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122 | Why did it have to be her?
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An Affair with the Alpha 123 | We'll wait for the dust to settle
Stephen’s POVHyacinth was kept under observation in the medical centre for a full day after Rhiannon left, despite her repeatedly telling various doctors and Omegas that she felt fine, thank you very much. I stayed with her the whole time, leaving only to collect a basket of fruit from my family and bringing it back to her.When we finally made it back to her cabin – our cabin, although it felt weird to say that, knowing I’d moved into it to be with her sister – there was a fresh fruit basket awaiting us on the kitchen table. I muddled raspberries and boiled water, and told her to wait on the sofa, under a blanket, for her tea.“So.” She swung her legs and gripped her mug. She still looked even paler than usual and sleep-deprived, with heavy bags under her eyes and sallow cheeks. “What happens now?”My throat bobbed. “What do you mean?”She gestured vaguely towards me. “With us.”An awkward silence sat between us. I glanced at the fire, remembering the feel of the rough wood against
An Affair with the Alpha 124 | Enough is enough
Stephen’s POVI hit the floor hard. I didn’t quite black out – but I wanted to.The pain was everything. There was no part of me not consumed by it. My blood burned and my skin turned to ash. But it was my heart that hurt worst of all.It was ripped from my chest, torn and bloody and, when I thought it couldn’t possibly hurt any more than it already did, some otherworldly hand took my heart and dunked it in acid. I had a vague, distant awareness of movement. I couldn’t focus on it, on anything but the agony echoing through me.When the pain started to ease, I opened my eyes. The world turned sideways as my vision struggled to cling onto a single spot, but eventually my focus steadied on Hyacinth’s face.My lower lip trembled. “Beautiful,” I mouthed, no sound coming out.It hit me then, full force, how striking she was. There was no way I could’ve been so blind, all of this time. Rose petal lips let out a small, relieved gasp, and icy blue eyes, never before so blue as they seemed rig
An Affair with the Alpha 125 | The long walk home
Rhiannon’s POVReturning home was… confusing.I was torn between awe and heartache, love and loss, a giddy, child-like glee and the raw sort of grief I’d only known once before, after my father’s death. The sun glittered overhead, the sudden spring my death had brought on as unnatural as the everlasting winter had been before it. It was beautiful, too, the kind of beautiful that made my throat catch and my eyes glisten with unshed tears. Caleb’s hand in mine was steady and grounding, and whenever I stumbled his arm looped solidly around my waist. As always, he caught me.That bliss only compounded the unfairness of it all. I had lived, but Amelia had died. Kieran’s cries still echoed in my ears.He hadn’t come back with us. Nobody had been able to move him away from Maeve’s fallen body. I hoped he was okay but I knew, I knew, that he wasn’t. I inhaled sharply.“You all right?” murmured Caleb, squeezing me.I let my weight rest a little more on him. “Just thinking about Kieran.”He sh
An Affair with the Alpha 126 | I want to mark you
Caleb’s POVNight Wind settled into our new spring with trepidation. Of course, there was joy too – so much of it I’d had to look the other way when most of my Omegas turned up to their cooking and cleaning shifts still drunk on honey mead and sweet berry wine – but it was undercut with uncertainty and loss.We’d had a day of silence for Luna Amelia. Her death was a dark shroud over the entire pack. Even when we were drinking under the stars, lying on the fresh spring grass and looking up at the blooming buds on the branches above, we were toasting to her memory. I’d heard more wet-voiced, “Three cheers, in honour of our fallen Luna!” in the last week than I’d ever wanted to. It was a knife through my heart every time.We still didn’t know what had caused the Eternal Winter and, even after Rhi had told me everything she’d experienced on the border between us and Moon Chasm, over and over again until she was blue in the face, I still couldn’t make sense of it. I’d paired her account o
An Affair with the Alpha 127 | Epilogue
Rhiannon’s POVSix months laterThe Night Wind Pack needed this, I realised, beaming around at the crowd as I stepped off the stage. Though there was a notable sadness still clinging to the wolves – my wolves, I realised with a heady burst of shock, not unlike being doused in cold water – most of it had been shoved aside for tonight.It was a celebration, after all.The night sky was alight with glittering stars and the full, fat orb of the moon. Our unnatural spring had blurred into the real thing, and now the first signs of summer were in the late-evening warmth and glossy green leaves on every deciduous tree.Lamplight lit up the stage and the seats before it. Smaller bulbs were strung over the heads of the crowd, fluttering slightly in the wind. Something made the back of my neck prickle, like I was being watched – but of course I was being watched. I brushed my fingers over my new ring, and my smile widened impossibly further. Caleb helped me down the last step, his grin even bi
An Affair with the Alpha 001 | We're not mates - or are we?
