All Chapters of In Service of the Alpha: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

MaraJohnathan walks into the lake with me still in his arms. The water here isn’t freezing cold as it should be, but it's still cool and refreshing on my feverish body.The Alpha doesn’t ask any questions, he simply sits down on a rock in the middle of the lake and starts to wash me.I don’t know what the sticky substance on my skin is. It wasn’t there when Aria surged and the witch forced us to shift.Gradually, the warmth of Johnathan’s body seeps into mine and I stop trembling. My chattering jaw stills and I relax in his arms. Healing my wolf was easy. Gertie did it within minutes. Shifting again for the first time in two years was a different matter. Aria didn't want to do it. She was still weak and frightened. "If you do not shift now," the witch said. "You will for certain die on the next full moon. You have to shift or the spell won't take."I forced Aria to shift. Like a butterfly breaking out of her cocoon. It was painful and difficult, but I refused to give up.I felt eve

Johnathan“Hey Johnny,” the council elder, Liam, says and shakes my hand. “So you really made it happen, hey? Found yourself a worthy Luna before the deadline. I have to say, I’m a little disappointed.”“Don’t call me Johnny,” I say automatically. Eli used to call me that, and I hate it when others use the name. “It’s Johnathan. Why are you disappointed?”My first guess would be that he doesn’t want to incorporate a rogue pack led by a rogue Alpha, but it's not unusual. “I lost a bet because of you. A pretty hefty sum,” Elder Liam says with a guffaw that makes me want to tear his eyes out. “I can be petty and not register your union in time. Win my bet. Or you can give me my money back, and I can register your union right away.”I hang on to the red-hot rage that tries to consume me. “Are you trying to extort me?”“Oh.” Liam gives me the fakes laugh I've ever heard. “Of course not. Think of it as a business deal.”"No," I say firmly."Oh, relax," he says with that same fake laugh. "I'

MaraIn all the years we were married, I never managed to form a mind link with Lucas, and my father refused to use them - he always said if you can’t say something aloud, it’s best to leave it unsaid. I always thought that was a sound policy until I married Lucas - only then, did I realise the importance of a mind link.I formed one with Haley, and we used it whenever I couldn’t leave the house to see her. Every so often, she’d risk her safety to go to the black market for me so she could buy the birth control I used. It was the only way I could talk to anyone other than Lucas. And by the end, I didn't have much to say to him anyway.Every time I think about Haley, I want to cry. I try to tell myself that she wasn’t a bad friend, that she was always there for me when I needed her, but I can picture her with Lucas, laughing about me, telling him everything I confided in her.And now I know that every seeming act of kindness was for her own benefit. Even going to the black market to ge

JohnathanWe wake at dawn next to the same lake where I took Mara to wash after she was healed. Dante went to sleep, but Aria is awake, sitting quietly by my side, staring at me with her unsettling green eyes.“Where is Mara?” I ask through the mind link.“You told her to go to sleep and give me control,” Aria answers. "She is still asleep."She sounds reasonable. A few times while we ran through the forest, Dante gave me temporary control. Nothing Aria did seemed out of the ordinary. She’s just a regular she-wolf.I nod at the tiny wolf. Lucas probably took one look at her and deemed her useless. Having such a small wolf as a mate more than likely bruised his fragile little ego. Many wolves make the mistake of underestimating the small wolves. They have hidden talents, deadly ones at times. “Why don’t you trust me, Aria?” I ask.“You are a man,” she says simply. “An Alpha.”“Fair enough,” I reply with a smirk. “But we’re not all the same. Your father strikes me as a good man.”“He so

Johnathan While Mara is with the healer, Gregory is with me, playing on the floor of my office. I haven’t looked at my cell phone since Friday and I take it out of my drawer to check my emails and messages. I promised Greg we’d go into town for lunch at the country club if he behaved, and he's doing his best to be a good boy. It also gives me some time to catch up on my work. I plug my phone into the charger and start to go through the dozens of emails and texts I missed, making notes to phone some people back tomorrow and discarding the rest. It’s the last text that catches my attention, though. It was the text I received on Friday, right when I threw my phone aside so I could spend time with Greg. I should have looked at my phone. *They are here. My attorney’s name is Herbert Klein. He’s a vampire. He will be in contact. D.* My blood runs cold. Douglas is not dead yet - if he were Mara wouldn’t have had her premonition, but he has to be close to death or, at the very least, i