Exciting! Hahaha. Who's your Alpha bet? ;)
It was a dream. But it didn’t feel like one. I was standing in a forest. It was bare, wintry, and quiet. The trees stretched high and skeletal, their branches like cracked fingers against a gray sky. A hush blanketed everything, not peaceful, but heavy. It was still. Too still. My breath came in fog. My feet were bare, the ground cold beneath them, but I didn’t feel pain. Only… emptiness. Then I heard it. A whisper. Not a voice in the air. A voice inside me. ‘Why won’t you let me speak?’ I froze. ‘You buried me. And now I’m breaking through.’ “Who are you?” I asked aloud. The wind stirred. A low growl echoed between the trees, but it wasn’t threatening. It was mine. And just before I could make sense of it… Everything went black. I jolted awake in my room, gasping. Sweat clung to my skin despite the chill. My heart thundered, my body aching like I’d been running through that frozen forest for real. “Easy,” a voice said from the side of the
A few days had passed since the Alpha showdown, and the boys, to their credit, had dialed back on the testosterone just enough to let me breathe. Which meant it was the perfect time to go back to work. Ambriz Animal Care was still my happy place even with the loud barking, unstoppable meows, sticky fur, and more. And Lane, of course, was still Lane. “Okay, but,” she dragged out, leaning her elbows on the counter, “are you telling me that all three of them are just living with you now? Like, one roof, three stupidly hot boys, and you’re not even slightly tempted to fake faint again?" I groaned and rolled my eyes as I brushed down one of the huskies that had just gotten neutered. “Lane, you’ve been asking variations of this same question for three days.” She shrugged. “Because you keep giving me boring answers.” “I’m not giving you anything. I’m working.” “Mm-hm. Working through some serious sexual tension, I bet.” I pointed the brush at her. “Don’t make me aim this at
The garden at night felt way colder than in the morning. I didn’t bring a jacket, but honestly, I don’t think it was the air making me shiver. I sat on the stone bench beneath the ivy archway, staring at the faint moonlight slicing across the ground. The quiet should have been comforting. That and the beauty of the nature that surrounded me should have given me some sense of peace. Instead, it just made my thoughts louder. Harley’s words wouldn’t stop echoing no matter how hard I tried to silence it. “I used to dream about you.” “The dreams never did you justice.” Why did he get to say things like that? Why did he get to carry the truth so easily, while I was choking on it? He stood there and told me he wanted me, like there was nothing in this world that he wanted more than our bond. But I had known him before all of this. I had seen him. I’d seen him watching as my parents were treated horribly by his own father. I’d felt his presence on that godforsaken nig
I smelled it before I saw it. A hint of… garlic, woodsmoke, charcoal, and a ton of different spices. I also heard voices, low but definitely competitive, and it’s because of that I slowed down in the hallway. I arrived on the back patio, tugging my sweater sleeves over my hands, and stopped dead on my tracks as soon as my eyes landed on them. Three grills. Two shirtless Alphas and a fully clothed one with a glare that could shatter stone. And food… So. Much. Food. Luca flipped a steak with flair like he was auditioning for an Italian cooking show. Harley quietly plated a perfectly seared salmon filet on a black ceramic dish. Gavin was sipping a beer in the corner, watching like he was two seconds from walking away or burning the whole patio down. “What in the world is going on?” I asked. Three heads turned. Luca beamed. “You’re just in time, dolcezza.” Harley nodded. “Dinner.” “War,” Gavin corrected. I blinked. “Did you guys actually… set up a food competiti
ALPHA GAVIN When I walked into the house that morning, it already smelled like Alpha chaos and burnt pancakes. And in some way, that felt more like home than in mine. “I swear to the Moon Goddess, if you don’t get up and help me, Harley, I’m–” “You’ll what?” I said, tossing my duffel onto the couch and stepping into the mess that was the kitchen. “Challenge him to a bake-off? Because I’d pay to see that.” Luca looked over his shoulder with a flour-dusted grin. “Finalmente! You’re alive!” “I was alive yesterday too, you dramatic gremlin. Just… detained.” He raised an eyebrow. “Detained by your family?” I let out a sigh. “Unfortunately.” Surprisingly, Luca didn’t press me more on the topic and that made me feel quite relieved. He usually dug his nose in stuff he didn’t belong in out of curiosity, but he must have sensed the privacy I wanted so for today, I will tolerate him. He then shoved a bowl toward me. “Make yourself useful, chef. I need backup.” I let out a
Harley dropped me off at the house and mumbled something under his breath about having to do something else and that he’ll be back later. It was obvious he was just avoiding trying to face what happened in his car and honestly, I didn’t mind it because I couldn’t deal with it right now either. I got inside, let out a deep sigh, and paused as I took in the house once more. It was… beautiful. Way too beautiful. The marble flooring, whitewashed walls, and high windows that poured sunlight into every room like some magazine version of peace and tranquility. It was too clean. Too quiet. And too much. I swallowed the lump that had lodged in my throat. I hadn’t lived somewhere that felt like a home since that godforsaken night… “This… is just temporary. Don’t let yourself get sucked into it too much, Alessi.” I reminded myself as I walked up to my room. “Temporary.” I stood in the doorway of my bedroom, blinking at the queen-sized bed and freshly folded linens. I didn’t