All Chapters of The Alpha's Regret: Rising From The Ash : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Chapter 12: Echoes in the DarkThe escape was not glamorous. It was frantic and messy.Dorian took the Aston Martin. I ordered him to drive south toward the city. I told him to make sure he was seen by the highway cameras. I told him to lead Thorne’s hunters on a chase that would end at the police station in Seattle.Kael took his truck. He drove it into the ravine two miles east of the cottage. He left the headlights on and the door open to simulate a crash. It was a crude decoy but it would buy us time.We took the third vehicle. It was a rusted Jeep Wrangler that my father had kept in the barn under a tarp. It smelled of mildew and old gasoline. It had no GPS. It had no digital tracking. It was a ghost machine.I drove.Kael sat in the passenger seat. He held a sleeping Leo against his chest. His hand was large enough to cover Leo’s entire back.The rain had started again. The windshield wipers slapped back and forth with a hypnotic rhythm.We did not speak for the first hour. The

Chapter 14: The Belly of the BeastThe North Ridge was a desolate place. It was a jagged spine of rock that overlooked the valley. The wind whipped the snow into blinding spirals that stung exposed skin.Gamma Seth was waiting for us in the shelter of a limestone overhang. He was a wiry man with a scar running down his cheek. He was surrounded by six of his best marksmen. They wore white camouflage gear that made them nearly invisible against the drifts.They stiffened when we approached.It was not because of Kael. It was because of me.They could feel the power radiating off me. It was the distinct and heavy pressure of Royal blood.Seth stepped forward. He bowed his head low."Luna," Seth said. "Alpha.""Report," Kael ordered. He was limping slightly but his voice was steady."The Pack House is locked down," Seth said. "Thorne has placed snipers on the roof. The magical barrier is still active. It covers the entire compound like a black dome. Nothing goes in or out.""We are going

Chapter 16: Ghost StoriesThe body of the Rogue King lay cooling on the gravel.Snow began to fall again. It dusted his open eyes with white flakes. It was a peaceful covering for a violent man.I stared at him. The adrenaline was fading. It was replaced by a bone deep chill.Ask your father.The words looped in my mind like a broken record.My father was dead. I had seen the body. I had buried him myself five years ago after the Rogue raid that destroyed our home. I remembered the soot on his face. I remembered the smell of burning timber.Was Thorne lying? Was it just a final cruel game to haunt me?"Elara!"Kael scrambled down the service ladder from the upper roof. He dropped the last few feet and landed heavily next to me.He grabbed my shoulders. He scanned my face for injuries."Are you hurt?" Kael demanded. "You took a hard hit.""I am fine," I said. My voice sounded distant to my own ears. "He is dead."Kael looked down at Thorne. He let out a long breath. The tension left hi

Chapter 18: The Concrete JungleNew York City was a beast that never slept.It did not smell like pine or rain or wet earth. It smelled of exhaust and hot garbage and ambition.I stepped off the plane onto the private tarmac at JFK. The wind whipped my hair across my face. It carried the roar of a thousand engines.Kael stepped out behind me. He looked miserable.His Alpha senses were overwhelmed. He was used to the silence of the forest where he could hear a twig snap a mile away. Here the noise was a constant physical assault. He winced as a siren wailed in the distance."The city smells like dead stone," Kael grumbled. He adjusted his collar. "How do people live like this?""They adapt," I said. "Just like we will."A black limousine waited for us at the bottom of the stairs. A driver in a cap opened the door."Welcome back Ms. Vance," the driver said. "Straight to the penthouse?""Yes," I said. "And take the FDR Drive. I want to see the skyline."We slid into the leather interior.

Chapter 20: The City of BonesWe did not take the private jet. That would have been too easy to track.Instead we took a cargo plane out of a small airfield in New Jersey. It was a rattling old beast that smelled of engine grease and livestock. We sat in the back on crates strapped down with netting.It was not comfortable but it was invisible. The manifest listed us as agricultural equipment.Dorian was sleeping on a pile of blankets. I had stitched his wound and given him a heavy dose of painkillers from the emergency kit. He was pale but his breathing was steady.Leo was asleep in Kael’s lap. The boy was exhausted. His small body had been through too much trauma in too short a time.I watched them. The two wolves of my life.Kael looked up. His eyes caught mine in the dim red light of the cargo hold."You are staring," Kael whispered."I am analyzing," I corrected. I pulled my coat tighter around myself. "We are walking into a different world Kael. The Iron Witches are not like us.