홈 / I Found My Alpha Mate’s Second Family / 챕터 1 - 챕터 10

I Found My Alpha Mate’s Second Family의 모든 챕터: 챕터 1 - 챕터 10

20 챕터

Chapter 1

I was twenty-two when my luck went bad.I lost my passport at the airport. A delivery scooter flattened me in a crosswalk. A waiter tripped and poured a bowl of soup down the front of my dress.Then it got worse.A flowerpot came off a third-floor ledge while I was walking under it. My brother Julian shoved me clear and took it on the head. Wolves heal from almost anything. The doctors told my parents he would never wake up.A month later, my sister Felicity rode with me to visit him. A truck ran the light. Her leg was crushed in four places, and it never healed right.Every pack from the mountains to the coast started calling me cursed.A witch passing through Greyridge took one look at me across the pack meeting and told my father, in front of everyone, that I would bury whoever stood closest to me.He was Alpha of Greyridge. I was his eldest daughter. He threw me out that same night.Only one wolf stayed.Dominic Cross, Alpha of Stonecrest. My fiancé since I was eighteen.His parent

Chapter 2

It was the same face, three years old. Even with my nose as dull as it had gotten on the island, I could smell who he belonged to.I crouched down."What's your name, sweetheart? How old are you?""Noah." He held up some fingers. "I'm three. My birthday is August sixteenth."I stopped breathing.August sixteenth was my birthday.Three years ago that day, Dominic called to say something had come up and he couldn't make it. I got on the boat to go to him. I drifted for three days, and I was nearly dead of thirst by the time he came.He'd been at the hospital with Felicity, watching his son get born."Noah!"Felicity came running and snatched him up, clutching him to her chest like I might bite.I looked at her and started to laugh."All these years, Felicity. When you looked at me, did you see the dumbest girl alive?"She was the only Thorne who'd stayed in touch with me on the island. She called every week. She listened to me complain about how bored I was, how little I saw Dominic, how

Chapter 3

I woke up in a hospital room with morning light on the blanket and a doctor talking somewhere near my feet."She's seven weeks along. The collapse was shock. It's an unstable stage, so no more upsets, please."My fingers went still on the sheet.Five years I'd prayed for this.I turned my head and found Dominic looking at me from beside the doctor. He looked thrilled. He also looked sorry, and there was something else there I couldn't read.He crossed the room in three steps and reached for my hand."Mer. We're having a baby."I moved my hand.His stayed in the air. "I know you're angry. But what I feel for you is real. Eighteen years, Mer. You can't tell me that was fake."There was a fire behind my ribs, and it was eating everything."You lied to me for six years, and now you want to talk about feelings?""Mer, I—""Get out. I want to sleep."He sighed. "Rest. I'll be back later."The door clicked shut.I swung my legs over the side of the bed to go find the doctor, and that was when

Chapter 4

My eyes stung.Felicity was bright and sweet because the whole family had orbited her from the day she was born.I was a stone because when I opened my mouth, they talked over me like I was furniture.Felicity brought home little presents because she had an allowance she couldn't spend fast enough, and one box of pastries got her an hour of praise.And me?I saved every dollar I ever had, one at a time. The things I brought home went in the trash.I'd fought them about it, too. I'd cried. I'd sat them down at sixteen and told them calmly what I needed. All I got for it was this."What's wrong with you? She's your little sister. So we're nicer to her, so what?""You're the older one. Instead of looking after her, you sulk and compete. Listen to yourself."Julian looked bored now."You heard it, so I won't bother hiding anything. The pup goes. Dominic belongs to Felicity, and everything the Crosses have will go to Noah. You don't get to take any of it from her."He straightened his cuff.

Chapter 5

His jaw worked. He looked half out of his mind."You're the only person I can think of."Felicity started slamming her forehead on the floor."Mercy, if you hate someone, hate me, just don't hurt Noah. Give him back and I'll leave Dominic, I'll go away, I swear, please—""Stop."Dominic hauled her up and turned on me with his eyes burning gold."Everyone's begging you. Everyone. And you just sit there."He took a breath."When did you get so cruel, Mercy?"I went still.I was fifteen, and Felicity had whined until I took her out with me. She wandered off and got lost.My mother hit me just like this, in front of the whole house. "Why couldn't it have been you?" They said I'd lost her on purpose. They said I was vicious. By that night I half believed it myself.A boy came through the crowd and stood in front of me."Leave her alone. Mercy would never hurt anyone. Not ever."They found Felicity the next morning. She'd gone to a fair and stayed out for fun. The whole family fussed over he

