All Chapters of The Alpha's Hidden Mate : Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

​The mountain didn’t just rain; it drowned.​Water lashed against the windshield of my battered Honda Civic in angry, heavy sheets. My knuckles were stark white where I gripped the steering wheel, my chest tight with a rising panic I absolutely refused to let out.​"Just a little further, old girl," I whispered to the glowing dashboard, actively ignoring the red temperature gauge blinking back at me. "Please. Just get us to town."​From the backseat, a soft, disgruntled whimper broke the suffocating tension.​I glanced in the rearview mirror, my heart instantly twisting. Eleven-month-old Milo was strapped into his car seat, his chubby fists rubbing his sleepy eyes. He was wearing an oversized yellow duck fleece that was supposed to keep him warm, but the heater had given out three miles back.​He was all I had left. The only surviving piece of my sister.​"I know, bubba," I cooed, forcing the sharp tremor out of my voice. "We're almost there. Thornwood Peaks is just over this ridge."

Before Kaelen put the massive truck into gear, he shifted his intense gaze away from me. "Wait here."​Without grabbing a jacket or an umbrella, he opened his door and stepped back out into the freezing torrential rain. I watched through the fogged passenger window, my pulse doing a strange, uneven flutter against my throat.​He walked back to my dead, smoking Honda Civic. He didn't struggle. He didn't even look annoyed by the storm. With one massive hand, he wrenched the trunk open. With terrifying, effortless ease, he grabbed both of my heavy, oversized suitcases—the ones that had taken two grown men to load back in the city—and hoisted them into the bed of his truck like they were filled with feathers. He slung Milo’s bulky diaper bag over his broad shoulder and slammed the trunk shut.​When he climbed back into the driver’s seat, he didn't even look winded. Water dripped from his dark hair, trailing down his sharp jawline and disappearing into the collar of his soaked flannel, dra

Sunlight did not gently coax me awake; it pierced directly through the dusty front windows of The Briar, striking my closed eyelids like a physical demand. ​I groaned, my body incredibly stiff. I was lying on the hardwood floor near the massive stone hearth, a pile of moving blankets serving as my makeshift bed. The fire Kaelen had built last night had burned down to glowing red embers, but the bakery was still comfortably warm. ​Instinct instantly kicked in. I shot up, my eyes frantically scanning the room. ​Milo was perfectly fine. He was asleep in his padded carrier a few feet away, his little chest rising and falling in a steady, peaceful rhythm. ​I let out a heavy breath, dragging my hands down my face. The memories of last night crashed over me in a chaotic, overwhelming wave. The dead car. The freezing rain. The terrifying, rugged giant with eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. ​Kaelen Thorne. ​Just thinking his nam

The heavy oak front door didn't just break; it exploded. ​Thick splinters of wood and twisted iron hinges rained down on the hardwood floor of the bakery, accompanied by a deafening crash that shook the dust from the ceiling. I stumbled backward, clutching my bleeding left hand to my chest, my heart hammering violently against my ribs. ​Standing in the shattered doorway, framed by the cold mountain night, was Kaelen Thorne. ​But he didn't look like the man who had just put my nephew's crib together. He didn't look human at all. ​His massive chest was heaving, tearing ragged gasps of air into his lungs. The muscles in his arms and neck were corded and visibly straining, as if he were physically fighting to stay inside his own skin. But it was his eyes that completely paralyzed me. ​They weren't brown. They were burning, luminous, terrifying gold. ​A low, guttural snarl vibrated from deep within his chest—a sound so primal an