ALICE
“Alice, please,” Eric tried to stop me, but I thrust my arm back and ripped it from his grasp. His lips parted as his brows furrowed and he looked down at me, “You’re not actually doing this?”
He searched my features, hoping that I was being dramatic I’m sure, but not this time. It wasn’t too long ago when the deep brown of his eyes and his handsome features were enough to make me overlook the lack of feelings in our relationship. That’s what I chose him for, but I wouldn’t stand by and be humiliated.
“Yes, Eric,” I continued walking into his bathroom, “I am.” I slipped what little I had in here for toiletries into my bag, looking around to make it seem like I cared that I was collecting my things.
I slept over here a lot but hated keeping anything here for this exact reason. I liked knowing that at any given time, for any reason, I could leave and wouldn't have things tieing me to this apartment, but I slipped up. I wouldn’t have come back for any of this stuff at all if I hadn't left one of the bracelet cuffs Nixon gave me here. THE cuff.
“Move,” I demanded as his body took up the doorway and he took his bottom lip into his mouth. Admittedly that would have worked before, he was handsome in your everyday human kind of way. Physically fit with a strong jawline and an air of cockiness to him that only came from an entire lifetime of getting what he wanted.
{Nasty.}
[Hush, Amara.] You know, some people lucked out having a wolf that didn’t talk, but of course, mine constantly wanted a say in things.
{Just push past him, he’s too weak to be with us anyways.} I almost snorted at that. She wasn’t wrong. Eric was not a protector in the least. He was tall and lean, holding little muscle mass, but to work in marketing he’d never needed any of that.
[Short of a miracle, everyone would be too weak for us,] she stood taller at my declaration. With royal blood flowing through us, even an Alpha of all Alpha’s would pale in comparison to our strength.
“Baby,” Eric’s voice brought me back to where I was waiting for him to get out of my way. He paused with a smile on his face, likely assuming I was rethinking this breakup, when I was trying to convince Amara not to rip his throat out for calling us ‘baby’ yet again, regardless of how many times I expressed how much I hated it.
He leaned into me, grasping the outside of my shoulders in what was meant to be a reassuring brace, but he scowled when he felt my whole body tense, “It’s over,” he half-whispered, “I promise. You’re the one I love, you know that.”
Amara was making gagging sounds, only echoing what was going through my mind.
Love.
He may have loved the version of myself that I let him see, but he would never know the real me enough to be able to truly love me. This breakup, Stacey, was a blessing in disguise. He was nothing but a distraction to me, a reason I could stay away from the pack long enough to build a career and a name for myself here, but his usefulness has worn out.
I stepped forwards, causing him to angle his body and allow me to pass. I could have stayed when I found out about Stacey, the blonde indiscretion that he swears on his life only happened twice, which is nothing but lies, but I can’t handle his proximity to me anymore. I knew he was lying to me months ago, his heartbeat gave it away, and I tried to turn a blind eye to it until I found them intertwined… in his apartment, not ten feet from where I’m standing now.
“We both know that's a lie,” I snapped, looking back at him as I grabbed the dresses I kept here from his closet. I found my emotions hard to keep in check. He was a distraction, yes, but I guess over the past year and a half I had grown attached somewhat to him and to knowing that he was devoted to me because he wanted to be, not because he had to be.
Being a royal meant that every wolf felt some undying loyalty to us, even if we didn’t deserve it. I did nothing to earn their loyalty, but Eric, he was human. We met when we shared a cab once, escaping the rain together like some cheesy romance movie. He pursued me for weeks, sending gifts and flowers while messaging my assistant continually to try and arrange a dinner. He made me feel wanted for reasons other than my blood, and this new feeling of betrayal was hard to come to terms with and even harder to swallow.
Focus.
My ego can’t be so big that I can’t even get over a human betraying me. I was in his apartment for one thing, the only thing that kept me from ghosting Eric completely, but when I went to grab my cuff from the drawer, it was gone. “Where is it?”
“This is about that guy,” Eric’s face took on an annoyed look that made him look like a pouting child as he tucked his hands into his pocket, “the one from the bar.” Eric always thought every guy at the bar wanted to take me home, I honestly don’t know how I put up with his insecurities for so long when it was one of the reasons I have no interest in finding my mate, but they should have served as a red flag in hindsight.
“I have no idea who you’re referring to Eric,” I knew exactly who he meant. Blue eyes and a devilish gleam beneath a mess of blonde hair. He was showing up with frequency lately no matter where I went, like our social paths were destined to cross, but he’d never made a move and I was always spoken for. {Not anymore,} Amara was licking her chops and thumping her tail just thinking about the way he looked like he wanted to devour us. Ok, so in this instance Eric's intuition about my attraction to another guy was right, but it wasn't about the mystery guy and he also thought my very gay assistant and I were hooking up. “But this has everything to do with how you made a fool of me,” I digressed, “now where... is… it?”
“Alice, if this is about your ego sweetie, no one else knows. No one is ever going to know.”
This guy.
