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SIXTY-EIGHT | DEAD FLOWERS
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2022-03-11 06:54:25Atticus
The weight of the sword in his hand was nice, Atticus thought, swinging it in time with his long strides. A light wind caught his hair. He closed his eyes for a moment, revelling in the feel of sunlight on his face.
Even though he’d been walking for what felt like forever, nothing could bring down his mood. How long had he been waiting for this moment? If this walk felt like forever, then he had been waiting an eternity to see his beloved again. Beloved! He snorted at the idea of it, though it settled like a vice around his traitorous heart.
Even here, even now, he could not admit the depth of his feelings – not even to himself. He gripped the hilt of the sword tighter, peering into the distance in the hope of seeing some sign of the Red Ripper pack. Or, better still, some sign of Lily.
Lily. Her name felt like a caress, fluttering through his body until he was sure his muscles were melting
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AtticusAtticus had won, but it didn’t feel like a victory.Not when his hard-won prize looked at him like he was a monster. Not when Lily’s cheeks held onto the gauntness they had taken on during her time as Red Ripper’s captive. Not when her eyes, the eyes he had fantasized about for so long, were flat and so dark a brown he could only see his own reflection in them. There was no fire in her, not anymore.Lily was broken, and in the month since Atticus had so bravely saved her from Red Ripper – and saved his own pack as well – he hadn’t been able to fix her. In fact, Atticus wasn’t even sure that she wanted to be fixed.He huffed under his breath and reached for her. His fingers froze a half-inch from her shoulder. The duvet had slipped down, but her skin was far from bare. She was always cold, now. Anger burned hot in Atticus’s belly. She wore his t-shirt and his sweater
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The Broken Alpha 109 | EPILOGUE
LilyLily stared down at the letter, a tiny smile tugging at her lips. There had been something nagging at her, ever since the battle, and at last she understood what it was.Lily,Or I suppose I should refer to you by your proper title. Luna Lily,I always knew you would grow to be a completely insufferable pack leader. We last met at the Great Battle, as it is already being termed – and, really, should we not wait until longer than a few months have passed before we name things with such grandiose titles? – but you did not seem to recognise me. If I were another, I may have been hurt by that. Then again, you never were very good at seeing through my disguises.Therefore, I have decided to be blunt. I have lost everything. My home and my people are gone. I took that Alpha wolf you had a soft spot for, Atticus, to bargain with Blood Moon. To no avail, might I add. He was more irksome than he was useful, so he has been deposited back in his rightful home. The issue is this: I have no
The Broken Alpha 108 | HEARTFELT
ElijahElijah stared up into Lily’s beautiful face. “Elijah?” she breathed. He gazed at her, feeling like he was staring straight into the sun. Her warmth enveloped him, bringing heat into his frozen limbs. Elijah flexed his fingers and toes, waiting for the dark to swallow him once more.But it did not. He waited and waited, his heart in his throat, but nothing happened. He took a breath, then another. And life went on. His life went on.“I’m alive?” he whispered, raising his bloodied hands to the morning sun. “I think so?” Lily laughed; it broke, becoming a sob. Gently, he was lowered to the ground. They fell into each other, their hands clutching desperately, their bodies pressed flush. Elijah dropped his forehead against Lily’s, just breathing for a moment, relishing in the way his chest hollowed and filled with air. “You’re alive,” she whispered, pulling back to stare at him with wonder swimming in her eyes. “How? I saw you. I,” a hiccup cut her off, and more tears filled h
The Broken Alpha 107 | SUNRISE
Lily“Lily?” her dad murmured, his strong hand settling on her trembling shoulder. “Lils, we can’t stay here. We need to go home.”Sunlight fell in slanted beams through the trees, casting everything in a strange, gold-green light. Elijah looked more faelen than he ever had before, his skin pallid, his pointed ears sticking out of his long hair. She swallowed hard. Her face was dry and stiff with tears and her throat ached from screaming. And her heart lay in tatters on the ground beside him.“I won’t leave him,” she rasped, bowing over his too-still body and clutching at his torn clothes. “I can’t.”He sighed, the sound twisted and broken. “It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s all right. You don’t have to leave him. I won’t either.”She turned to look at her father with fresh tears beading along the dark sweep of her lashes. “You won’t leave me?”“Never again,” he swore. The lump in her throat grew too large for her to speak, but she nodded, her lips quivering. Silent sobs overcame her for
The Broken Alpha 106 | AUBURN
