All Chapters of ALPHA SALFORD : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Darkness held me for what felt like a lifetime. No pain. No sound. Just an endless, weightless nothing that I assumed, with a strange and distant calm, must be what death actually felt like. I thought of Sherwood’s voice ordering my body into the river, and I waited for whatever came after that, drifting without shape or time, without even the comfort of fear to anchor me to anything at all, wondering distantly if this was simply what all the stories about the afterlife had gotten wrong. Then — moonlight. It bloomed out of the darkness slowly, silver and impossibly soft, gathering itself into the shape of a woman. She stood taller than any person I’d ever seen, draped in fabric that seemed to be made of the light itself, her eyes holding centuries I couldn’t begin to comprehend. Something about her presence pressed against my chest like gravity, ancient and patient, the way mountains might feel if mountains could look at you. “Your life was stolen from you,” she said, and her v

No one in the cathedral breathed. I recognized the name whispered through the pews before I fully understood who stood before me. Jason Salford. The Supreme Alpha. The one leader every other Alpha in the werewolf world answered to, whether they wanted to or not, a man whose reputation I’d only ever heard spoken of in hushed, reverent tones at pack gatherings, always with a note of caution woven into the admiration. The richest, most powerful man in our entire society, standing in the doorway of my wedding like he owned the very stone beneath his boots, dressed in black that made him look less like a guest and more like judgment itself arriving to collect a debt. Sherwood let go of my wrist immediately, color draining from his face so fast I almost felt sorry for him, watching the confidence he’d worn so easily just minutes ago evaporate entirely in the presence of a single unannounced arrival. Almost. Jason crossed the cathedral toward him without hurry, each step unhurried an

Jason didn’t set me down once the ceremony ended. He carried me straight out of the cathedral in his arms, past two hundred guests still too stunned to do anything but stare, moving through the crowd with the kind of unhurried authority that made people step aside without being asked, the way a tide simply parts around whatever stands in its way rather than fighting for the space. I could feel the weight of every eye in that room following us, could feel the particular quality of silence that only followed genuine fear, thick and heavy enough that I swore I could hear my own veil rustling against his shoulder over the total absence of sound. Behind us, I caught a glimpse of Virginia’s face — twisted, furious, jealousy burning bright even now, even though she knew as well as I did that I hadn’t wanted any of this, hadn’t asked for a single moment of it. It made no sense, and yet there it was, plain as anything, the same jealousy she’d worn my entire life whenever anything good hap

I turned away from him, curling my knees toward my chest, putting whatever distance I could manage on a bed this size, the silk sheets cool against my bare arms despite the warmth still radiating off my own skin from everything the day had already put me through, from the altar to the courtyard to this strange, enormous room.“Leave me alone.” My voice came out cracked, exhaustion and fear finally catching up to me all at once, the adrenaline that had carried me through the cathedral and the courtyard and the long, silent drive finally draining out of me completely, leaving nothing behind but raw nerve endings and the sudden, overwhelming weight of everything that had happened since sunrise. “What do you want from me? Just let me go back. I never asked for any of this — not the ceremony, not this house, not you.”“You think I bought you.” His voice stayed level, but something sharpened beneath it, a flicker of genuine offense crossing his otherwise composed features. “Like some prize

I woke to the sound of running water and the low murmur of unfamiliar voices. Three women stood at the foot of my bed by the time I managed to sit up, each dressed in the same soft gray uniform I’d seen on the staff the night before, all of them smiling with the same practiced warmth. “Good morning, Supreme Luna.” The eldest of the three, a woman with silver-streaked hair pulled into a neat bun, dipped into a small bow. “We’re here to prepare you for the day. If you’ll follow us to the bath.” I opened my mouth to protest, some instinct telling me I didn’t need three strangers fussing over me before breakfast, but exhaustion and curiosity won out over pride. I let them lead me into a bathroom larger than my childhood bedroom, steam already curling off water infused with something that smelled like jasmine and honey. The bath alone took nearly an hour. Hands I didn’t recognize worked oils into my shoulders, my scalp, the tension I’d been carrying since the cathedral slowly loosenin