All Chapters of Married To The Alpha By Mistake : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

DEENA “What,” I said softly, “the fuck did you do?”The woman from Human Resources was still talking in my ear, all bright professional terror and rehearsed policy language, but I stopped hearing her after badge access deactivated.My badge.My access.My job.Xavier stood in front of me in his study with the kind of stillness that made everyone else nervous. Too bad for him, I had spent years dealing with attendings who thought God gave them a medical degree personally. A big man going silent did not impress me.“Ms. Williams?” Karen from HR asked. “Are you still there?”I looked away from Xavier long enough to answer. “Yes, Karen. I’m here. And I’m going to need you to repeat that last part.”Nicole stepped closer to my shoulder. Mace stayed by the door, broad arms crossed, expression carved from concrete. Helpful as a brick wall, as usual.Karen cleared her throat. “Your administrative leave is effective immediately. This is not disciplinary. I want to be very clear about that. Yo

MACEThe words left my mouth while the trace line blinked red across the monitor.External relay. Local bounce. Fifteen-minute delay loop. Whoever had used Deena Williams’s hospital identity had been careful, but not careful enough. They had accessed Mercy General from inside our territory, which meant one of two things.Either our enemy was arrogant.Or they had help.Neither possibility improved my mood.Nicole Hart stood beside the security desk with Deena’s real badge pinched between two fingers. She had found it in the blue work bag exactly where Deena said it would be. Nicole had been smug for half a second.Then she saw the map.“Pinebrook?” she said. “That’s your cute little nearby town, right? Diners, groceries, suspiciously good landscaping?”“It is not cute.”“Of course not. Nothing associated with you could be cute. My mistake.”I ignored that because I had practice. Too much practice for a woman who had only been inside this house a few days.Xavier’s voice came through t

NICOLE Xavier’s growl shook the town hall windows.Every wolf in the room froze.Not metaphorically. Not in a dramatic human way where everyone gasped and clutched pearls. They went still like prey that had heard something larger breathe in the dark.I did not freeze.I looked at Deena.Her smooth brown skin looked warm under the ugly overhead lights, but her expression had gone flat in the way I knew meant she was one bad sentence from violence. Her big brown eyes were locked on the forged statement in my hand.I request immediate removal from the Evers residence for my own safety.Her name sat under it.Her handwriting.Almost.Not quite.“That is not mine,” Deena said.Her voice was calm.Too calm.Xavier moved toward the paper, but I pulled it back.His red-tinted eyes snapped to me.I held up one finger. “Nope. Evidence stays with the person least likely to accidentally shred it during an alpha tantrum.”Mace made a sound behind me that might have been pain.Xavier’s gaze did no

DEENA “If you’re going to discuss surrendering me like furniture,” I said, “you can damn well do it while I’m in the room.”For a second, nobody moved.Xavier stood behind his desk with Rowan Vale’s letter spread open beneath one large hand. His eyes still carried that dangerous red glow around the edges, like his wolf had come to the front and decided the room was one bad sentence away from becoming a crime scene.Mace stood to his right, all broad shoulders and locked-down discipline.Dr. Lena leaned against the bookcase with her arms folded.Elder Miriam watched me like she had expected this exact entrance and was mildly pleased I hadn’t disappointed her.Silas Evers stood near the sideboard with whiskey staining his fingers and a cracked glass on the tray beside him.Nicole stepped in behind me and shut the study door.Loudly.“Just so everyone knows,” she said, “we were not eavesdropping. We were aggressively gathering context.”Mace’s eyes flicked to her. “That is not better.”

NICOLE Mace Calder did not curse when he found the transmitter.That was my first clue we were deeply, spectacularly fucked.The Evers' garage looked less like a place where people parked cars and more like a bunker designed by someone with money, paranoia, and a fondness for black vehicles. Polished concrete floors. Tool cabinets organized with surgical precision. Security cameras in every corner. A row of SUVs, a truck, two sedans, and one sleek motorcycle that probably cost more than my first apartment.Mace was on his back beneath the black SUV that had brought Deena and me to the estate, one broad shoulder visible beneath the chassis, a flashlight balanced near his jaw. Rain ticked against the roof overhead. The whole mansion was tense enough to bite through steel.I stood nearby with my phone recording because apparently I had become the human evidence department.“You were told to wait in the security office,” Mace said from under the vehicle.“You told me to wait in the secur