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020 | Tainted by poison and lies
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An Affair with the Alpha 021 | Hurricane Rhiannon
Rhiannon’s POVI stormed up the stairs to Alpha Caleb’s office, rage brewing like a growl of thunder in my belly. I was a hurricane made manifest; I was anger and wrath; I was– ‘Cool it, Hurricane Rhiannon.’ Tiger snorted. ‘You need to keep your head if you want to get the answers you need.’I took a moment to gather myself. ‘You’re right,’ I agreed reluctantly, slumping down on the arm of a sofa on the first floor. ‘Wow, agreeing with me on the first try? You really must be worried,’ she said, her voice light and teasing but undercut with a gentleness I recognised as the first strains of pity. I knotted my hands together and sighed. ‘I am. What if…’ I blinked back tears I hadn’t expected to cry. ‘What if Dad was the wolf who was poisoned?’‘I don’t know,’ she said simply. My breathing sounded disturbingly moist. I clenched my hands into fists and stood up. Sitting around thinking wasn’t going to get me anywhere good. I needed to act. ‘Come on,’ I muttered, searching for the spark
An Affair with the Alpha 022 | A soul so cold and hollow
Rhiannon’s POVI couldn’t feel a thing. My whole body turned to ice in an instant. My lungs stopped breathing; my heart stopped pumping blood. I was a statue, a creature made of cold, unfeeling stone. “He… he mentioned something to Kieran, which Amelia passed on to me, after I… after I found him.” Caleb’s throat bobbed. “I don’t know if I–”“Tell me,” I snarled, wrenching my hand away. My anger licked like fire up my stone sides, melting the ice encasing me and allowing me to move and think again. It was easy to let anger back into my hollow soul. It burned away the pain I knew was waiting for me in the cold and the dark.“It will hurt you, Rhiannon,” he rasped, looking away.“Tell me,” I said again, desperation making my tone turn reedy.He sighed, resigned, and drew me over to a sofa opposite the fire. I stared into it as he spoke. “Your father died of starvation. I found him on the path to the pack house, just after I’d sent the other wolves off to hunt.” He shivered; I felt the
An Affair with the Alpha 023 | Dad's so not on a hunting trip
Hyacinth’s POVIt was when I saw them all at breakfast, Flint, Calcus, Bella, and Holly, that I knew. Dad should be back. He should be here – but he wasn’t. Maybe Rhiannon wouldn’t want to go and try to see Alpha Caleb again, but it was the only option I had left. Dad would have told us he was going somewhere. Dad would have left a note. Dad would have –‘Your dad would never have done this,’ Dolly said with a huff. ‘Come on, queen! You march straight in there and give them what for.’I managed a small smile. ‘What for?’She nodded sagely. ‘You’ve got it!’I applied my strawberry lip balm, then popped my lips at myself in my bedroom mirror. “I’ve got this,” I said aloud, and Dolly cheered in my head. I straightened my clothes, layering pink over pink, and jogged down the stairs after tucking my short hair just-so behind my ears.Stephen poked his head out of Rhiannon’s bedroom as I was about to leave. “Hey, Cin?”My heart leapt. I spun around eagerly – too eagerly – and beamed at him
An Affair with the Alpha 024 | I'll tell you everything
Hyacinth’s POV“Rhi?” I frowned at her, grabbing her arm and towing her away from Alpha Caleb.“I have to talk to you,” she hissed, putting her hand over the top of mine and squeezing. Her knuckles turned white.“Were you just–”She put a finger over my lips and raised her eyebrows at me. “I’ll tell you everything,” she said, then dropped her hand and looped her pinky finger through mine. My mind spun through a thousand possibilities, but it kept landing on the same one. I glanced back at the closed office door, trying to picture what the ding-dang-doodle had been going on in there. It had sounded like she’d been having sex with Alpha Caleb. But that was impossible – wasn’t it?‘I think you just walked right into a honey trap here, Cin,’ said Dolly.‘Do you know what a honey trap is?’‘Something real sticky,’ she said, with so much confidence that I didn’t have the heart to correct her. I looked over at my sister. She was bright red in the face and her hair was all mussed. Her leath
