All Chapters of Alpha Maddox's Mortal Temptation : Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

Some nights, when he’s walking past her door, he has to whisper to himself: “Keep going.”Two things can be true at once.For instance: I like Alex, because he’s an intelligent, pleasant young man.And: spending time together and watching him be terrified of me sparks joy.Just for fun, I’m tempted to contact a therapist and ask them to quantify how bad a person I am. But by the time Alex and I have been working side by side for five nights, I’ve accepted that reassuring him that I don’t plan to feast on his plasma is futile.Nothing will convince him that I’m not going to exsanguinate him. And I really shouldn’t enjoy it, but there’s something genuinely fun about watching him move around the room like a contortionist to avoid giving me his back, or about running my tongue over my fangs and feeling the clatter of the keyboard stammer to a halt. It’s usually followed by eyes scrunched shut, and low whimpers he thinks I cannot hear, and . . . The Were children who bike all the way to m

It reminds me of a sketch in a comedy show, so absurd that I lean against the doorframe of Lucien’s office and observe it in silence for a few minutes, amused by the visual.It’s the big man. And the way he handles small gadgets, frowning down at them like they’re poisonous spiders. The way he types at the keyboard with one single finger. And the way he doesn’t seem to be able to follow simple instructions, even though Alex is explaining stuff to him in the tone of someone who’s ready to bungee jump out of his own life.“—won’t be activated until you enter this line of code.”“I entered it,” Lucien rumbles.“Exactly the way I wrote it here, on this piece of paper.”“I did.”“It’s case-sensitive. Alpha,” he tacks on. Reminding himself that Lucien’s his boss. His very stubborn boss.“The problem is this fucking machine.”Lucien lifts his hand, ready to hit what has to be an expensive piece of technology. Which leads to Alex chanting with a Dostoyevskian level of dread, “Oh my God, oh my

“Were those Alphas dealing with internal sedition?” Lucien responds, calm and harsh at once. Mick looks away, more sad than chastised. daisy picks up on it.“Lucien?” Her voice is small. “Where are you going this weekend?”He smiles at her warmly, his tone instantly softer. “To California.”“What’s in California?” I’m glad she asked. Because I was about to, and I’m not entitled to this piece of information.“It’s pack territory. An old friend lives there. Uncle Koen will be there, too.”“Emery’s no friend, Lucien,” Mick interjects.“And that’s precisely why I cannot pass up the opportunity to have access to her house.”“It’s not an opportunity. If you could bring Alex or someone else who’s tech-savvy to help you with your plan, yes. But not on your own.”“Hang on.” I’m too curious to shut up. “Isn’t Emery Roscoe’s former . . .” I don’t need a reply, not going by the men’s faces. “Oh, shit.”Daisy chortles.“You’re almost disappointingly easy,” I tell her, and she chortles ha

It’s past midnight. Prime awake time for me, the cicadas, and no one else for miles.“I don’t sleep much.”Right. Daisy said that. When she mentioned that he had . . . “Insomnia!”His eyebrow quirks. “You seem overjoyed by my inability to get decent rest.”“Yes. No. But Daisy mentioned you had pneumonia, and . . .”He smiles. “She mixes up words often.”“Yup.”“According to Google, which I apparently don’t know how to use”—his side look is blistering—“it’s normal for her age.” He looks pensive for a long moment as his smile sobers.“I can’t imagine how difficult it must be.”“Learning to talk?”“That, too. But also, raising a young child. Out of the blue.”“Not as difficult as being raised by some asshole who doesn’t know to buy a car seat for you, or gives you Skittles before bed because you’re hungry, or lets you watch The Exorcist because he’s never seen it, but the protagonist is a young girl, and he figures that you’ll identify with her.”“Wow. Anna and I watched that at fifteen

One arm brushes against my thigh as he twists to look at me. “I’m surprised you’d want to tell me.”I am, too. But I’ve carried it so tirelessly, and the night feels so soft. “Anna and I had a huge fight a few days before she disappeared. The biggest ever.”Lucien remains quiet. Which is exactly what I need from him. “We fought plenty, mostly about trivial shit, sometimes over stuff that took us a bit to cool down. We grew up together and were at our most annoying with each other—you know, sisters? She spat into the pockets of the caretakers who were mean to me, and I read smutty books to her while she was so sick she needed IV drips. But also I hated that sometimes she just wouldn’t pick up her phone for days, and she hated that I could be a stone-hearted bitch, I guess. That last fight we had, we were both fuming, after. And then she never showed up to help me put on the duvet cover, despite knowing that it’s the single hardest thing in the universe. And now the things she said kee