Todos os capítulos de The Alpha’s Mate Was Born To Die : Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 5

Ianthe had learned a long time ago that most things disappear without proof.Receipts faded. Bruises yellowed and went. A kind word from a stranger lasted exactly as long as it took the door to close behind them.The tube light over the freezers had started buzzing again. It always did around midnight, like it was tired too. She wiped the counter anyway. It was already clean. A clean counter was the one thing in the store she could count on.She'd been alone since ten. The closer had texted that he wasn't coming. She sent back a thumbs-up, because there was nobody to complain to who wouldn't tell her to be grateful for the hours. She wouldn't get paid for this shift. She never did for the extra ones.Earlier, a man had come in for cigarettes. He counted his change out coin by coin and came up eighty cents short.Ianthe took the difference from her own purse and rang it through.He laughed at her. "Paying for strangers. Must be nice to be that stupid."Then he squinted at her fa

Ianthe locked the till at one o'clock because the till got locked at one o'clock. No dead man on the floor was going to change that.She counted the drawer twice. Same number both times. It felt like a small miracle.Theron stood by the door with his arms folded. He wasn't watching her. He was working very hard at not watching her. At some point he'd pulled the dead man's hood back up over its face. She was grateful for that. She was ashamed of how grateful."Go home," he said. "Straight home.""What about..." She nodded at the floor."I told you. Leave him to me."It was the second time he'd said it. It still didn't answer anything. But she was too tired to argue, and the longer she looked at the shape under that hood, the less she wanted any answer that came with it.She took her bag from under the counter. Her hands had started shaking without asking her. Her keys found their place between her fingers, the way they did on every walk home after a closing shift. He saw. He did

Ianthe was thirty minutes early, and he was already there.She saw him from the bus. Across the street from the store, under the shelter, the same dark coat. He stood with the kind of stillness people noticed even when they didn't know they'd noticed. A man walking a dog crossed the street to get around him.She'd told herself on the ride that he wouldn't come. People said things at one in the morning. They didn't mean them by evening.Then the bus doors folded open, and her stomach did something stupid.She crossed. He watched her come. He didn't smile, and he didn't pretend he wasn't watching."You said six," she said."I said I'd be here.""It's five-thirty.""I was early.""You were here before the bus." She narrowed her eyes. "How long?""A while.""Do you sleep?""Not recently."He said it so flatly that she laughed. It got out before she could stop it, short and surprised, and she felt it on her face afterward like an unfamiliar coat. She hadn't smiled at anyone li