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Chapter 9: Whole
Last Updated:
2024-11-01 17:09:35
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The Cursed Alpha’s Fake Bride Chapter 10 - Playing Doctor
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Last Updated : 2024-11-01The Cursed Alpha’s Fake Bride Chapter 12 - Fevered Dreams
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Last Updated : 2024-11-01
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*** Ariana's POVThe corridor outside Ariana’s room felt eerily silent as Cirian stopped at her door. For once, his expression was less predatory and more... calculated. His words during lunch still lingered in her mind, sharp and bitter as the wine she hadn’t touched. He tilted his head slightly, watching her as if trying to decipher her thoughts.“I trust you found the meal to your liking?” he asked smoothly, his tone deceptively casual.Ariana crossed her arms, leaning lightly against the doorframe. “It’s strange,” she said, forcing calm into her voice, “to have such a fine meal in a place that’s so drenched in blood.”Cirian smirked, unbothered. “Ah, but doesn’t blood fertilize the richest soil? Makes everything... thrive.” He stepped back, gesturing toward the door with a flourish. “Rest, my dear. Tonight promises to be enlightening.”Without waiting for her response, he turned and strode down the hall, leaving Ariana staring after him. Enlightening, he’d said. Everything with hi
The Cursed Alpha’s Fake Bride Chapter 74 - Rise and Shine
*** Draven’s POVMiria.The scent of antiseptic stings my nose first, followed by the sterile coldness of the room. The steady beeping of machines grates against my senses. My body feels heavy, my limbs slow to respond, but the fire in my chest is all too real.Miria.Kronos stirs inside me, a restless, prowling presence. His growl echoes in my mind, a single word cutting through the haze.Miria.I lurch upward, my vision blurring as the room spins. The last thing I remember is the forest—the gunshot, her scream, the way the light caught in her eyes.Mate.
The Cursed Alpha’s Fake Bride Chapter 73 - Old Feelings
*** Ariana’s POVThe hospital café feels incomplete, much like everything else around here. Half the walls are unpainted drywall, their seams taped but not yet sanded. A few tables are scattered around the space, mismatched chairs filling in the gaps. Exposed beams stretch across the ceiling, reminding me of how exposed I feel sitting across from Cirian. Cirian sits across from me at one of the few functional tables, his coffee steaming in his hands. The sharp scent of fresh paint and sawdust hangs faintly in the air, almost masking the herbal notes of my tea.A waiter sets down a small plate of biscuits between us, offering a polite nod before retreating to the far side of the café. We’re mostly alone here, the quiet punctuated only by the occasional sound of construction—hammering, a power drill whining, muffled voices echoing down the halls.The setting is intimate, leaving me nowhere to hide. I lift my tea to my lips, the heat brushing my face, and take a slow sip, buying myself
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*** Ariana’s POV…extermination of rogues.A feeling of deja vú settles over me.I can hear the same phrase being repeated in my head but it’s in my father’s voice.I have the sensation of being younger, the days when I would sit on his lap while he worked in the office.Bad actors.Was my father a bad actor?Cirian moves us along, showing me more—the beginnings of a school, a workshop bustling with activity, a communal space where wolves share food and laughter.“This isn’t just a home for rogues,” he says, gesturing to the buildings. “It’s a chance for
The Cursed Alpha’s Fake Bride Chapter 71 - The Council
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The Cursed Alpha’s Fake Bride Chapter 70 - Lingering Lies
*** Ariana’s POVElara’s words cling to the air, heavy and wrong, like the echo of a song sung off-key.“I can’t wait to see him again,” she says, her voice soft and distant. The smile on her lips is as fragile as the flame flickering in the hearth, but her eyes… her eyes are the real betrayal. There’s nothing behind them but static.I shift my weight, the creak of the wooden floor grounding me against the surreal tilt of the moment. “When was the last time you talked to James?” I ask, keeping my tone light, almost casual.Elara’s hands, busy smoothing invisible wrinkles from her dress, falter. She blinks, her expression flickering with something—confusion? Uncertainty? “Right before he left,” she says after a pause, the vagueness in her voice like a half-formed thought.The answer settles into my chest like ice water. There’s no time stamp on that comment, nothing specific to anchor it. I know James has been dead for over a month.“And Cirian,” I say slowly, tilting my head as if the
The Cursed Alpha’s Fake Bride Chapter 69 - Surprise
*** Ariana’s POVThe door clicks shut behind me, and I turn automatically, scanning for a lock. My fingers skim the edges of the wood, searching the smooth surface in vain. Nothing. Not even a latch to bar the door from the inside.I exhale in irritation, stepping back to take in the room, my gaze darting from the chest against the far wall to the chair near the fire. Both seem flimsy options to block the door, but I’m already calculating how much noise they’d make if someone tried to come in uninvited.At least I’d have a warning.Pivoting quickly, my breath catches—no, halts altogether. There’s someone sitting on the edge of the bed.“Elara?” I blurt, my voice sharp as I take a reflexive step back. “What the hell?”The woman perched before me doesn’t flinch, her head tilting slightly as if I were the intruder.“Miss Ariana,” she says softly, her lips curling into a small, fragile smile. It’s disarming, but only because it doesn’t erase the dark circles under her eyes or the hollows i
The Cursed Alpha’s Fake Bride Chapter 68 - First Time
*** Ariana’s POVCirian leans back in his chair, fingers tracing the rim of his wine glass. The soft candlelight flickers across his face, sharpening the angles of his jawline and casting shadows under his eyes.“You know,” he says, a faint smile tugging at his lips, “the first time I saw you, I thought you were going to kill a man.”I blink at him, startled by the statement. My fork hovers over the plate as I meet his gaze. “What?”His smile lingers for a moment, but there’s something wistful in his expression. “It was outside your pack’s border. I’d been tracking a rogue, hoping to bring him into my fold, but I lost him in the woods.”The fi
The Cursed Alpha’s Fake Bride Chapter 67 - The Apology
*** Ariana’s POVThe candlelight flickers softly across the table, its warm glow catching on the edges of the dark wood. The food smells incredible—roasted meat, buttery vegetables, and a faint hint of herbs I can’t place—but I can’t bring myself to eat.Cirian seems perfectly at ease, enjoying his stake like it’s Sunday dinner with the family. His glass of wine sits untouched beside him, though he glances at it occasionally as if debating whether to take a sip.“You’ve changed,” he says suddenly, breaking the silence.I glance up sharply, my fork still hovering over my plate. “Have I?”He smiles faintly, setting his knife down. “Yes. You carry yourself differently now—more confident. More… focused.”The compliment feels like a trap, and I carefully lower my fork back to the plate. “Life has a way of doing that to people.”
