All Chapters of The Alpha’s Dirty Little Secret: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

"Don't touch me like I'm made of glass, Victor. You're the one who taught me how easily things break."Elodie shoved past him, her shoulder hitting his chest as she paced the length of the tower suite. The air up here was thin and cold, smelling of mountain pine and the silver polish the servants used to keep her prison looking like a palace."I'm keeping you alive," Victor growled. He stood by the arched window, his silhouette blocking out the midday sun. His knuckles were still bruised, the skin split and raw from his session with the stone walls in the hallway. "The pack is screaming for your head, Elodie. They don't see a woman. They see a historical anomaly that needs to be neutralized.""And what do you see?" She stopped, her eyes flashing a faint, unnatural white. "A weapon? A trophy? Or just a way to make sure the Blackwood name stays on top?"Victor didn't answer. He just tightened his jaw until the bone looked ready to snap. He turned and walked out, the heavy thud of the do

"What the hell are you waiting for, Silas? Get on with it."Victor’s voice cut through the heavy silence of the Great Hall like a serrated blade. He stood at the altar, shoulders blocked out against the candlelight, his black dress uniform buttoned to the chin. His knuckles were bone-white where they gripped the stone. Elodie could see it—the slight, frantic tremor in his hands. He wasn't the untouchable king today. He was a man holding his breath.Silas didn't blink. He stood between them, a shroud of religious fervor masking the cold, predatory hunger in his eyes. He held the ceremonial dagger—obsidian and silver—and the Book of Bonds. The moonstone necklace against Elodie’s throat began to thrum. It wasn't a soothing vibration. It was a parasitic draw, a jagged pull at the very marrow of her bones."Patience, Alpha," Silas murmured, his voice a dry rasp. "The Moon waits for no one."Elodie’s vision blurred. The edges of the hall, packed with hundreds of wolves whose eyes glowed lik

"What are you doing? You can't even stand without leaning on the dresser."Victor’s voice was a low vibration that rattled the glass vials on the infirmary tray. He stood in the doorway, a silhouette of hard muscle and scarred leather. Behind him, the hallway of the High Estate was a jagged mess of motion. Boots thudded against stone. Metal clanked. The scent of wet fur and gun oil drifted in, thick enough to taste."I'm looking at the maps," Elodie snapped. She gripped the edge of the mahogany table, her knuckles white. Her stomach was a heavy, tight weight, a pressurized drum where two heartbeats thrummed in a fast, frantic rhythm. Every time the twins kicked, a bolt of white fire shot up her spine, making her vision splinter into sparks. "The rogue army isn't hitting the front gates. Astrid’s too smart for that. He’s going for the drainage tunnels in the south ravine.""He’s a ghost, Elodie. Ghosts don't use tunnels." Victor moved into the room, his hand catching her elbow before s

Gemini said"Who else was in that office? Think, Elodie. Every nurse, every intern. Every suit in the lobby."Zack Vale tapped a pen against the metal tabletop. The sound was a rhythmic snap, sharp as a gunshot in the cramped briefing room. Elodie clutched the edges of her fur cloak, the thick pelt grounding her against the tremors racking her frame. The white-hot light from the crater was gone, replaced by a cold, hollow ache."Aris always insisted on being alone for the exams," Elodie said. Her voice sounded like someone else’s, thin and brittle. "He said the White Moon blood was too volatile for standard techs to handle. He told me the silver count in my marrow was toxic. That it would kill any fetus before it could even implant.""And the pills?" Sebastian Cole leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed. He didn't look like a rival today. He looked like a hunter who had found a bigger predator’s tracks. "The little blue ones he gave you for the 'fever'?""Suppressants." Elodie

"Get the kids to the sub-levels! Camille, don't you dare look back!"Elodie’s voice tore through the screech of jet engines. Above, the sky wasn't purple anymore; it was choked with the oily black smoke of burning high-octane fuel. A "Wolf-Killer" drone, sleek and predatory with Aegis Corp markings, banked hard over the west wing. Its underbelly glowed a hellish red before a silver-shrapnel missile corkscrewed into the ramparts."I'm not leaving you to get snatched by a goddamn vacuum, Elodie!" Camille shoved a group of weeping pups toward the heavy iron bulkhead of the bunker. Dust rained from the ceiling, coating her hair in grey grit. "The Alpha said—""I don't care what the Alpha said!" Elodie gripped the doorframe, her knuckles white, her belly a hard, heavy knot of tension. The twins were thrumming. It wasn't just a kick; it was a rhythmic, pulsing heat that made her vision strobe with white light. "Victor is up there fighting metal with teeth. Move!"Outside, a massive shadow b