All Chapters of Promised to the Wrong Alpha: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

80 Chapters

Chapter Twenty-One: The Head Table

KaelenBefore I was quite ready for it, she was back.She breezed into the dining room like she owned it — head high, hair cascading down her back, that bright smile cutting across the room for everyone. Everyone except me, naturally. Not that I needed her fawning over me; I was the Alpha. I looked away and pretended not to notice the glow about her — some after-effect of the heat I hadn’t anticipated. I had expected her to come crawling back to the table with weak, shaking limbs and hollow eyes. Instead she loaded her plate like she was stoking a furnace and practically bounced into her seat. Rude, frankly. She ought to be setting an example of moderation.Maybe I’d do away with the all-you-can-eat buffet. People were gluttons.As if that wasn’t enough, Julian wandered in right behind her. Easy-going as ever, he drifted toward a table and said something to some pack member whose name I couldn’t be bothered to remember. Whatever it was, it drew a laugh — and just like that, the quiet,

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Thorns of the Past

LouisaJulian and I agreed to handle the heat incident like mature adults. That is to say, we agreed to pretend it never happened. We would resume our normal roles, treat each other as nothing more than friendly acquaintances, and refrain from acknowledging that we had been acquaintances with benefits for the better part of two days. He returned to his bedroom, I stayed in mine, and we both scrubbed down with copious amounts of rosemary and sage to remove any trace of mingled scent from our skin.Neither of us mentioned the elephant in the room: the fact that the heat cycle would begin again next month. And the month after that. Logically, I knew Julian couldn’t come to my rescue every time — but I wouldn’t have minded if he did. The sex had been extraordinary. Maybe it was just the hormonal relief talking, but being with Julian was the best experience I’d ever had.Even now, just the memory was enough to make my whole body flush.We kept our distance over the following days, but I ne

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Bargain of Blood

KaelenIt was time to start putting pressure on Alpha Forge — to begin the official process of folding Silvercrest under Night Rising leadership. I put on my second-best suit and debated the wisdom of bringing the woman along.Louisa was turning out to be considerably more difficult than I had anticipated. I had assumed that marking her would be enough to bring her to heel. I hadn’t accounted for her stubbornness, and I hadn’t accounted for the sheer number of distractions that came with running a pack — the finances, the training schedule, and now three families petitioning for transfer.Three families. Defecting. I needed to move quickly before it spread.I had given Louisa a few days of breathing room, and she had used every hour of it to embed herself in the pack and start collecting allies. I could see exactly what she was doing — manufacturing loyalty, seeding quiet unrest. God, how I hated her. But I needed her today. Showing up at Silvercrest without her would invite questions

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Sunshine Scent

ElaraI flew down the stairs the moment I spotted the unfamiliar car in the driveway, burning with equal parts relief and curiosity. Louisa had been frustratingly vague every time I asked about her mate, and I was long overdue for answers.By the time I reached the main floor, my father had already swept them into his office. I slowed as I approached the door — and then a smell hit me so suddenly I skidded to a stop, the hall rug bunching under my feet.Candy apples and bubblegum. Sweet and warm and immediate, filling my chest with a longing I couldn’t name or reach. My inner wolf surged to attention.I was smelling my mate.My mind raced. Who else was in that office? Had Kaelen brought a Beta? It would be perfect — my fated mate could be Louisa’s Beta, and I could move to The Night Rising and stay close to her. I pressed myself into my usual spot beside the doorframe and counted the figures inside.Three. My father. Louisa. And a lean blond man who had to be Alpha Kaelen.The thought

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Nauseating Truth

LouisaVisiting Silvercrest had unsettled me more than I wanted to admit.I had always known the plan — Kaelen would absorb my father’s pack when he eventually retired, and the two would merge under Night Rising leadership. But my father was still strong, still sharp, and the thought of Kaelen sweeping in and forcing his particular brand of idiocy on my people made my stomach clench. I could only hope the Council would hold the line, even though I despised their arcane rulebook almost as much as I despised him.And then there was Elara.She was hiding something. I was certain of it. She had spent our entire visit barricaded in her bedroom, yet had no trouble working through both slices of pecan pie I brought her. Even when we curled up together she felt somehow distant — present in body, somewhere else entirely in mind. Maybe she was simply asserting herself, proving she didn’t need her big sister hovering anymore. The thought sat heavy in my chest as I climbed into the car for the dr

