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Chapter 17 : A Trap Is Set
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Alpha's Secret Mate Chapter 18 : A Crowd of Suitors
Ayda's POV In Emerald Lake, we didn't have ballrooms in the traditional sense.We had open-air amphitheaters for the orchestra that opened into massive, elaborately mosaicked dance floors that glimmer like gems in dazzling garden mazes. All so we could sway with those we loved under the stars. In a sense, I was no stranger to the unimaginable beauty of a dance hall. That said, the ballroom took my breath away.Unlike the main foyer with its fantastic imitation of the night full of the stars, the ballroom had the advantage of owning a splendorous glass ceiling; the center opened to display the moon as she made her trek across the sky. Around the crescent skylight, were fantastic scenes of wolves leaping through clouds and darkened forests. The glass marble, in a way, gave each color a certain depth, a shimmering effect that made the wolves seem almost alive. Obsidian pillars shaped like naked trees with their branches acting as both frame and solder points led the eye
Alpha's Secret Mate Chapter 19 : Taken by the Prince in the Shadows
Ayda's POV "We match," Sebastian whispered in my ear, once we were quite away from the party. Back near the courtyard again, I'd noticed, and my heart rate skyrocketed. "Did you know?""I hadn't," though it pleased me to no end that we did. His suit was a cool slate with a matching vest, tie a rich burgundy to match the—"Is that a red jasmine?"His smile widened, and he plucked the flower up to show me: "I heard they were rare, but I figured you'd appreciate the blossoms more than roses. I…I've overstepped some bounds, haven't I?""That's not—I just didn't think—" You cared enough? You'd remember enough to care? "—the gesture is fine. That's all." Ah, way to go Ayda; now he'd probably think you hated him!"I could–" Sebastian unfurled his arm, putting some distance between us. I mourned the loss. He was putting up his walls, shielding his heart from anything that would hurt it. "Return you to the party, if you would like, once you have your moment of solitude. I'
Alpha's Secret Mate Chapter 20 : Death in the Castle
Ayda's POV When I awoke, it was still dark, and so too, were my thoughts.If things had been different…If things had been different, if things had worked like the stories, then I would have been with Sebastian that night in Twilight Tavern and not his brother. It would have been Sebastian I would have given my maidenhood to and not… not to his brother. Sullied. A moment of puddle deep lust and nothing more.If things had been different, perfect, Alex might have still lived to marry Narcissa, leaving Sebastian able to betroth me. No one would have cared so long as the Golden Prince was still alive.Sebastian yawned, head pillowed on his knuckles leaning over me on top of his sheets. Sheets, blood red like the vision that haunted my sleep, and I made a sound like a wounded lamb."I was wondering when you'd wake up." He scooped me up, kissing the crown of my head. "I'm afraid that the halls are still packed with dignitaries. Apparently, there's a scavenger hunt f
Alpha's Secret Mate Chapter 21 : The Crown
Ayda's POV "Ayda!""Sebastian!"There wasn't much time before the guard took him away, and I was lost in the fray of panicking nobles. Alarmists were saying it was a planned attack, that someone matching the South Towers killer had been spotted; others claimed that it was likely old age and too much excitement. They reasoned that Kostas had Sebastian late in life and was almost to his seventy-fifth year before his passing. If it was not murder, then surely it was a stroke or cardiac arrest. Those too drunk to parse the grave news figured the king's demise to be an elaborate hoax. A jest, they sang, a wondrous trick to delight his audience during this time of revelry!I wondered then, getting shoved down the corridors, feeling faint, which tale was true. Could there be an assassin in our midst—I felt a pang, ice water replacing the blood in my veins as dread so thick I could scarcely breathe loomed over me. My son! Something was wrong with my son! August
Alpha's Secret Mate Chapter 22 : Eye for an Eye
Ayda's POV It was surprisingly easy slipping out of the castle through the stable hand's entrance in the undercroft. Likely, it was due to the door being ripped right off its hinges. Nicolette and I looked at each other, another sign of sabotage. This one, in particular, made four.There had been evidence of tampering with the lock on the male servants' side (a deadbolt of pure silver was fastening their double doors together, locking the men within their hall), scent dampeners placed in strategic locations, and the deaths of several stable hands.Nicolette had been quiet ever since we'd discovered the bodies. More friends left to the slaughter.The scent led us through the woods and ancient temple where I'd first transformed, over the ravine where I'd nearly fallen, and towards the river that bisected the king's hunting grounds from those of the rest of the village. I almost overlooked the wagon on the road, eyes so focused on a scrap of red or the scent of
Alpha's Secret Mate Chapter 23 : Rats in the Larder
Sebastian's POV "No, I will not be making—if you would all just—"It was too loud, too much color and sound and light. Like I'd had too much to drink, or not enough of it. Where was Ayda? I could have sworn she was right behind me—where did she go? How could she leave me when I needed her most? My mind was spinning, and all I could see were my father's eyes as he clutched my shirt front, foaming blood. He was so scared at the end. He'd been so scared—"Bastian," Andreas was at my shoulder, crouched low to share my pain and offer his support.I could feel the pressure of his gloved hand on my back, a reassuring anchor as I spun, lost in the void of my own grief. I was the last, the last of my family, the last of the Lykaios. "Bastian, you…you have to let him go. We have to make arrangements. We have to—""I know," my voice was rust, the decay of steady iron against waves of loss. First Mother, then Alex, now Father. Alone, always alone. "Th
Alpha's Secret Mate Chapter 24 : Revelation
Ayda's POV We couldn't go back to the castle; it was clear Narcissa knew, not just about August and his true parentage but about my feelings for Sebastian as well. She had to have seen the way I held his hand, the way we'd both walked into the throne room together. She knew Sebastian didn't love her, and the feeling was hostilely mutual; I'm sure she expected him to stray just like her previous fiancé had.For now, the castle was off limits, though my heart ached to have Sebastian so far from me, trapped in the belly of the beast. I did not think Narcissa would slay him until after the wedding if being the sole ruler was indeed her game and had been from the start. Pelham had suggested, after we buried his brother and fellow soldiers in shallow graves, that the coup was only just the beginning of Narcissa's plan.If the lad was to be believed, there was an entire cult at work over in the Northern territories that had slowly been gaining support ever since the War
Alpha's Secret Mate Chapter 25 : Captured
Ayda's POV "Now hear me out, as a friend—as a very concerned and worried friend who has just seen a whole bunch of people get killed in various horrifying ways—maybe it isn't the best idea in the world to go back to the place that has all the people who want to kill you in it. Just a thought."Nicolette had her two index fingers pressed together, the point resting under her thick bottom lip. Pelham eyed us wearily, awkwardly holding the yoke in his hands, shifting his focus from the grazing cattle to our standoff. We were still about half a day's journey to the nearest settlement, but to go any further would risk the cattle to a tragic death by exhaustion.Pelham had felt that we'd covered enough ground that should anyone learn of Nicolette's and my departure from the castle, they'd be pressed to figure out which path we choose. Even if it was common knowledge that we both could shift, we still needed to rest, which meant there would be long stretches of time wher
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