All Chapters of Second Chance for the Alpha: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

James couldn’t think, and he felt stunned. How could she leave now? They’d only gotten this pack back into a routine and the region’s political atmosphere stable. But how can he say no to her? He knew this was her dream. She’d never wanted to be his Beta. It’d been a stopgap measure all those years ago.              This was the last day Emily worked. She’d be leaving in two days to go to her new pack and future mate. She was a little disappointed. With training Evan to take her place, she knew no one planned to celebrate her send-off to the next stage of her life. So much for relatives and friends. James barely spoke to her in the last few days. His words were only to ensure she instructed Evan on one task or another.             “So this is the website where you order all his coffee and fresh foods. T

             James couldn’t get his anger in check. He was furious with everyone. He didn’t want to be around anyone right now. He never did. Emily made these events tolerable. But now his anger didn’t have an outlet because Emily’s reasoning for leaving was so sound, he didn’t have a right to be angry with it or her. With his mother for planning this event without consulting him and then cornering him and Emily like that in front of his guests. One guest was flirting with him at the time she said this. He couldn’t be any more embarrassed than this. His feelings bordered on humiliation. Or so he thought. The mistake with the salad by Evan was over the top and he couldn’t let it go. Now Annabelle’s gone after inciting her father into a rage. James struggled with his temper. He saw red. Desperately, he tried to throttle back his words. He desperately wanted to tell Alpha Haden t

             “You and I are going to talk now, Emily. This has been a long time coming.”             “Talk about what? James, you aren’t making sense. One minute you show up at my place drunk out of your skull asking questions that make little sense. Now you’re standing there a few hours later telling me we need to talk. You started this evening barely looking at me or saying anything beyond hello. Then you take over my going away dinner with some crazy mistake you did nothing to fix but left me, too.” He didn’t bother listening to this. He guilted her to say this as she followed him back to the Lake House.             “I think we’ll both need a drink to have this conversation. Come on.” He disappeared into the house, expecting her

             Emily woke slowly. Her eyelids were heavy and hard to keep open. Groaning, she shifted. When did she go to bed? Her blurry sight came into focus. That’s when she realized nothing was familiar. Dust clung to everything. Whoever owned this place covered the furniture in drop cloths. The air felt stale and not pleasant to breathe. Where was she?             Sitting up, Emily pondered her next move. She felt like she should go back to sleep, but her brain registered that this wasn’t a safe place to sleep. She needed to get out of this building so she could breathe. Stumbling to her feet, she found the door in the gloomy room. Her feet felt sluggish and weighted. But she made it to the door to find out that it's locked. The door handle and lock were old, and she couldn’t see the key anywhere.     &n

             “James, this is insane. What did you do? Where are we?” Emily couldn’t believe he wasn’t a victim. She was the victim. James kidnapped her, but she didn’t understand why he’d done this. “What do we have to talk about that we haven’t talked about a million times? I need to get back soon because I need to close up the cottage before I leave for the airport.”             “Rebecca. Never mind about closing up your cottage.” James said simply as he watched Emily and any telltale response, she might miss and betray herself true feelings with. “We’ve never talked about what happened.” He tried to approach her but hesitated.             “What’s there to say? We lost many people that night. R