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Ghost of the Mate Bond

JulianLouisa was driving me crazy.The day I found her pruning Annie’s roses, the rational part of my brain understood perfectly well that she had done nothing wrong. She was the Luna now — whatever Kaelen’s deliberate refusal to hold the official ceremony might suggest. The pack, the house, and the gardens were rightfully hers. The rose beds had been neglected for over a year and genuinely needed tending.My heart, however, had never been particularly rational.The roses were Annie. Not a memorial to her, not a reminder — they were a living part of her that had kept growing after everything else stopped. Watching another woman’s hands move through them felt like a violation of something I couldn’t name. But when I sat with that feeling long enough, I knew it wasn’t really about the roses at all.It was about me. About what I had done during the heat, and what it meant. Annie was a practical woman — she might have forgiven me for turning to someone else out of pure biological need. B

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Two Lines and a Lie

MandiSomething was wrong with the Luna. I could feel it — and I suspected the whole pack could too. Ever since she came back from Silvercrest she was different. She still moved through her days with her head up, still smiled at the right moments, but it was like someone had turned down a dimmer on whatever made her her.I watched her from the kitchen doorway, twisting my hands together. Even her appetite had been off, and that alone worried me. Kaelen must have done something — that was always the obvious explanation. But she was so resilient. What could he have done to reach that deep? Maybe he had threatened her family, the way he kept my mother’s safety dangling over my head like a blade.Since Louisa arrived at The Night Rising, I had been thinking about defiance more than I ever had in my life. Small things at first — like using Kaelen’s toothbrush to scrub the toilet. Then larger things, the kind I didn’t let myself think about for too long. Like emasculating him in his sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Sandalwood Sanctuary

LouisaHow could this have happened?I imagined every woman who had ever stared down an unplanned pregnancy had asked herself exactly that. It was a silly question — we all knew perfectly well how it happened. But in my case I was genuinely puzzled. It was common pack knowledge that despite more than a decade with his fated mate, Julian had never fathered a child. The gossips had long since concluded he was the infertile one.It had never once crossed my mind that he could get me pregnant. I was fairly certain it hadn’t crossed his either — he was far too careful, far too responsible for that kind of oversight. And yet there I was, staring at two bold, undeniable lines.F**k my life.I sat on the toilet lid until Mandi knocked softly. She took the test from my hand, wrapped it in toilet paper, and dropped it into the Hazardous Material bin by the sink. “Nobody will dig through that,” she whispered. “It gets incinerated.”She swept the room once more, making sure nothing remained to fi

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Weight of the Merlot

KaelenLouisa had been unusually subdued since our visit to Silvercrest, and I was grateful for the reprieve from her constant disdainful looks and disapproving silences. I had my own preoccupations. I was nearly certain I had scented my fated mate at the Silvercrest pack house — Louisa’s younger sister, Elara. The poetry of it was almost too good. I could already picture Louisa’s face when she found out. Of course, I’d have to dispose of her first.Alpha Forge’s stipulations had put an inconvenient wrinkle in that plan. I would have to keep Louisa around long enough to produce an heir.I had been giving that particular requirement some thought. Despite my obvious prowess in the bedroom, the prospect of bedding that b**ch did absolutely nothing for me. She was so insufferably… tall. And masculine. Any man would lose his nerve having to look at her. It was almost a relief that her heat hadn’t started yet — I needed more time to devise a workable approach. Perhaps if Mandi was present I

Chapter Thirty: The Masterpiece of Deception

LouisaThe only remotely sexy underwear I owned was a black babydoll set I’d bought for my last birthday. Checking the rear view in the mirror, I could still see the fold creases pressed into the fabric. I tucked myself into the cups and noticed they felt snugger than I remembered.A sharp knock made me flinch. Mandi stuck her head in. “Come on! He’s ready!”Kaelen might have been ready. I absolutely was not. I dabbed muscle rub under my nostrils — the burning menthol trick I’d once seen on a crime documentary, used for masking the smell of decaying bodies. It seemed appropriate. I cinched my robe, took a breath of medicated air, and followed Mandi to the opposite wing.Kaelen was face-down on the floor, snoring with great commitment. “Why is he on the floor?” I whispered.Mandi shrugged. “That’s where he landed.”We grunted our way through heaving him onto the bed. He immediately rolled face-down again, dead to the world.“Now what?” I asked.“We stage the scene,” Mandi said. We wres

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