All Chapters of The Alpha's dirty game: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

~RAELIYA~ Kaelric wasn't Alpha yet but he wore the weight of it like it already belonged to him.Everywhere we went, people watched him, measured his movements, his reactions, the way wolves unconsciously stepped aside when he passed. The elders didn’t bow, not officially, but their gazes lingered on him longer than they did on Chase.And I stood beside him.Not claimed.Not distant.Somewhere in between.We were required to attend the regional assembly that evening. Not a ceremony, an evaluation. One where Kaelric and Chase were to be observed.Chase stood across the hall, laughing easily with a group of warriors, Sophia at his side like she belonged there.Kaelric’s presence changed the air when we entered.He didn’t touch me at first.He simply walked beside me, close enough that I could feel the heat of him, close enough that anyone watching would assume intimacy.“You don’t have to stay glued to me,” I murmured under my breath.His eyes stayed forward. “I know.”He didn’t move a

~RAELIYA~ I should have known the quiet wouldn’t last.Peace had never stayed long in my life, not when emotions ran this close to the surface, not when two men stood on opposite sides of a rivalry neither of them was willing to relinquish.The argument I’d overheard between Kaelric and Chase lingered with me all morning, sitting heavy in my chest like a warning I didn’t know how to interpret.They’re competing for you.The realization unsettled me more than it should have.I wasn’t a prize.I wasn’t a trophy.And I certainly wasn’t something to be claimed out of pride.I spent the early hours helping Skylar with inventory at the pack house, keeping my hands busy to quiet my thoughts. Still, I felt it, Kaelric’s presence even when he wasn’t there. The way my chest tightened when the doors opened, half-expecting him to walk in.He didn’t.Chase did.He paused when he saw me, surprise flickering across his face before smoothing into something careful. Calculated.“Raeliya,” he said sof

~RAELIYA~I learned very quickly that distance could be louder than shouting.The next morning, I woke before dawn, my body stiff from a restless night spent staring at the ceiling. Kaelric’s presence was still there, faint, familiar, heavy in the air but he didn’t come to the door. Didn’t knock. Didn’t check on me.Good.That was what I wanted.At least, that was what I told myself as I dressed in simple training clothes and slipped out of my room. The mansion was quiet, servants still asleep, the halls echoing softly beneath my steps.I didn’t look toward Kaelric’s wing.I wouldn’t give myself that weakness.The training grounds were cold, mist clinging to the earth like breath held too long. I wrapped my arms around myself and inhaled deeply, letting the bite of the morning sharpen my focus.Move.Breathe.Survive.That had always been my rhythm.I began with stretches, then light drills, things I’d learned in secret, away from prying eyes. I wasn’t strong like the others. Not yet.

~KAELRIC~I didn’t remember shifting.One moment I was tearing through the trees on foot, panic clawing up my spine, and the next the world sharpened, sounds louder, scents richer, instincts roaring awake as my wolf surged forward.Raeliya.Her scent pulled me like a tether, fresh and unmistakable, threaded with distress so sharp it made my chest burn. The creek lay ahead, water murmuring softly, deceptively peaceful.She was sitting on a fallen log near the bank, knees drawn to her chest, arms wrapped around herself as though the world had grown too cold to bear.My heart slammed against my ribs.I shifted back before stepping into the clearing, clothes reforming around me as I forced my breathing to steady. I didn’t want to scare her.She sensed me anyway.She always did.Her head lifted slowly. Our eyes met.The relief that flooded her face was instant and just as quickly buried beneath something guarded, distant.She stood. “You shouldn’t be here.”The words struck harder than any

~KAELRIC~The next morning, the pack felt different.Not louder. Not more chaotic.Sharper.Eyes followed me as I crossed the courtyard, murmurs trailing in my wake like smoke. Word traveled fast in a pack, and whatever tension existed between Chase and me had ripened into something the people could taste.The Alpha trials had done that.They had turned comparison into sport.And I was losing patience for it.Raeliya walked a few steps behind me, not because I asked her to, but because she chose to. That hurt more than if she’d stayed away completely. The space between us was deliberate now, controlled.Measured.She was protecting herself.I deserved that.“Kaelric.”Chase’s voice cut through the noise.I stopped, turning slowly.He approached with the ease of someone who believed the world owed him attention. His arm was slung loosely around Sophia’s waist. She leaned into him, chin lifted, eyes flicking toward Raeliya with something calculating.Raeliya stiffened.I felt it instant