All Chapters of Alpha Nero: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Camellia/“Run. Run. RUN!”//“Don’t let them catch you, don’t let them see you. You have to keep them safe; you have to get away from here! Go!”/I’m running, but I don’t know why. It’s raining and the dense undergrowth of the forest obscures the jagged stones underneath; my feet are sore and bloodied, the stitch in my side has nearly winded me.Everything is slippery but I’m running like my life depended on it… Which it probably does, seeing as I’m running with a swollen belly./“You need to run!”/The warning echoes in my head every time I try to slow down and catch my breath, but my instincts seem to guide me safely across the darkened forest. I turn my head to look behind me and don’t see anything at all, but the fear of being caught still propels me forward.Who am I running from? Who am I supposed to protect besides the baby in my belly? “…lia! Stop!” someone calls out. The voice is distant, almost drowned out by the pounding rain and my own ragged breaths. The sound makes

NeroI get out of the fucked-up rental car and wait for the contact I’m supposed to be meeting with my brothers, Osiris and Orion. This small Italian town is a far cry from the sprawling urban jungle I’m used to. “The Boot’s shitstain,” I mutter under my breath, glancing around the little town that seems too perfect to be real. Quaint, picturesque, and utterly grating on my nerves.This place is nothing like home. I glance over at my brothers, both looking like they’re spoiling for a fight. “Lighten up, Nero,” Osiris says, his hands shoved in his pockets. He’s the optimist of the three of us, always looking for a silver lining. “We’ll be in and out before you know it.”“Yeah, right. Knowing Matteo, he’ll drag this,” Orion grumbles, adjusting his leather jacket. He’s the one who sees the world more like I do—through a lens of distrust and scepticism.They flank me as we walk down the narrow cobblestone street towards the meeting spot. Orion and Osiris might be twins, but you’d never

Camellia / LiaI know that man from yesterday.I have no idea where I know him from, but as soon as I saw him sitting in the back with Marcus yesterday, I felt it. A tug in the center of my chest, and when we made eye contact, I could see the sliver of shocked recognition in his eyes even as he tried to hide it.Those eyes… The same eyes I fell in love with five years ago in a hospital surrounded by people I don’t know. The same eyes as my son. Then he walked past me and the scent of bergamot and leather immediately made me pause.Without a doubt, I know this man; or rather, I knew him. Could he be the one who left me here for dead?I shake my head and look up just as the cafe door opens; only to meet the gaze I couldn’t get out of my mind yesterday. My hands shake as he makes small talk with me, noting that he has an American accent, and I have to steady them when I get his coffee.Caramel rum cannoli. No one else orders it and no one in town makes it, only us and only because I aske

Camellia / LiaIt’s been a week now. Every single day, he comes in, orders the same thing, Caffe Macchiato and a caramel rum cannoli, and sits at the same table. He doesn’t say much, but he doesn’t need to. I know he’s here for me. Nero. Just saying his name in my head makes my heart flutter and my mind whirl with fragments of memories I can’t quite grasp.Something in my heart tells me I know this man, but I have no way of confirming it without looking like an idiot. It was mortifying enough last time when he looked at me with pity; I’d rather not see that look ever again.Today is no different. The café is bustling with the usual morning crowd, and I’m in my element, serving customers, chatting with the regulars. The bell above the door chimes, and I don’t even need to look up to know it’s him. I can feel his presence; like a magnetic pull.“Morning, Lia,” he says, his deep voice cutting through the din. Gods, he always smells so good, and it takes everything in me not to pull him

Nero“I haven’t felt this fucking nervous since I first asked her to be mine,” I mutter to myself as I pace the length of the living room. In less than half an hour, I have to pick up Camellia for our date and pretend that I don’t know every inch of her. I have to sit across from her and make small talk again, biting my tongue so ‘I fucking miss you’ doesn’t slip out.I realize that I’m in way over my head here. Camellia and I are childhood sweethearts and fell in love at sixteen; we knew each other from a young age. Right now, I have to work on winning her over without the familiarity and honestly, I have no idea how I’m going to do that.What about me drew her in the first time? I’ve never been arrogant enough to ask her when she fell in love with me, it just seemed inevitable between us. She always felt like home, she was always mine.“Fucking think,” I mutter, pinching the bridge of my nose. I don’t know if I should push or just let it happen without trying. That’s how it worked