My Alpha Mate Wants Me Back

Stealing the scroll turned out to be rather easily. All I had to do was instigate a fight between another contender and Layana, and Beta Randale came running, slipping the scroll in the back of his pocket. Grinning like a fool, I had taken it and squeezed in my name at the bottom corner of the page, right before Alpha Kier’s official stamp. Then I’d caressed the paper before returning it where I’d found it. I am lowering another tray of desert before another male—an Alpha in his mid-thirties who keeps looking at me like I’m his meal—when I feel it. The aura change in the room. The electricity cackling in the air. The hair rises on my neck and skin. I don’t know how, but I always know when Alpha Kier is near. His presence is as fundamental to my being as the air I breathe. I feel it my soul and body, jolts and crippling warmth. My heart beat speeds up to a point where it stops beating—if you understand what I mean. There’s his scent too. He smells like snow

I am the talk of the castle, and possibly the entirety of Neredia. That, however, is the least of my problems. The stunt I pulled had the Alpha’s mother, Luna Renae, order the Head Maid to multiply my chores, including clearing out the stables. I am not only the talk of the castle, I have become a laughingstock as well. Mad Jessamine, they’ve nicknamed me. Luna Renae’s aim is to keep me so occupied, I won’t be able to keep up with the tasks given to the contenders. I groan, tossing the rake into the wall. There’s a ball later tonight to celebrate the start of the selection. Tonight, Alpha Kier will take the hand of the most beautifully dressed woman in the gathering and gift her with a dance. The ball is mask-themed, to ensure everyone gets a fair chance. I don’t have a dress, or shoes, and I smell like horseshit. But I will attend that ball. It is the first step in my plan. An hour to the ball, I finish cleaning the stables and head back to the ca

Jessamine Had turning the Alpha down been a part of my plan? Yes. How else am I supposed to get him fall for me if I don’t make him see what he stands to lose? I’d be silly to think getting him to take my hand at the ball will lead to my happily ever after with him. I’m not that delusional. So, I plan to make him think about me all day long, see me everywhere—even in his sleep. Give him a taste of “Mad Jessamine’ and leave him hanging. “You dance surprisingly well, Jessamine,” Gamma Lloyd says, twirling me for the fifth time. “For what? An Omega?” I coo sweetly, gripping his jacket as we twist swiftly, matching the songs changing rhythm. I’m a great dancer. Mother used to teach me when she was still alive. Lessons after lessons, she would never miss one. Not even when we were starving and barely had food to survive on. It is almost as if she knew this day would come. The day her Omega daughter would dance in a room filled with high-class guests, Alph

Jessamine. He gave her flowers. She's been mooning about it all morning, telling everyone who cares to listen that the Alpha handpicked the roses himself. Why am I mad? I know he hates flowers. They make him sneeze. But if he'd gone as far as handpicking the flowers himself, then he must really like Moira. And that makes competing against her even more difficult than it already is. "The first test," Luna Renae starts, unrolling a scroll, and her expression is stern as she says, "Wisdom and Leadership." Alpha Kier enters the hall and I make a point to stare only at his mother. The others are swooning, whispering, rising from their chairs and bowing. My heart's beating hard and fast, but he can't know that. I keep my expression neutral, uncaring, even if I watch him in my peripheral vision. He's staring in my general direction, but I can tell his gaze is fixed on me, the only woman who isn't fussing about his presence. Settling

KierSlowly, Jessamine Everhart gets out of my bed, rising with a grace that surprises. She is in a long pink chemise that reveals nothing, but she looks...I swallow.She yanks my favourite robe off its hangar and wraps it around her body. Her audacity baffles me. "I thought I'd come by to apologize for my behaviour, but you weren't in when I got here. I waited and... well, your bed is more comfortable than the mattresses in the servants quarters. I fell asleep.""And you thought to fall asleep in MY bed?!"She looks up at me, violet eyes searching mine. "You will wed me soon with the Moon Goddess's blessings. It'll be OUR bed soon. I thought I'd start getting used to it as well."If I had any doubts before, they have been erased. Jessamine Everhart has more than a few screws loose in her head. No matter that it's a very beautiful head.She turns around, walking to my closet and prying it open. "Surely, you do not have a problem with that. The same way I did not just see you fool arou