Hey everyone! In my very tired and Monday uncaffeinated state this morning, I accidentally titled the chapter as 43 instead of 42. But the content IS the content of Chapter 42, just with the wrong title! I will title tomorrow’s chapter “the real chapter 43” to avoid confusion. Sorry about that! I will also fix it on my end but it can take a day or two for that to go into effect!
I hope everyone is having a great Monday! You don’t have to read the rest of this there just has to be one hundred words in order for me to publish the chapter ok bye!Love,AllieHAVEN POV Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. “Hello, you have reached Wesley Stone. I am currently unavailable—” I hung up before the mailbox greeting could finish. I didn’t need to hear it. I’d heard it at least one hundred times since Sunday. “Happy fucking birthday to me,” I muttered, tossing the phone on my bed and plopping down on my back. It had been five days since I’d seen Wesley. Five days since I’d spoken to him. Five days since he’d held me in his arms. I’d taken my time, thinking through every emotion and thought and concern I had about what Wesley had revealed to me after our unbelievable night together. The initial shock, the initial bombshell of him being a werewolf — a Lycan — wore off quickly. The fear of seeing that enormous, monstrous thing in place of my Wesley dissipated faster than I’d have thought possible. And left in its place was anger. Anger and irritation that he’d lied to me. That they had all lied to me. But mostly, I directed my anger at him. I could u
WESLEY POV I was wrong. I was so, so wrong. Never in my life had I been so wrong about something. I thought for sure we would wrap everything up and wash our hands of this whole situation with Amber Forest by Sunday. But Sunday came and went. And then Monday. And then Haven’s birthday. And then Wednesday. Almost a week. Almost a whole fucking week had gone by, and we were no closer to having all the evidence we needed than we had been before I pretended to agree to this stupid union. Tim was drawing it out, demanding proof of our sincerity, asking us for things he had no right to ask of us before he’d give us the access we needed. But we had to play along, had to agree and keep up our facade. And that’s how I ended up agreeing to a small, private mating ceremony with Nicole that was scheduled for late Friday evening. I wouldn’t actually go through with it, of course, but it was the only way he would give us the account information for the merger. And despite that, what he gave us
WESLEY POV “What the hell is taking her so long? Where the hell is she?” Alpha Pierce growled as he paced back and forth in the conference room, his hair disheveled from running his hands through it over and over. I stood off to the side, leaning against the wall with my arms and legs crossed, my gray suit jacket thrown over one of the few chairs in the room. My mom and Fiona had cleared most of the normal furniture out — the conference table and most of the chairs — and rearranged what was left for this charade of a mating ceremony. The only people in attendance were my parents, Alpha Timothy, and Reid. When asked where the other ranked and future ranked members were, since it was usually custom for all ranked members to attend a mating ceremony, Dad explained they were down at the BBQ happening on the lawn for the pack, who was told there would be a surprise announcement at the end of the evening. Which was a lie. Mostly. There would be no surprise announcement. And while Brad,
THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VIOLENT CONTENT THAT MAY BE TRIGGERING FOR SOME READERS HAVEN POV “Are you sure about this?” I asked Imogen as I stood in front of the full-length mirror in the bathroom of her penthouse apartment. “About what?” she asked back, leaning closer to the mirror to put on her red lipstick. “All of it?” I answered. “The hair, the outfit, the shoes… it’s just — well, it’s not really me.” “What are you talking about? You look hot. Own it!” Ramón yelled from where he lounged on Imogen’s bed, sipping a glass of red wine. “He’s right, you look hot,” Imogen agreed. “Wesley is an idiot,” she added. My lips twitched halfheartedly, but I said nothing in response to her words. “I TOLD YOU, WE BANNED THAT NAME FOR TONIGHT, IMMY!” Ramon yelled from the bedroom. “That’s another shot for you!” Imogen just shrugged and turned away from the mirror. “Maybe I said it on purpose. Maybe I wanted to have to take a shot,” she said with a wink at me. I laughed a little again, turning
SEBASTIAN POV I twisted my tumbler back and forth on the tabletop of our VIP booth, leaning back into the darkness of the space, keeping myself hidden from view. I wasn’t drinking my Negroni. Not really, at least. There was too much on my mind to drink. So much had happened since that day Dad had called Reid and me into his office. What was meant to be just the two of us checking into some rogues turned into a whole ridiculous, drawn out charade. My brother was the most miserable I’d ever seen him. Except, perhaps for those weeks leading up to his forced shift and then the months after that, as he adjusted to his Lycan and his life without Haven. But I was having a hard time feeling even the slightest bit bad for him. He’d dug his own grave with his choice. Sure, I understood why he did it. I could respect his reasoning, and respect him finally making that choice to step out of our dad’s shadow and be his own alpha. But then he stepped right back under the umbrella when Dad told h
WESLEY POV “WHERE ARE YOU?” I roared at Sebastian through the mindlink, already through the door of the conference room, leaving the madness behind me. Nothing mattered beyond getting to him and Haven. “The hospital,” he told me. “FUCK,” I exclaimed out loud. I picked up my pace, racing through the packhouse and out the back door. As soon as my feet hit the grass, my Lycan took over, forcing me to shift. My suit tore into pieces as I switched forms, but it didn’t matter. Haven was more important than some stupid stuffy suit. My Lycan ran the very short distance to the pack clinic faster than he’d ever ran before. And the entire way there, I cursed myself for every decision I’d made since the day I showed her my Lycan. And if my Lycan could talk, I’m pretty sure he’d be cussing me out too. I was so fucking stupid. I had fucked up so badly. I never should have agreed to the proposal from Alpha Pierce, and I should have waited by my phone for Haven to call me back. Or I should hav
WESLEY POV I tried to sleep like Dr. Russo had suggested, but I couldn’t get more than a few minutes at a time. The chair was cold and uncomfortable, and my mind moved a mile a minute as I sat in the almost silent room. All the events from that evening played over and over in my mind as I tried to figure out if there was anything I could have done differently to change the outcome. And the only solution I could come up with was to have never agreed to Alpha Tim’s proposal in the first place. Which, I didn’t even know what had happened with all of that. It wasn’t my priority at that moment, and I knew my dad would handle it and fill me in. I could have joined her on the bed. It was plenty big enough. All the beds in the pack clinic were large enough to hold two people. It was so mates could stay together when one was sick or injured, since the mate bond helped werewolves heal faster. But I was too scared to jostle her and mess up her stitches. With her being human, I wasn’t sure ex
HAVEN POV I awoke wrapped in a cocoon of soothing warmth, surrounded by the scent of Wesley’s cologne — stronger and sweeter than I’d smelt it before. I nestled further into the warmth, pressing my back into Wesley’s solid chest, pulling his arm tighter around my body. The safety and security I felt from being that close to him settled my heart indescribably. His skin against mine set little fireworks off everywhere we touched. Those tiny sparks spread pleasure and warmth throughout not just my body, but my entire being. My soul. It was strange. His touch had always felt different to me, but after the previous night, that sensation was even more pronounced. I tensed and my eyes popped open as everything from the night before came crashing into me all at once. The club. Lennox attacking me. My panic attack when I woke up in an unfamiliar hospital. And Wesley. Wesley coming to my side when I was hurt, Wesley staying by my side and comforting me while the doctor and nurses stitched m