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They Just Felt Like a Bad Idea
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2024-10-31 15:10:04Related chapters
The Alpha's Warlock Fake Mate for Real
Chapter 18 Fake Mate for RealAfter that bombshell left me too stunned to speak, the previously-silent Matthew stood up and took charge, handing out tasks to everyone present in a way that no one ignored, not even Nate.Ian took the SUV’s keys and went to move it around by the garage, promising to put mine and Drew’s bags in a spare bedroom. Calder dragged Drew to the corner of the basement, stuffing one of the couch’s thin throw pillows under his head, and sat down on the floor next to him, leaning his head against the wall and closing his eyes. His body language radiated a total lack of concern. I hated seeing Drew lying there like that on the hideous orange carpet. I wanted to drop to the floor and hold his head myself, stroke his hair off his sweaty forehead. My fingers practically itched with the desire to touch him. I felt so cold without him next to me.On the other hand, no one would be more capable of keeping him under control than Calder, and if he woke up to me touching h
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock Bent to His Will
Chapter 19 Bent to His WillDawn had fully broken before Drew started to stir. I lifted my head and watched him wake, the flutter of his eyelids and the tensing of his muscles as he came out of it.When his eyes opened, they glowed.Well, shit.Drew blinked up at me.I waited, rigid with suspense.“Ash,” he said, still low and growly, but a lot saner than before. He moved so quickly I couldn’t react, wrapping his arms around me and flipping me under him, looming over me. “Where the fuck are we? And why are we—” His eyes went wide. “Fuck, I mated you, I mated you when—”“No, you didn’t, you didn’t do anything to me, calm down!” Drew subsided, breathing hard, and I reached up and put my hands against his chest, half petting and half holding him off—not that I’d be able to, of course. “I found a shaman,” I said, choosing to omit Nate for the moment. Drew’s reaction to the word “warlock” might be explosive, and I didn’t blame him. “He put a spell on you. On us, actually. It fakes a mati
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock What Are Your Plans, Exactly?
Chapter 20 What Are Your Plans, Exactly?A hard, insistent pounding—of a totally different kind than I’d been enjoying before I fell asleep—startled us both awake a little while later. By the angle of the sun, no more than an hour or two later.Ugh.Drew rolled me off of him with dizzying speed and flopped me onto the mattress, and was on his feet before I could even blink the sleep out of my eyes. He had his claws extended and lips drawn back in a snarl to show his fangs.He’d made it to the door before I could get it together, because aside from still being groggy as hell—well, Drew. Naked, and prowling, and half-hard. Who could have more than a single brain cell available under those circumstances?“Don’t answer the door like that!” I managed, and Drew stopped with his hand on the doorknob.“Why not?”“Because they’re helping us, remember? You don’t need to maul anyone. Or flash them.” I shook my head, trying to clear out some of the cobwebs, and pushed myself up to sitting. The
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock Two Beds
Chapter 21 Two BedsWith Drew fully in command of his faculties, I didn’t have a damn thing to do once we got in the car. He knew where we were going, he could use his own phone and nav system without any help from me, and he certainly didn’t seem inclined to start a conversation, driving a little too fast and in grim, thoughtful silence.I’d have given a lot to know what he was thinking about, but on the other hand…probably better not to ask.Midafternoon sun slanted in through my window, too bright and hot without the mitigating effect of the cool breeze outside.I tried rolling my window down a few inches.The noise and the wind in my face drove me nuts.I rolled it back up again.Drew didn’t say anything.It’d taken us a little while to get on the road, time I’d spent sitting awkwardly in the kitchen with Nate, who’d made two giant pots of coffee while we waited. When I’d come back to the house, he’d told me Drew was off somewhere talking to Calder.“Three guesses where Calder a
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock I’m Not Any Better
Chapter 22 I’m Not Any BetterI’d only managed a couple of sips of the foul hotel coffee—my sense of taste: definitely overrated—when the door clicked and Drew stepped in.“I brought you some better coffee and a muffin,” he said before I could even open my mouth. The cup and paper bag landed on the desk in front of me, and Drew dropped onto the foot of his bed. “And the background checks I ran and then forgot about while I was going nuts came back. I have information for you. Some of it’s good news, I think.”Good news. My head and belly churned in opposite directions.“Good news,” I repeated, my voice a scratchy whisper.Drew smiled, his eyes soft. “Yeah. Ash, I think I found your parents.”My parents.“My parents?” Shit, I couldn’t stop repeating everything he said, the words tumbling around and around my head without attaching to anything. Parents. Wouldn’t they have tried to find me? Help me? Did they believe the accusations against me?“Their names are Judith and Paul Stern, an
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock That’s the Spirit
Chapter 23 That’s the SpiritReal life didn’t intrude for the rest of the day, and I didn’t rush it.Having an alpha mate turned out to be pretty fucking fantastic. For one, I didn’t have to walk anywhere anymore, it seemed like. He carried me to the shower, washed me in the least efficient way possible—I mean, tongue baths worked for cats, but did it actually get you as clean as soap? I doubted it, not that I complained—and then carried me back to bed, where he got me even dirtier. At length.For another, I didn’t need to feed myself. Drew ordered pizza, put on a pair of pants just long enough to collect it at the door, and then brought it to me in bed. I wouldn’t let him actually hand-feed me, even though he tried, but—pizza. Without even getting out of bed.The list would’ve been a lot longer if he’d given me time to think about it.He didn’t.But the sun finally rose on the next day, and I blinked my eyes slowly, adjusting to the light. We’d ended up in the bed I’d started in be
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock Free and Clear
Chapter 24 Free and ClearThey talked.They started to protest and posture, but Drew extended his claws, flexed his hands, and told them to sit the fuck down.Both of them dropped down on the couch like someone had broken their kneecaps, Clayton’s nose still bloody and his neck blooming with bruises, and Brian, who’d muttered his name in response to Drew’s demand, looking like he might faint any second.Drew pulled up a chair—for me, as it turned out—and then stood next to me, facing the other two, and loomed.“I know Ash didn’t beat you up,” Drew said. “And I know he didn’t steal a car. What happened that night? Full story. Leave anything out, and you lose a finger.”“How would you know if we—”“Shut the fuck up, Clay!” Brian hissed. “That’s a fucking alpha, he’ll kill us both.”“He won’t kill you,” I put in, hoping that was true. “Right, Drew?”He glanced down at me. “Not unless they lie to us.”Well, okay then. I shrugged at the shivering duo across from me, making a face that tr
Last Updated : 2024-10-31The Alpha's Warlock Epilogue : Home at Last
Epilogue Home at LastDrew turned to me where I sat in the passenger seat, my stomach churning and my head so light I thought it might float away.“You ready, baby?” he asked me again.I swallowed down bile and stared at the little house across the street, with its weathered blue paint and a lawn surrounded by dwarf citrus trees, lemon and orange, and a lavender hedge along the sidewalk. Concrete walkway to the front door. A bird bath next to an old wooden lounge chair.Home.I pushed my door open and got out, knowing that if I didn’t do it right that second, I never would.This time, Drew followed me up the path instead of leading the way like he had at Clayton’s apartment building. The very last rays of sunset gilded the porch and glittered off the front windows, blinding me for a second.Long enough that when the front door opened before I could even set foot on the doorstep, it took me a second to see who stood there.Another step forward.A woman, maybe in her fifties, with cur
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
