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The Alpha's Warlock …And into the Fire
Chapter 17 …And into the Fire“Why here?” Ian muttered.Dor had crossed over the northeastern edge of the Kimball territory, passing through the Kimball wards without even a ripple. I forced down the envy that rose up to choke me. I’d be capable of that kind of magic, I knew it — if I’d ever had anyone to teach me. Which made me sound like that bitch of an aunt from Pride and Prejudice, with her I’d have been a proficient if I’d ever learned bullshit, but I kind of got where she was coming from. How were you supposed to reach your potential if you didn’t even know what steps to take to get there?Anyway, Dor was a million of those steps ahead of me, and that was depressing, but it wasn’t the most important issue. I got my head out of my ass and focused. We were a mile or so inside the Kimball territory, but we were right near the road that led southeast toward the Armitage territory. I thought it was fairly obvious why we were here.So did Dor, by the way he sighed, so faintly it wa
Last Updated : 2024-10-29The Alpha's Warlock A Family Reunion
Chapter 18 A Family Reunion“No,” someone was muttering. “No, no, no, no, no…” It took a moment for me to realize it was me, sounding like I was on the verge of a panic attack.By my tingling fingers and the way the top of my head felt like it was buzzing and about to fly away, I was past the verge and plummeting down fast.“How the fuck has he hidden from us all this time?” Charlie, coldly furious. And glaring at Dor, like this was his fault.Dor drew back, offense in every line of his stiff body. “I wasn’t looking for him,” he shot back. “Were you?”“No,” I whispered. “Oh, no.” Everything was blurring in front of me. Tears. Those were tears, making my vision go all swimmy.Charlie turned and looked at me, and then really looked at me, frowning, his blue eyes narrowed and almost glowing. “You’re afraid of him. He’s your father. I’d think you’d be the only person who’d be happy to see him alive.”I felt like I was choking. Happy? Fucking happy?“He’s not happy because he already fuc
Last Updated : 2024-10-29The Alpha's Warlock Blood Will Out
Chapter 19 Blood Will Out“You know that would never work,” I said dully. “We both know it. But there’s an alternative.”My father frowned down at me. “This isn’t a negotiation.”“Yeah.” It wasn’t. And I had to choose my words incredibly carefully, because the faintest hint that I was getting what I wanted, rather than giving in to what he wanted, and he’d say no on general principle. “But you think I’m going to try to escape, somehow. I won’t. Break the bond between me and Ian. The ritual can work if I help, and I will. Let him live, let him go, and I’ll mate with any other alpha you pick.” His brows drew together, thunderclouds on the horizon, and I hurried on. “I would anyway, because I don’t have a choice. But I won’t fight it. Not ever again. You’ll get more out of me if it’s voluntary. And you’ll maybe be able to mend fences with Matthew, and not have the Armitage pack as enemies.”My father snorted and shook his head. “You think you’re so clever, boy. Always have. You think I
Last Updated : 2024-10-29The Alpha's Warlock The Enemy of My Enemy
Chapter 20 The Enemy of My Enemy“This place is a deathtrap,” Charlie said, appearing at my side and kneeling down next to Matthew. His face was pale in the low light, but his eyes gleamed with satisfaction. Whatever he’d done to the shaman who’d killed his vampires had definitely boosted his mood. I was sure as fuck not going to look. “We need to move.”I couldn’t have agreed more, except that I wasn’t sure if I could or not. Matthew chose that moment to stir a little and moan. His lips tightening, Charlie hauled off and slapped him across the face, hard enough that the imprint of his fingers stayed behind.“Watch it,” Ian said, without heat. I tipped my head back a little to glance up at him. He was really going to let Charlie whale on his brother like that? He looked like he was right on the ragged edge, and I couldn’t blame him: taken down by a whole pack of wolves, beaten, gouged, bitten, strung up in chains and muzzled, and then death-cursed in a magical duel, not to mention b
Last Updated : 2024-10-29The Alpha's Warlock Showdown
