บททั้งหมดของ A Different Kind of Alpha: Blood Oath: บทที่ 101 - บทที่ 107

KieranThe problem with basically saying I love you is that the words don’t go away the next morning.They just hang there. In the air. In my head. In the way Alexei hands me my cloak like it’s something precious instead of something I only remember to wear half the time.I’m not used to feelings sticking.Orders, yes. Insults, definitely. Praise, rarely.Love?My brain doesn’t know where to file it.By mid-morning, I’ve ruined three drafts of the same letter.“Stop glaring at the parchment,” Lyra says from the other side of my desk. “It’s not responsible for your mood.”“I’m not glaring,” I snap.“You’re doing the stabby eyebrow thing,” she says. “Either sign that letter to Blackthorn or go bite someone. The indecision is making me nervous.”I throw the quill down.“It’s not the letter,” I mutter.“Obviously,” she says. She lets the silence sit for a beat. Then, casually, “So. You and Alexei are… good?”Heat flashes up my neck. “That’s not council business.”“I’m not wearing my counc

AlexeiThe next day feels endless. My head is full of Kieran on his knees, face flushed, eyes wide, taking what he wants because I told him to.Highly distracting, would not recommend for productivity. Ten out of ten, will do it again.The guard outside his door keeps his eyes politely forward as I approach. He knows better than to comment when I don't even try to look like I'm here on official business.I slip inside and shut the door. He’s not at the desk this time.He’s sitting sideways on the bed, back propped against the headboard, bare feet tucked under him, still half-dressed. He’s holding one of his ledgers, but it’s closed, lying spine-up on his knees like a prop he forgot to put down.There’s a little crease between his brows. A thinking line that appears whenever something’s bothering him.He looks up when I come in and the crease immediately disappears. My heart soars.“Hey,” he says, quietly.“Hey,” I echo.Look at us. Terrible, terrifying wolves. Masters of language and

KieranI wake up to a very heavy, very smug wolf pinning me to the mattress.For a second I don’t move.Heat. Weight. The scent of sweat and sex in the air. A breath against my throat, slow and even. An arm banded around my waist, a thigh thrown over mine, his hair tickling my chest where it’s come loose from the braid.My wolf stretches like a cat in a patch of sun and makes a pleased noise.I don’t have a word for how my heart feels.Not panicked. Not numb.Quiet.It’s so unfamiliar it might as well be a new kind of pain.I lie there, trying to understand it. There’s the usual morning stiffness, the pleasant ache in my spine and hips, the soreness at the base of my throat where he mouthed at me like he could drink me down.Under that… nothing is gnawing.No dread chewing at the edges of my thoughts. No cold little voice whispering that everything is a lie, that I’m one decision away from losing it all.It’s like my ribs have finally stopped being a cage for my heart and started bein

AlexeiLater, in the hall, my hands keep betraying me.It’s not conscious. I’ve simply gotten used to touching him without thinking. A hand at the small of his back in crowded corridors. My fingers brushing his wrist when he starts tapping his quill. A palm on his knee under the table when Vorlag starts threading poison into questions.He allows it in private audiences, when it’s just Lyra and Marcus and maybe one terrified petitioner.Elsewhere he’s less indulgent.Today, it’s a visiting trader from the western ridge, nervously hat-twisting his way through a complaint about bandits.Kieran listens with that terrifying stillness that means every word is being weighed. The set of his jaw says he already has three plans and is trying to pick which one won’t cause a riot from the elders on the council.His fingers drum once against the armrest.I reach out and lay two fingers lightly over his wrist. The drumming stops and his shoulders ease, almost imperceptibly.Then he notices the ang