Rhiannon’s POVIt was time.Stephen and I had been waiting for this moment for years. Five years, to be exact. We were pack-school sweethearts, convinced that we were destined to be together. There wasn’t anyone else. There couldn’t be.The seconds inched by on the clock. Dad leant forward in his seat, sat opposite us at the kitchen table, staring at it just as intently as we were. Beside him my twin sister, Hyacinth, leant back in her chair. She went too far, stumbled, and rocked forward hard enough to knock the jar of flowers on the table over. She leapt up and grabbed a tea towel, wiping up the spillage hastily before refilling the jar with water, flushing bright red all the while.I rolled my eyes at her. “Are you turning eighteen or four this year, Cin?” I teased.She stuck her tongue out at me as she re-took her seat, eyeing it warily and sitting very, very still this time. “At least I’m not turning into an ass,” she shot back, once she was sure she wasn’t about to wobble off h
An Affair with the Alpha 002 | It can't be you
Rhiannon’s POVTiger was still in a mood with me when we strode into the woods the next morning. I’d shifted into my huge white wolf form and was letting her guide us through the barren, snow-covered trees.We were stationed at the very back of the pack, amongst the few other Omegas that had been invited on this hunt. The Alpha had to be getting desperate to allow so many of us to come on a hunt led by him. I’d even been taken off breakfast duty so that I could come along. ‘I can’t believe you let him mark you,’ Tiger muttered, drawing my attention away from the thin, finger-like boughs of the deciduous trees. She was glaring at Stephen’s wolf, Brian, from behind, her upper lip curling back in a silent snarl. He trotted along happily, unaware and unbothered, his tail wagging, his paws padding merrily through the deep snow.There was literally nothing to glare at. Brian was even more adorable than Stephen. ‘Sorry, what was that? I thought I heard something,’ I retorted coldly. ‘Oh, w
An Affair with the Alpha 003 | Wrong time, wrong place, wrong wolf
Rhiannon’s POVStill holding our gaze, Caleb narrowed his eyes.And then he sidled closer to his Luna.Balls.I’d never said or even thought the word balls before – at least not in that context – but suddenly it seemed to perfectly sum up exactly how I felt. It was a good thing that Alpha Caleb was showing me where he stood – because I had Stephen already, and I had no plans to jump ship to an arrogant arse who’d never once given me the time of day before because I was an Omega.If it’s such a good thing, an irritating voice in the back of my head whispered, why does your heart feel like it’s breaking?I huffed and moved closer to Stephen’s wolf. Brian nudged Tiger with his nose, but she didn’t turn to look at him. Her gaze remained locked on Alpha Caleb, taking in every inch of his muscular form. I sniffed the air discreetly, aching to smell that crisp, fresh, outdoorsy scent again.‘This is impossible,’ Tiger was saying. I had no idea how long she’d been talking or how much of it I
Latest chapter
- An Affair with the Alpha 127 | Epilogue
- An Affair with the Alpha 126 | I want to mark you
- An Affair with the Alpha 125 | The long walk home
- An Affair with the Alpha 124 | Enough is enough
- An Affair with the Alpha 123 | We'll wait for the dust to settle
- An Affair with the Alpha 122 | Why did it have to be her?
- An Affair with the Alpha 121 | A million miles away
- An Affair with the Alpha 120 | All things end
- An Affair with the Alpha 119 | Alpha Can't-Handle-His-Emotions
