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EIGHTY-NINE | CLAIMED
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The Broken Alpha NINETY | DAFFODIL
LilyThe portal loomed ahead. Jared had found his way back to it effortlessly, taking turns that made no sense and going back on himself just as much as he’d walked forward. A part of Lily was glad that he’d found them and taken them captive, even though her shoulder throbbed and blood still seeped into the hastily-made bandage wrapped haphazardly round it. Without him, she doubted they would ever have found their way to Red Ripper’s magical territory.She squinted up at the trees. Half of their branches were bare, gnarled and knobbly as aged fingers. The others were too deep into autumn for the season, painted in dark reds and fading browns. One drifted to the ground in front of her, and she reached for it. It fluttered onto her palm and crumbled into ash. “Hurry up,” snarled Jared, saliva flicking from his distorted snout. It was almost impossible to make out the words, so thick and throaty was his voice. Rather than individual sounds, it was a growl split into syllables that hardl
The Broken Alpha NINETY-ONE | NOCTURNAL
LilyThe scent of death hung heavy in the air. Lily pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth, begging the rising vomit to stay down. It was all too familiar: the eerie sense of being a step out of time, the little cabins, the pack house looming over everything at the centre of the realm.Worst of all were the flowers. When she’d been here before, they’d been alive – so alive that they’d looked unreal, the petals too bright, too plump, and the leaves unfurling from their stems glossy green and shimmering with thin silver hairs. Now, they curled in on themselves, wilted and withered, the leaves and petals turned grey and hanging limply upon the brown grass.Something was wrong. “Remind me of the plan again, Lils?” Her dad wrung his hands together, his pulse jumping beneath his jaw, sweat slicking his brow. She sighed. They’d been over it a thousand times – and there wasn’t that much to remember at all, really – but clearly he needed something to focus on, something to distract him
The Broken Alpha NINETY-TWO | PARCHMENT
ElijahThe journey back to Sea Pine passed Elijah by in a daze. Fogged with heartache and physical pain, he dragged himself along behind Caslein in silence. He watched, unable to even help, as he fought off slews of mossmen – more often than not grabbing Elijah and slinging him over his shoulder, running away with his Alpha bouncing against his back like a sack of potatoes. Elijah felt about as useful as one.Everywhere they went, the leaves were wrong. Spring buds dotted the same branches that held crisp orange leaves. Snowdrops and daffodils littered the moss and mulch. Elijah couldn’t bring himself to point them out to Caslein, not after he’d dismissed him the first time. Besides, he told himself, Cas was busy keeping them both alive. Flower spotting wasn’t high on his list of priorities.Their world was breaking. Unnatural magic was splitting into their realm. At night, they saw terrible, distorted creatures – half man, half wolf, stalking through the woods with wet noses, wolven
The Broken Alpha NINETY-THREE | MIDNIGHT AT NOON
LilyApollo dropped the rope clinging to Eryne’s neck. She remained where she was, not even lifting a trembling hand to draw the coarse knots away from the open wound it had rubbed open. Blood seeped into it, staining it dark red.His eyes are evil, Lily thought as he stepped towards her, her heart tying itself in knots and fear sitting heavy on her chest. Blue eyes could be beautiful, but his were alight with the cold fire of lightning and the hard bite of steel. For some reason that was all she could think as she leapt out into the open, her hands curling into half-formed, useless fists. She couldn’t fight him. Then another thought broke through the permeable wall of her mind: I’m going to die.“Lily! Oh, Lily, sweetheart, is that you?” Apollo swung his smug smile around to face her. It made her spine crawl.“It’s me,” she bit out through gritted teeth. Risking a glance at Eryne, Lily caught a glimpse of wide yellow eyes, silent but screaming, before she sidled, as casually as she
The Broken Alpha NINETY-FOUR | RUN
LilyHis mouth was firm, and his seeping breath smelt strongly of mint, but his lips parted in surprise – a gesture that Lily found strange. Apollo was not one to be surprised by anything, and yet she’d caught him off guard.“Kiss me,” she murmured against his mouth, her heart fracturing more and more with every second they were touching. Half frozen in fear and half in self-hatred, she tried to imagine it was Elijah’s lips she could taste. That only made her betrayal all the more potent, turning her heart black within the hollow cavern of her chest. “Gladly,” he replied, his voice thick and throaty. His arms wound around her like a cage, his fingers digging into the thin curve of her waist. The smell of mint overwhelmed her. Teeth scraped against her tongue, dominating even that small space. Memories of being closed in the cell overwhelmed her, made worse by the lingering smell of decaying flowers sitting heavy in the air. Lily thought she might throw up. There was nowhere to hide
The Broken Alpha NINETY-FIVE | MOTIVATION
ElijahHer words – Lily’s words – sung in his heart. He unfurled the letter again, for the hundredth time that evening, and smiled to himself as he read her hurried script.Dearest Elijah,I hope this letter reaches you. It pains me that I do not know where you are or what has become of you since Alpha Atticus brought me home from Red Ripper. I miss you more with every passing hour.Most of all, I just need to know that you’re okay. I’m at Blood Moon still, with him, and I am safe. She’d underlined safe hard enough that the parchment had torn. He could picture her with ink on her fingers, shaking her head in frustration. His smile grew, even as his heart panged.That was all it said, save for a rushed signature beneath. But he’d heard from her, and she was okay. As days passed in a blur of patrols and planning, Elijah started to worry about the letter. It was short, and scrawled in a hurry, and what if she’d been forced to write it under duress? He took it out from his pocket and la
The Broken Alpha NINETY-SIX | ENSNARED
LilyLily’s days blurred into a haze of monotonous pain. It was better than before; she tried to convince herself of that, at least. She was no longer living in a dingy cell with an eleve, but she was in Red Ripper’s pack house, sharing Apollo’s room with him – where he and his minions could keep an eye on her day and night.She tried to keep up the pretence that she was there for him. Every morning, she woke locked in his embrace. He was muscular and warm and, with her back turned to him, his strong arm slung over her waist, she could almost – almost – pretend that it was Elijah holding her close. Even Atticus would’ve been preferable to Apollo, but she knew she was dead the second she let that truth slip.“Good morning, sweetheart,” he purred, his breath, which smelt of stale mint, wafting hotly over her neck and cheek. “I know you’re awake.”Steeling herself, Lily rolled over. He eyed her closely, his gaze alert enough that she knew he’d been awake for a while. She bit back a sigh.
The Broken Alpha NINETY-SEVEN | CLOVEN EARTH
AtticusHe’d been in the woods when he’d heard.Everything was falling into place for Atticus. He’d found something in the forest that could secure a victory against Red Ripper – or at least offer up an easy out if things started to go south. He’d been building up an army, too, preparing to go to war over his mate if he had to.He’d planned on forming one beneath his parents’ noses, marching on Red Ripper, and destroying them to prove his worth to Lily. Once he’d made her safe again, she’d fall into his arms. She had to. Alpha Idiot would never – could never – match up to him. He was her first mate, and he vowed he would be her last.The girl had come at night. Unable to sleep, Atticus had been out in the forest, smacking his knuckles into tree trunks to wear himself out to the point of exhaustion. When weariness was sinking deep into the belly of his bones, he would sneak over to Lily and Maveln’s old cabin and sit on the doorstep. Most mornings, he watched the sun rise there, remem
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