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Chapter 15 : Plunging the Knife
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Stolen by the Rival Alpha Chapter 16 : Banter
*Gemma*"I'm the picture of health," Kael said with an involuntary cough.I scoffed and held out my hand for him to take. "I'm not very worldly, but I'm pretty sure being beat like a beef flank isn't normal."Raisa was pacing, looking torn between miffed and worried, her hand resting on her stomach. "Pick it up, you two."I helped Kael to his feet as much as I could, my arms out as he gathered his balance in case I needed to catch him again—I hoped I didn't—until he regained his footing. He swayed, and I worried he would pass out from blood loss. But he seemed to manage and hold his own. He caught sight of Raisa. "At least you're okay," he said to her.She shot him a sour look despite his kind tone. "Kicked in several places does not count as 'okay,' but thank you anyway."Kael glanced at me questioningly and I mouthed, 'She's pregnant.'His eyes—eye, rather, one of them being swollen nearly shut—went wide, and then his brows knitted, suddenly troubled. "This situation
Stolen by the Rival Alpha Chapter 17 : He Sacrificed Himself for Her
*Kael*I didn't expect the mystery female from the Niburgh square to be so… irksome. Though she definitely thought the same about me. Especially after what I felt—what I knew she felt too—in the throne room. I could only have described it as a rope—no, it was less abrasive than that. A ribbon, maybe. It wrapped itself around my heart like a snake squeezing its prey, but I could sense its other end just faded into darkness and it wanted to find something in it. Rather, someone.When I saw her standing in front of me against all odds, looking stricken in a skimpy nightgown, the ribbon seemed to rest at her feet, no longer squeezing. I was so rocked that I couldn't help but breathe, "You." When I heard her name, I felt delirious—more than I already was—with relief. Gemma Brooks. She was alive and real and…And we were likely in mortal danger. Well, maybe just me, as she was the one looking pampered while I was beaten to a pulp.I needed to stay alive. For Rian, for Jerah, Ja
Stolen by the Rival Alpha Chapter 18 : Time to Rest
*Gemma*It was hard to trust someone to help you escape from a fortress, and harder to trust them when they were feet away from driving us over a cliff.I screamed Kael's name, the sound belting out of my throat. He slammed on the brakes. I heard and felt the ground beneath the heavy car start to crumble. "Back up!" "I know!" Kael yelled, putting the car in reverse and slamming the gas.Raisa and I were hurled forward into the back of the front seats—and then into each other as he wrenched the wheel, careening us to the side. As I righted myself, I glimpsed an army of Epsilon coming toward us headed by Connor and Cillian."Drive!""I know!"Kael slammed on the gas, and in seconds flat we were speeding. It wouldn't be long before other cars were on our tail, but we were lucky that Bryn happened to choose this monster of a tank. It was already eating land; the army would be as small as ants in just a few more seconds.I slouched in the backseat. "I hope you can drive.
Stolen by the Rival Alpha Chapter 19 : Avoiding the Subject
*Gemma*I flung the quilt off me and started to hurl myself off the bed, but Kael stopped me by sitting on its edge with an exhausted laugh. "You're alive," I said, unable to keep the disbelief out of my voice, even as relief flooded my veins. I could breathe normally again. "Miraculously. I'm glad you don't sound disappointed.""I am," said Raisa behind us as she turned on the gas lamp on the wall, throwing a decent amount of light into the room. "You don't mean that," I protested, twisting around. She'd sat up, and I assumed she was overheating in the desert weather because she was only wearing the "bra" Seri had given her up top—just a few strips of cloth banded around her chest. Reflexively I looked at her exposed stomach. There was a faint bruise where Connor had kicked her. Kael laughed again under his breath. "It's alright. She can be as mad as she wants at me. When we're all better I'll let you have a swing at me.""Oh, you'll let me," Raisa snapped sarc
Stolen by the Rival Alpha Chapter 20 : Jealousy
*Gemma*Seri led us out a back door to a narrow alley that Kael barely fit into. We walked sideways crab-style to the corner where she peered down each way. She waved her hand to follow, and we darted across a small street to the next narrow alleyway."I'm really sick of alleys," Kael muttered."I'm sick of doors," I added.We froze when we heard Epsilon shouting and banging on doors. Each knock made me wince, bringing a flash of memory of Hazelstone. Kael was behind me. When he touched my shoulder, I flinched and nearly slammed my head into the wall. "Are you okay?""I'm fine."Then all of a sudden we were back on the outskirts of Dust. Directly ahead, Ferio was waving from our stolen car. I could've wept with joy. I took Raisa's hand, and we sprinted full speed to it, not hesitating to climb into the backseat. Kael got in the passenger side. Seri stayed in the alley and waved goodbye.I didn't want to shout to gain attention, but I mouthed it and waved back empath
Stolen by the Rival Alpha Chapter 21 : Talk About Your Lover
*Kael*The sense of relief was overwhelming. Getting back to Niburgh safely thanks to Ferio, finding the hideout on the first try without a snag, and reuniting with the family and the rest of my pack, all alive and unharmed… It was all a humbling sensation.And a gratifying one, knowing I'd helped Gemma and Raisa survive and get to safety and into the care of motherly females.After Jaci ushered them right onto the track of nursing them back to full health, Jerah put me on mine. Refusing to unsling his arm from around my shoulders, he guided me to one of the rooms on the second floor of the abandoned amphitheater. When Niburgh was at its pinnacle, it was a hub of all sorts of shifters from all sorts of places. It boasted food, wares, unique entertainment, and plenty of lodging, including small two-room apartments that now served the purpose of hiding Moonwake fugitives. It was another place that Hazel and Sun overlooked because they didn't think we would risk staying. They
Stolen by the Rival Alpha Chapter 22 : She's His Lover
*Gemma*"The audacity," Raisa said with a shake of her head. I waited at the door until Kael's footsteps receded. Then I flopped onto my back on Raisa's bed instead of my own to stare at the ceiling that was in desperate need of care. "I didn't even realize I'd gotten my hopes up," I confessed, feeling somehow more angry at myself than Kael and the information he might've forgotten to confess. "He tried to make a move on me in Dust knowing he had someone waiting for him here?"There were basic supplies in the small bathroom, and Raisa took her chance to utilize them to become herself again. She'd brushed her hair and braided it with a piece of cloth; with the water from a sink, she'd dampened a towel, cooling her flushed and puffy face. Now she was standing in front of the full-length mirror twisting her torso with her shirt lifted to see if she could notice a bump."He's not worth your time, sweet," she said.I sat up. "But…""But what?" she asked not unkindly, sighing
Stolen by the Rival Alpha Chapter 23 : Moonlit Confessions
*Gemma*Well, if I didn't feel like shit before… I learned my lesson: don't assume.I blinked out of my brief wallowing when Jerah laughed. "You look like you just got kicked between the legs. Kael said you blew him off because you saw him hug Di. Are you Easterners easily prone to jealousy?"I felt my face heat in embarrassment, but I couldn't back down on my strive to be confident. "Not that I'm aware of. I just—"Jerah leaned forward and braced his forearms on his thighs. He was the biggest male I'd ever seen, built tall and wide at the shoulders, muscled, but it was still a different kind of big than Connor was. He wasn't pure muscle, and he seemed more inclined to hug than to bully. I could see him being a loving father that I could trust. Up close, his skin was textured from all the years in the desert sun, and while his pulled-back hair was white, his stubble of a beard was brown. The distrust in his dark eyes—they reminded me of the ocean at midnight, a romantic d
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