If he had any clue who I was, who my family was, he’d be trembling in his stupid cheap suit. It was partially about my appearance, my 'ego', I wasn’t building a name for myself as a high-end interior decorator just for it to be tarnished with his wandering dick. I stood up straight and held out my hand. I just had to keep it business-like and get out, “We’re over, Eric. I suggest you move on. I’d like my property back, please.”
ALICEI wasn’t about to plead like a child and tell Eric that it was my favourite one, that Nixon had given me that golden cuff, or he’d make it twice as hard to get it back. It was bad enough that he clearly already knew I liked it, enough to preemptively hide it from me. The cuff covered my mark and tattoo, much like the leather one I was currently wearing, to protect Nixon, to protect us, but that golden one would always hold sentimental value.“Tell me something that’s been bothering me,” Eric sighed as he took it from one of his drawers, rolling it around in his hands as he looked genuinely heartbroken, “the guy that randomly drops in and stays with you and your roommates,” he looked up at me with a weird vulnerability, “who is he to you?”
ALICE"So… Envy?" Cynthia asked Viv as we dug into the food, more so wanting to know if she wanted to go out where she worked or somewhere else."Normally I would say yes, but we are trying to forget things tonight and I heard that new place, Ambrosia, is sexy all the way around." Viv wiggled her eyebrows at me, “Nothing makes a good rebound like one that's hotter and sexier than the last.”Cynthia elbowed her slightly as she took in my reaction, but I wasn’t about to let Eric take up any more of my time, “Ambrosia it is,” I wiggled my eyebrows back at them, “Ted’s gonna meet us there.”“So you were already planning to get right wild then?” Cynthia chuckled.
ALICE"Ian," he smiled at me dipping his head slightly, but he was watching Ted's arm with a predatory look I've seen too many times to overlook. What was he? I couldn't smell anything but I'd be hard-pressed to do that in here anyways. I casually clinked my ring against my glass to reassure myself it was in place.Of course, it was in place. I'm pretty sure my friends would have noticed if I suddenly had black hair instead of brown, and green eyes that basically glowed instead of the baby blues I was currently sporting. Maddy’s magic was strong, there’s no way her glamour has cracks anyone could see through.“They’re here, love,” Ted whispered in my ear as I could hear Viv tell Cynthia something
ALICEI stared down into the abyss of my coffee wondering why I didn't just turn around. Why didn't I look? Why did I leave?Questions I knew the answer to, but no longer knew if I stood with conviction on my answers.I didn't want to know who he was and make it easier to go after him, except now I'm going to be blindsided. I was sure that finding my mate would end my once chance at a normal life. Returning to the pack would be the natural course of action, except the only thing I was certain of was that he wasn't a wolf.{But he was something, and we will find him,} Amara was being weirdly calm over the whole situation, I expected her to be ballistic this morning.[And when we
ALICEBourland’s exhibits were known for their pops in colour, and it didn’t disappoint. The gold tones of everyone’s clothing only added to the bright blues, purples, greens, and yellows that jumped from his pieces on display.Cynthia stood next to Mr. Penn, Tom, in her very simple, yet elegant gold dress. She always aired on the side on conservative, especially where Tom’s roaming eyes were concerned, but me? My dress was meant to grab attention.Ted was my social butterfly, the saving grace to my introverted nature when it came to social functions. When I had to attend things by myself I often made bold clothing choices to do some of the work for me.The dress had thick straps of gold glitter, a deep V neckline that was held tog
ALICEGoddess this was a bad idea. How did Alice die? Oh, stupidity.I followed the scent, obviously, with Amara on alert seeing as how blood usually meant Vamps. The closer we got the more worried we both were when the scent of the blood was mixing with that familiar scent… his scent.No longer worried for ourselves, we found a way out that made as little noise as possible and slid along the side of the building, rounding the corner to the alley in stealth. Why did it always have to be an alley?The only figures back here were two men who sounded like they were enjoying each other’s company, with a head pulled back and moaning as the other kissed his neck, but Amara was sure our mate’s scent was back here. With the scent of blood still hangi
LINDEN I sat in the corner of our room, watching Marcy as she slept. The slow rise and fall of her chest was all the assurance I needed that I was doing what needed to be done. I needed to fix this world for her, for the children she would give me one day. I wanted to lay her on my chest and feel every thump of her heart beating against me, but if she woke up in my arms she would be angrier at me than she was when she fell asleep. Her tear-stained cheeks were tearing a part of my heart out, but Marcy would understand one day, just like Alice, that she was my whole world, my reason for living, and somehow, I would make things right between us. Marcy was sensitive. Growing up in a coven shielded her from everything, adjusting to the violence that surrounded Wolves was hard enough for her, but she used to have
LINDEN "Did you just fucking die again?" I growled out, gripping Nixon's face and peeling it back from mine so I could look at him. I've watched him shift plenty, usually, the only time he's covered in ash is when he rebirths. "Didn't have time to strip," he rolled his eyes, "burnt my clothes like I'm twelve all over again." "Well, you certainly look twelve still," I glanced down quickly and back up in time to catch his smile. "I'm a grower, not a show'er," he ran his hands through his own hair, preening until he was satisfied. "Found a nest, but it was a fair distance away, and I’m quite sure what’s left of them has moved on." "Why can't you ever just recon without making yourself known," Declan grumble