An Affair with the Alpha 025 | Unicorns are real and oh, yeah, my sister is unfaithful
Hyacinth’s POVI shuffled back until my back pressed against the wall. “All of it?” I joked weakly. “So unicorns are really real?”“Cin,” she sighed. I bit my lip. “I heard the two of you together. I thought it was the Luna, but then you came out…” I looked up hesitantly. “What about Stephen?”“Goddess, I know.” Rhiannon dipped her head, strands of silver falling over her face as she sucked in a rasping breath.“He’s your mate,” I snapped, my own pain morphing into righteous anger. “How could you do that to him? How can you even look at another guy after feeling the mate bond snap into place? I thought–”She cut me off. “Because Stephen isn’t my real mate.”And I felt like my world imploded. What in all of the goddess’s green earth was that supposed to mean? I’d been there when they’d felt the mate bond join them together forever. I’d seen the way they’d been ever since: barely able to keep their hands off each other, staring at each other with those huge, adoring, puppy-dog eyes, g
An Affair with the Alpha 026 | A scoundrel in a pickle
Stephen’s POVI realised what I was doing a moment too late. My lips were pressed to Cin’s. I could taste her tears on my tongue, feel her petite body crushed against mine. I pulled away – but I could’ve sworn Hyacinth lingered for a second. ‘Stephen!’ Brian chastised. ‘Back away from this nice young lady this instant!’My heart was beating so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. I stumbled backwards and gaped at Hyacinth, apologises burning their way up my throat. “I’m so, so sorry,” I whispered, shaking my head in horror.Why had I done that? It didn’t make any sense. None at all, in fact. I’d never thought of Cin that way, had never wanted anyone other than Rhi. And now, all of a sudden, I’d done… that?‘I should give you a right talking to!’ said Brian. ‘Or your lovely Rhiannon should. I cannot believe you would scorn your good woman in such a way.’ He tutted at me, disapproval rolling off him in waves.‘You should,’ I agreed, numb to everything as I stared at
An Affair with the Alpha 027 | What's happening to me?
Stephen's POV‘I’m going mad from hunger,’ I mindlinked to Brian, pacing back and forth across my family’s kitchen. I opened and closed the same pantry cupboard for the hundredth time, my stomach growling at me when it realised, as I already had, that there was not a scrap of food in the house. Not one single, solitary scrap.I’d had to get away from Rhiannon and Hyacinth for a little while. I’d felt awful leaving them – but it was for the best. I was losing my gosh-darn mind and being closed in on all sides by my mate and her sister had only been making things worse. Besides, they’d seemed happy enough to comfort each other. They shared a pain I would never wholly understand.‘You’re going mad because you’re a little rascal,’ retorted Brian, sniffing disdainfully at me. ‘The hunger isn’t new. Your infatuation with Hyacinth is.’“Oh, darn it all to heck.” I groaned, doubling over and scrubbing my hands over my head. I wished there was enough hair there for me to pull at. Anything to o
An Affair with the Alpha 028 | Big family dinners never end well
Stephen’s POVThe pack announcements started off… okay.We were just listening to Alpha Caleb drone on about the tough times we were enduring and the light at the end of the tunnel, so it was easy enough to use him to distract myself from Hyacinth and Rhiannon.Why had Hyacinth sat that side of me? It opened up a can of worms if I really thought about it. Did she… had she wanted me to…‘Because your own Ma sat next to Rhi on her other side, you scallywag! How you didn’t notice that is beyond me. My eyes are aged, rheumy and weak, and yet I spotted her in an instant! You are searching for reason that does not exist, my dear boy.’ Brian shook his head at me.I glanced over at Rhi, who I’d been doing a spectacular job of avoiding eye contact with and, sure enough, Ma and Pa had sat beside her. They were conferring in low voices, consoling Rhi over the loss of her father.Which was exactly what I should have been doing. My belly balled into a knot; guilt made me sweat. I was behaving like
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