AtticusNeither Ralphin nor Trove spoke to Atticus as they went to face the Blood Moon pack. They kept sharing long glances, only looking away when Atticus tried to catch their eyes.The battle was already diminishing as they joined it. With the magic of Red Ripper gone, the wolves were shifting back into their human forms as the moon set. They had no leaders, no plan, and the Blood Moon pack were fresh and uninjured. Atticus barely had to think as he fell into the easy routine of fighting, punching and scraping and kicking. This part had always come to him with ease. It was other things he struggled with. Other things – like Lily. He slammed his fist into the jaw of a weedy, speckled wolf. Huh, he thought, it was no wonder that one had wanted to join Red Ripper and use their magical hoo-hah to get ahead. It didn’t stand a chance against a real wolf like him. He gripped its throat, squeezed, and something snapped deep within it. He dropped it to the ground, a sneer tugging at his mo
The Broken Alpha 105 | EMPTY
LilyNo.Lily could not think beyond that single word. This couldn’t be happening. She’d waited so long to see Elijah again, and now…No.She shoved out of Atticus’s arms, rage burning through her. “You,” she snarled, slamming her fists into his chest. His unharmed chest, which had been healed by Elijah. “You did this.”He looked at her blankly. “Of course I did. I did it for us, Lily. You would never have been truly happy with me while Alpha – Alpha Elijah lived. He was basically dead already.” He inspected his nails, wrinkling his nose as he picked out a sliver of dried blood.A sob built in her throat. She tore away from him and fell to her knees beside Elijah, gripping his ripped shirt in her fists and bowing her head over his. Her tears fell onto his face, blurring her vision so she couldn’t even see the man she loved. “Come back to me,” she rasped again, her whole body shaking with need.Warm hands pressed in on her. She recognised the touch of Elijah’s Beta, Ithia, and her own
The Broken Alpha 104 | IN DEATH
ElijahElijah fought through the darkness, every step excruciating. His burns seared his flesh, but he was alive. For now.His heart thrashed. The sounds of battle raged ahead, howls and choked off screams and the dull thumps of bodies smacking the ground. It was messy, undignified, and Elijah had never longed to be a part of something so badly.Because Lily had to be there. Everything in him was screaming that she was, even though the thick, pulsating magic cloying the air was throwing off the power of their mate bond. He could not pin her down – but still he knew.At last he reached the clearing. The remnants of magic hung heavy in the cool night air, sparking at his touch as he stepped through the boundary they’d made and through the ring of trees. He paused, sucking in heavy breaths, leaning heavily on a trunk as he tried to pick out Lily amongst the mass of wolves.Bile rose in his throat. Bodies were piled up everywhere, ringing the clearing, bloody and mutilated. He realised wi
The Broken Alpha 103 | KING
AtticusAtticus relished every racing beat of his heart. He was alive, more alive than he had ever felt, and each solid pound of it meant that he was still there. Still fighting.Still fighting for her.When he’d seen that arrogant, too-pretty-for-his-own-good, so-called Alpha kiss Lily, he’d seen red. He’d let that bright, burning red edging his vision become a prediction of the future: Apollo would bleed for all that he’d done. But this fight was no normal fight. Atticus was strong, brutally so, but Apollo never seemed to tire or lag. He had no weaknesses that Atticus could take advantage of, no faltering glances or too-slow reactions. He was on top form, all of the time, and Atticus’s energy was starting to wane.He whipped his head around, searching through the crowd for his Beta or Gamma. They were lost to the writhing sea of bodies, part of the blur of dark fur and bloody teeth surrounding him, packed tight in all directions. His pride kept him from asking them for help. Apoll
The Broken Alpha 102 | CEREMONIAL
LilyA howl shattered the clearing. It tore apart the chants, reverberating through each of the elements swirling through the darkness.The blade froze a hair’s breadth above Lily’s chest. She let out a ragged breath, though her eyes remained fixed on the glint of the blade. It shimmered in the moonlight, trembling in Peverton’s shaky grip.“Potentia grym,” he muttered, shaking his head. Then, again, louder, he said: “Potentia grym!” and raised the blade anew. Before he could slam it down into her chest, though, a huge black wolf smashed into him. Lily gasped, twitching away from the blade as it fell. It caught her foreleg, slicing down towards her paw, her blood dripping down onto the earth before she could tear away.The wolf towered over her on her altar, its fur alight with all four elements. The ends of its black fur were tinged red by the flames; air made its hair sway; ivy coiled up its legs; water slicked down its back. A loud sizzling noise drew her attention away. Her bloo
The Broken Alpha 101 | WARDS
ElijahThe brush of the magic skittering over the veil was cool to the touch. Elijah dipped his fingertips into it, a shiver running down his spine and raising the tiny hairs prickling down his forearms. A sense of foreboding washed over him as he stepped through, his foot landing solidly in Red Ripper’s territory.The entry point of this veil was different to the last one he’d come through. Darkness ebbed and flowed like a river in the far wood, but Elijah turned away from it. He had one goal to focus on: find the cells. Once he’d managed that unnoticed, he could worry about the incessant scratching at the back of his mind and the oppressive weight of magic hanging thick in the night air.Ducking low, Elijah picked his way towards a flickering light in the distance. He’d drawn out a scribbled map of the territory, as it was in his memory, but whether that was accurate to the reality he’d witnessed or if the Red Ripper wolves had changed the pack’s layout since then, he had no idea. I
