, I’d at least make sure she said it with affection—and stepped into Declan’s office.He glanced up from his laptop and then immediately back down again, which I knew meant “I’ll forget what I was typing if I don’t do it right now.” At first that’d hurt my feelings. Shades of being treated like an unwelcome and disliked inconvenience at Castelli Industries, of so many times I’d been called on the carpet in my father’s office only to be ignored until he deigned to notice me. But I knew it w
The Alpha's Warlock A Lucky Man
Chapter 21A Lucky ManIf I’d really tried, I might’ve been able to look at a calendar and count how many times Declan had laid me out on his bed, naked and waiting for him to take what he wanted.But I didn’t need to count to know that it’d never been like this.He settled me on my back, head carefully placed on a pillow, kneeling between my legs and leaning down to stroke a hand through my hair and down my cheek, coming to rest across my throat. Instead of a threat, it felt like safety.All right, a little bit of a threat.But that only had my cock perking up, getting harder every second that he pinned me down, glowing eyes fixed on my face with an intensity that would’ve had any sane man running away screaming.Or spreading his legs.I went with option two, letting my knees fall open to give him full access, my arms relaxed at my sides. Touching him—I wanted to, and I would. But right now I knew what he needed from me, and that was complete surrender, allowing him to re-stake his
The Alpha's Warlock Ten Years Ago
Chapter 20Ten Years AgoNo matter how many times I’d daydreamed about Declan kissing me, the reality far outstripped the fantasy—and how often could you say that about anything? His mouth took control of mine the same way his body had taken control of me so many times, opening me and tasting me and laying me bare for him to use however he wanted.Which happened to be what I wanted too, so badly that I ached for it. His tongue teased between my lips and twined with mine as his arms tightened, gathering me so close that not a millimeter of space was left in between us.Declan kissed me until I couldn’t breathe, my lungs hot and laboring. All the pain and fear of the last few hours melted away, a much better and more natural kind of magic than the ones I’d experienced so far tonight.I pressed against him, kissing him back with everything I had, trying to spread my legs and wrap myself around him and take him into me so that he’d never leave.Declan tore his mouth away and lifted his h
The Alpha's Warlock My Life Mattered
Chapter 19My Life MatteredWhen I woke up, the SUV was moving—but I couldn’t shift so much as a muscle. My head had gotten crammed against the door and my neck ached like a bitch. My arms lay limp, one dangling to the floor of the car and the other on my leg. I tried to twitch a finger.No go.I couldn’t open my eyes, either, or speak. My autonomous functions weren’t affected, though: I could still hyperventilate. Lucky me.Kidnapped. I’d been fucking kidnapped, and the first thing Declan would do would be call me. No doubt they’d gotten rid of my phone. Then he’d look for me. He wouldn’t find me. And then he’d probably request—and be allowed, professional courtesy and all that—to review the security footage of me leaving the party and the path I’d followed from there.For a brief, shining instant, I almost felt relieved. Declan would look for me, he’d see the video and know—despair squeezed my chest into a tight ball.He’d see me looking nervous and running out of the building as i
The Alpha's Warlock This Won’t Go On
Chapter 18This Won’t Go OnDeclan hustled me out the door the second I emerged from the bathroom, ushering me downstairs and into a waiting limo. A nice one: black, not too stretched, no neon lights or anything tacky, nothing I’d have to be embarrassed about riding in.I tried to focus on how good it felt to be wearing decent clothes, going somewhere in a respectable vehicle, and for fuck’s sake, actually leaving the Morrigan and going somewhere, rather than on being in an enclosed space with Declan and our combined scents of sex and alpha desire.If I focused on that, I’d end up begging him to knot me in the car after all.The limo pulled out of the Morrigan’s driveway and into traffic on the Strip. It was Friday night stop and go. Maybe we had time for a fuck after all?“Where are we going? Am I allowed to ask?”“Not far,” he said, putting paid to my hopes. “A few blocks. If I’d been going with Wa—colleagues I probably would’ve walked. I thought you might appreciate going in style
The Alpha's Warlock I Missed Your Voice
Chapter 17I Missed Your VoiceSince I’d never slept in Declan’s bed before, I woke up confused, disoriented, and with a mouth that tasted like someone had murdered a particularly sandy desert and buried its corpse under my tongue.Well, that last part didn’t have anything to do with Declan’s bed, to be fair.I rolled over and groaned, throwing an arm across my eyes to keep the sunlight out, because someone had left the blinds wide fucking open when he got up and went to work.I knew I’d be fine once I had a couple of glasses of water and a bite to eat; hangovers weren’t really that much of a thing for werewolves without serious effort involving multiple illicit substances, and I hadn’t been to a party that good in like, six months. But seriously. Close the damn blinds. Fuck.It crossed my mind to find my phone, make some coffee, and send him a text complaining about the window.And then I sat bolt upright, head in my hands, and let out another groan.I’d slept in his bed. We hadn’t
The Alpha's Warlock Kind of Endearing
Chapter 16Kind of EndearingI woke up the next day just after eight o’clock, early by my previous standards but late by the standards of the company I kept these days. The cold coffee pot, holding only a few teaspoons of dregs, told me that Declan had been up and gone for hours. The usual hundred dollar bill sat beside it.That felt a little bit like I’d been slapped. I’d sat there and worked on that stupid spreadsheet for three full hours the day before without even getting up for a glass of water. I’d only stopped when Declan stood, put on his jacket, and told me it was quitting time.But apparently he assumed I’d be right back to blackjack and vodka today.Well, fuck him.I made a fresh pot of coffee, ordered some room service—an omelet, because I knew if I had any carbs at all I’d fall asleep with my face in the keyboard—and dressed in the closest thing I had to what the other people I’d seen in the offices had been wearing, black slacks and a blue button-down. I couldn’t wear a
The Alpha's Warlock Try Me
Chapter 15Try MeLetting it all go seemed easy at first.I’d spent so many years showing—and allowing myself to feel—only the most surface of emotions: anger, entitlement, arrogance. Under the circumstances, I chose to temporarily trade those in for indifference, apathy, and resignation, but it was just as fake and just as likely to keep people from looking any deeper.My family hadn’t looked any deeper. Neither had Declan. Clearly, no one wanted to.And it worked. When I didn’t try to fight back, didn’t bother arguing or demanding answers, Declan didn’t go out of his way to humiliate or torment me aside from the rough, careless way he used me. He texted me at some point during the day to let me know when he wanted me available to be fucked, I awaited him obediently, and he fucked me. Sometimes he put me on my knees instead, or in addition to. I opened my mouth or spread my legs, and I moaned and cried out when he made me come, but I didn’t talk more than I absolutely had to.I took
The Alpha's Warlock What’s Worse?
Chapter 14What’s Worse?Declan’s knot hadn’t gone down at all by the time I blinked my eyes open and slowly came back to reality, lying on my side with Declan wrapped around me from behind. The bite he’d left on my neck throbbed in time with my heartbeat. I could feel his, too, syncing with mine and vibrating through my back.And I felt safe again, which made me want to throw up and then run away screaming.Well, he’d already made me scream. Running away was out. And it’d suck to throw up all over the bed and be stuck here.Unfortunately, that left me with nothing to do but lie there enclosed in his arms listening to his steady breaths in my ear, savoring the heat of his body and the softness of the bed.Ugh. Savoring. I really was, and it made me swallow hard against a wave of real nausea.But it suddenly occurred to me that maybe Declan felt something similar. Pheromones. Hormones. Borderline mating-magic. I couldn’t be the only one completely at their mercy, could I? He might not