Chapter 21 ShowdownWaiting was the absolute worst. Well, no. Being chained up and tortured was worse than waiting, and honestly, hiking was maybe even less fun than the torturing.But waiting sucked. Dor sat cross-legged a few feet from me, slowly running some kind of cloth over the edges of his sword, which wasn’t unsettling at all, and he seemed perfectly content to just hang out until the war started. This probably wasn’t his first rodeo. Hell, it probably wasn’t his thousandth rodeo.I kept opening my mouth, closing it again, and then biting my tongue to suppress all the words that wanted to tumble out.Since I didn’t have bitching and moaning to distract me, my mate bond was looming a lot larger in my consciousness. I could feel Ian, angry and worried and determined all at once, and after a while, I could feel all those emotions drawing closer, the bond contracting as he neared.“I think Ian’s on his way here,” I said finally, unable to bear the silence any longer. And anyway,
Last Updated : 2024-10-29The Alpha's Warlock Aftermath
Chapter 22 Aftermath“Nate.” Ian’s voice was so scratchy I hardly recognized it, but it was hard to mistake his looming presence. He dropped onto his knees beside me — really dropped, like someone had cut his strings, and then flopped down to sit cross-legged. “Nate, look at me?”There’d already been people moving around me: some Armitage wolves dragging the shaman away at Dor’s low-voiced direction — hopefully to be bound with some better spells than I’d used on that water bottle. It’d done the job, but it wouldn’t keep him down forever.I’d heard Ian giving orders, hoarse but calm and commanding, sending a few of his pack to harry the remaining Kimballs out of the territory, telling others where to put the wounded Kimballs left behind, and generally managing everything like a fucking boss.Who knew he had it in him? Not Matthew, that was for sure. He always treated Ian like an idiot.And so had I. I buried my face a little deeper in my knees. Yeah, shame was a bitch. Push had so f
Last Updated : 2024-10-29The Alpha's Warlock We’re Both Idiots
Chapter 23 We’re Both IdiotsI woke as Ian tried to sneak out of bed.And that was not happening. He was warm. I was sleepy. No way. I rolled over, doing my best impression of a needy, grabby octopus. Would it be easier to keep him in bed if I had eight limbs and those cool little suction things? Probably, but I managed anyway, wrapping my hands around one big bicep and flinging a leg over his.Ian stilled, halfway out of the bed and halfway underneath me.“I have to go deal with Matt,” he said, voice strained. “C’mon, Nate, let me up. I’ll make coffee.”“Warm,” I mumbled, and tugged on his arm. He wasn’t going anywhere. The gap he’d made in my cocoon of blankets was letting in freezing-cold air, and it needed to be fixed, stat. Everywhere my skin touched his, comfort and heat and coziness seeped into me. “Coffee later. Come back.”I pressed my face into the side of his chest with a happy mmmm — and Ian wrenched his arm out of my hands, jerked out from under me, and tumbled out of b
Last Updated : 2024-10-29The Alpha's Warlock Being Mated Isn’t All Bad
Chapter 24 Being Mated Isn’t All Bad“A love spell? Are you fucking with me right now? What do you mean it’s fucking permanent?” Ian was shouting again. He’d been shouting pretty much since we got to the pack house, first at the council, then at Matthew, and now at Dor, who’d called half an hour before and said he had a few pieces of information for us.Like the fact that Matthew had been under a powerful, insidious love spell for the last few months.Cast by the shaman we currently had in custody in the pack house’s basement, where he was wrapped in a pile of magic-dampening chains courtesy of Dor’s secret stash. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see Dor’s collection of objets, or was fucking terrified.Maybe a little bit aroused.My inappropriate reactions aside, Ian and Dor — thankfully minus Charlie, who was off dealing with his injured vamps, because Charlie was exactly what Ian’s blood pressure didn’t need — were facing off down the hall from Matthew’s bedroom. Matthew was also loc
Last Updated : 2024-10-29
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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