Chapter 6

Dominic's heart slammed twice against his ribs.He stopped a nurse in the hall. "The patient in this room. Where is she?""Ms. Thorne?" She leaned in and glanced at the folded blanket. "She was discharged this afternoon.""Discharged? She's pregnant. The doctor said she needed rest."The nurse blinked at him."You're family, and you don't know? She had a termination this morning. She checked herself out not long after and left alone."The hallway went very quiet.Termination.No one alive knew better than he did how much Mercy wanted that baby."What happened?" His eyes had gone gold, and the nurse took a step back. "Was there an accident? What did your people do to her?""Sir, watch what you're saying." She held her ground. "Ms. Thorne asked for it herself. She signed the consent form herself, and she was fully awake and clear when she did."The color drained out of his face. His fingers had gone cold.He got his phone out and dialed her number.The call dropped straight to a flat ton

Chapter 7

"Left?" Julian's face darkened. "She ran off to have it? Behind our backs?""She's dead set on taking everything from Felicity." Lillian's voice shot up. "How did I raise such a scheming little—"Walter's jaw was tight. "Bring her back. Someone stands over her until it's done."Dominic looked at the three of them. The veins stood out on the back of his hand.Felicity stepped forward, delicate as a wet flower."Mom, Dad, Julian, please don't force her. If Mercy wants to have Dominic's baby, I'll accept it. I just want them to be happy."Her lip trembled.The Thornes melted."You're too good, baby. Even now you're thinking of her.""That girl has a heart like a snake. If she has that pup, you and Noah will never have one easy day.""She doesn't get a say. She has never had a say in this family.""Dominic, if you won't do it for Felicity and Noah, then think of the alliance. Think of your name."Dominic watched them, and it was six years ago.He'd stood in a room just like this the mornin

Chapter 8

No one spoke for a few seconds.Julian pressed his lips together and looked out the window.Felicity began crying quietly into her hands."Well, she shouldn't want anything," Lillian snapped. "What right would she have to—"Dominic walked out in the middle of it.He got in his car and drove, following the only map he had.The road to their old school. The amusement park. The coffee shop where she'd made him take pictures. The little gallery she loved.He hadn't been to any of those places in five years.The car slowed in front of a hotel.He looked up, and for a second she was right there, eighteen years old on the curb in a pink dress, soaked, crying without making a sound. He'd held out his umbrella. He'd carried her home on his back. He'd told her he was going to give her a home.He drove on to the apartment by the college and punched in the code. The smell of mildew hit him at the door.Nothing had been moved in six years. Their matching slippers were lined up on the mat. Their mat

Chapter 9

I picked a hotel in Venice at random.I didn't know where to go after that, or what I was supposed to do. There were crowds under my window, so I went down and joined them and followed the canals wherever they went.On the third day, someone jostled me from behind and I went over the edge.The water filled my mouth and my nose. It was like breathing needles.I'd been cut open three days before. There was nothing in my arms and legs. My wolf didn't even stir.I went down.It all came back to me on the way, every bit of it, one picture after the next.Five years old with a high fever, tugging my mother's sleeve. She pushed me off. "Get away from me, do you want to give it to Felicity?"Seven years old, I bumped into Felicity by accident, and Julian knocked me flat. My mother picked up the screaming baby and glared at me while I said sorry over and over. "You did that on purpose. No dinner."Ten years old, in the corner of a ballroom, watching Felicity in a little crown with every adult i

Chapter 10

His hand stayed where I'd left it, curled around nothing.His face went white a little at a time."Mer." He had to try twice. "I know what I did. I know I shouldn't have lied to you. But I had my reasons. Back then, the Thornes—""I don't want to hear it."I cut him off."Whether they forced you or you chose it, that's no reason to lie to me.""Six years," I said. His eyes were wet, and it made me want to laugh. "You had a thousand chances to tell me the truth. You picked this. Every single time."The first year on the island, he came to spend New Year's Eve with me. His phone never left his hand. It buzzed and buzzed.I woke up at midnight and found him out on the terrace on a call. He hung up the second he saw me. A friend was in trouble, he said.The year I drifted on that boat, I came to in his arms, half dead, and he smelled like milk.I asked him about it later. He laughed and said I'd been starving and my nose was playing tricks on me. With that tea in me, I believed it.Another

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