All Chapters of Running Wild : The Cruel Alpha Kings: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I was trapped between two clashing realities. Every cell in my body screamed for his touch, burning hot and completely overwhelmed by lust. I needed to be closer. I needed him.But my mind was screaming a different story. Darius’s fingers were clamped hard around my throat, cutting off my airway. The terrifying truth settled in: the breathlessness crashing over me wasn’t just desire. I was literally running out of oxygen.It took a slow, agonizing second to process what he had actually just said. I blinked, tilting my head to the side—not from confusion, but to release enough pressure on my throat to breathe. “Wait,” I wheezed. His grip loosened just enough for me to force out a full sentence. “How was that my fault?”Darius ignored my question, his black eyes bore into mine as he spoke in a low, vicious growl. “I reject you.”The words cut my muddled emotions to shreds, instantly sobering my mind. The hazy, romantic spell shattered.I struggled against his grip, a sharp hiss releasing

One year later…The massive facility enclosed in chain-link fences loomed behind me as I walked through the visitor’s parking lot, feeling as if a physical weight had finally fallen off my back.Sadly, that burden consisted of a year-long battle for private space, basic freedom, and dodging makeshift plastic shivs from girls picking fights. Now, it was instantly replaced by a different kind of pressure—one that tasted entirely of hatred and resentment.My twelve-month sentence at the Cape Falls Juvenile Detention Center, a hellhole specifically designed for female werewolf delinquents, was over. I had spent a whole year locked away for a list of crimes I never committed. Someone had systematically ruined my life, and I had made it my sole purpose to find out which bastard did it.Halfway through my stay, my aunt Rita had called me from a resort in Hawaii under the guise of fishing for information. As the undisputed family gossip, she relished other people’s misery, which was undoubtedl

I stood back, out of breath but with a triumphant smirk on my face, watching the last bubbles fizzle out in the lake behind my father’s mansion. It had taken a brutal, split-second leap to jump from the moving Stingray as it propelled straight into the water. Crashing into the hard dirt and jagged stones had scraped my skin to hell, but the pain was worth it.The best part of it all? The lake wasn’t deep enough for the Stingray to disappear entirely. You could still see the red gleam of the roof from the bank. But the base of the lake was thick, suffocating clay mud, which had already swallowed the chassis and locked it in place. It would take a massive team, heavy machinery, and draining the entire lake to drag it out.I knew this because it wasn’t the first car the water had eaten. After family parties and too much alcohol, the mud had claimed more than its fair share of metal.Take that, shithead.I dusted my hands off on my jeans and rounded the property toward the front gate. Ever

A sharp prickle ran across my skin as I dropped into the seat closest to the dining room door and the furthest possible position from the two assholes currently occupying the table.I didn’t want to be here any more than I wanted to be back in juvie, but I had hell to plot against them. If my father had taught me one thing, it was to dine with your enemies. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.Which brought a cold, calculating thought to mind. What if Dad had hired Darius for that exact reason? To keep a lethal rival under his own roof where he could watch him?I glanced suspiciously across the polished wood at Darius, wondering if he shared that exact mindset. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that he wasn’t here for charity.“What do you get out of this?” I directed the question straight at him, my voice cutting through the pressing silence.I reached for a crystal carafe to pour myself some orange juice, but the memory of Harris’s urgent warning flashed in my min

The silence that followed was deafening. My frantic breathing fogged up the glass above my head, cutting off my view of the ceiling and trapping me in a literal tomb of icy water. The panic swelled, a violent, crashing wave that made my heart hammer so hard I thought it would burst right through my ribs. I screamed again, a raw, animalistic sound of pure fury and terror, until my throat burned and my lungs felt like they were scraping against sandpaper.But there was no answer. No one came to my rescue.I didn’t know how long I was locked underneath the pool cover, stuck in the limb-freezing cold water—on the lowest temperature setting purely intended for my suffering.It had to be hours.My initial explosion of rage had long since burned out, leaving behind a cold, hollow dread. The sun was setting, and I was shaking so badly that my teeth chattered. My skin had turned blue, and the horrifying conclusion settled over me; what if they left me here overnight?Or until…Panic swelled for