All Chapters of The Alpha's Fated Desire: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

{Lyra}My head felt like it had been split open by a sledgehammer. It pulsed with a dull, unrelenting ache that throbbed behind my eyes.I groaned, cracking one eye open, only to immediately regret it as sunlight poured through the open cabin windows and stabbed right into my skull. Every inch of my skin felt warm, and not the sunburnt, or fever warm, just a burning sensation, spreading from low in my belly, through my limbs like a slowly growing flame.As I shifted under the covers, a creeping awareness overwhelmed me—something wasn’t right. Beneath the silky sheets... “Sweet moon goddess, no!” My hands darted down and confirmed my horror. Aside from my panties, I was completely naked.I let out a high-pitched shriek and shot up in the bed, clutching the covers to my chest as my heart hammered so loudly I thought it might leap from my throat. “What the hell happened last night?!”Images flashed through my mind, and my brain scrambled through foggy memories; his mouth on mine, his han

{Dominic}Doctor Maek’s office always smelled like copper and cold incense. I stepped inside, my boots thudding against the checkered stone tiles as the door swung shut behind me. The old mage sat in his chair and began scribbling something on a parchment and muttering inaudibly.“I’m pretty sure you already know why I want to see you.” I said as calmly as I could.His pen stopped, and he sighed, letting it go, but it remained upright. He folded his fingers in between each other and placed them on top of the desk before him. “I’m aware, Alpha Bloodhound.”He gestured to the leather chair across from him but I didn’t sit. “Suit yourself,” he said, taking out a folder from under the desk. “She’s slipping,” he said, throwing the folder on the table. I picked it up and went through it.“You say that like she hasn’t always been slipping. What does that mean, Maek?”Finally, he lifted his head. Pale, sunken eyes studied me from beneath his furrowed brows. “It means nothing I can do.”My gr

{Lyra}I chose to sit up front with Ryker, not because I liked him or anything. But it just felt wrong to sit in the back with Dominic and Odessa, I mean, he had just gotten her back. They’d been robbed of five years, I couldn’t bring myself to take up even five minutes of that reunion.Ryker didn’t say much when I climbed in. He just grunted, flicked a glance my way, then focused back on the road. He kept doing that—those sideways looks like he expected me to sprout horns or shoot fire from my eyes. “Want to ask me something, or are you just going to keep side-eying me like I stole something of yours?” I finally said.His lip twitched. “You don’t smell like a liar.”“Gee, thanks."He didn’t answer, but he didn’t scowl either, so maybe that was progress.When we reached Dominic’s estate, Odessa stepped out of the car like she was seeing it for the first time. “It looks gloomier than I remember,” she said as her nose wrinkled in disapproval.Dominic was already halfway around the car,

{Lyra}“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said again, this time with a touch more attitude. Maybe if I just stood still long enough, the lie would become the truth.Reina scoffed, that maddeningly smug grin playing at the corners of her lips. “Don’t bother, Lyra,” she said softly, “Your heartbeat skipped a beat the second I said your name.”I stared at her, a bit shocked at what was happening.“You forgot I’m a wolf too, didn’t you?” she whispered, eyes narrowing like a predator that just cornered something that should’ve gotten away.A sigh slipped past my lips, and I had no choice but to stop pretending.I turned, sauntering quietly to the bathroom door, and gently closed it shut, turning the lock with a quiet click that still sounded way too loud.“How did you know?” I asked in a voice that was barely louder than a whisper.Reina leaned her hip against the sink. “I wasn’t sure at first, I mean, you definitely looked familiar, even with the black hair, but I couldn’t place

{Dominic}Bloodhound blood… In the dark magic?The thought felt absurd to even think of, but from the look of Allen’s grim face, he wasn’t joking.“That’s not possible,” I growled, my voice rougher than I intended. “Say that again. I dare you.”Allen didn’t flinch, he just gave me that dead-eyed stare, like he was already halfway past caring about living or dying. “I wouldn’t be telling you this if I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, Dominic. I triple-checked.” I paced restlessly as my boots scuffed the old stone floor. “How?” I demanded. “How the hell is that even possible?”Allen shrugged, and it took everything in me not to leap across the room and shake him. “I’m still digging, but dark magic this ancient. It bends rules we barely understand.” His gaze hardened, sending a puff of ash into the air. “What I do know is I need a fresh corpse.”I stopped pacing. “Define fresh.”“Less than an hour dead,” Allen said without blinking. “Before the magic dissipates, otherwise, it's like chas