Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
“And you’ll never be able to,” Kimberly says, giving us a pompous grin. “You can’t force me to confess.”
“He can’t. But I can.”
Haven strolls up beside me, her steps slow and casual but her eyes icy and harsh as she approaches Kimberly and glares down at her, Wesley right behind her with his hand resting on her lower back. Her aura flows out of her. The silvery starlight sparkles and swirls in the air, dancing around Wesley, Mason, Nolan, and me as it heads towards Kimberly. It hovers above her, coalescing and waiting for Haven to let it loose on her.
“Luna!” Kimberly exclaims, staring at her with pleading, pain-filled eyes. “Thank Selene you are here. Tell your gamma to unhand me!” she demands, seemingly oblivious to Haven’s words and the aura flowing from her.
Haven arches a brow at her. “Just moments ago, you attacked Cassandra and claimed he was your mate. Now you don’t even want him to touch you. Which is it?”
“I
do want him. He is mine,” she says, backpedaling. “But he’s hurting me. You’re hurting me, Nolan,” she repeats, switching her focus to him. “How can you hurt your mate?” she asks him in a small, desperate voice as she reaches for his face.
He growls at her, baring his teeth and his fangs, his claws digging into the flesh of her neck, and she flinches in fear, her entire body shivering. “You’re not my mate!”
“Please, Luna,” Kimberly begs, whimpering, a large, crocodile tear leaking from her eye. “Please help me.”
Haven smiles serenely, her hands folded in front of her. The starlight continues to swirl from her, lighting her up from within. My instincts tell me to absorb it, to hide it from the world, but Wesley catches my eye and shakes his head. Just once, but it’s enough for me to detect and rein in my instinct to guard Haven from those we don’t trust.
“Nolan,” Haven intones, her face grave but her eyes giving a brief glint of amusement. “Please keep our guest pinned to the ground until I subdue her.”
Nolan smirks. “Yes, Luna.”
Kimberly sputters and thrashes against Nolan’s tightening grip and the press of his weight over her. “Subdue me?” she screeches, finally catching on to Haven’s phrasing. “How will you subdue me? You’re just a—“
“Hold still and stay on the ground,” Haven says, lifting her chin, looking every inch the regal luna she is, with or without Selene’s blood, releasing the full power of her aura and pressing it down on Kimberly. Kimberly immediately freezes. Her eyes widen and she gapes at Haven.
“You messed with the wrong pack.” Nolan’s nostrils flaring as he rises to his feet and towers over Kimberly. “You have no idea who you’ve pissed off.”
He backs away from her and gestures to me to join him at his side, but he doesn’t take his eyes off Kimberly. I rush over to him and throw my arms around him, burying my face in his torso. His cardamom scent creeps into my nose and fills my lungs, soothing my worries and my soul. He snakes his arms around me, bringing me to his side and keeping me there with all his strength, all the while keeping his eyes on Kimberly, his guard still up.
Turning so my entire body faces him, I slide my hand up his chest and toss my hair over my shoulder so my neck is exposed. My ring sparkles in the sunlight, and my mark is on full display. Nolan covers my hand with his, lifting it and kissing my knuckles, even with his wary, protective gaze on Kimberly. She growls, but I don’t care. I continue to gaze at Nolan, letting my triumph and my love for him shine through my eyes.
“You will answer their questions,” Haven orders Kimberly. “And you will not lie.”
“Why did you come to California?” I ask.
Kimberly strains and shakes her head, her body trembling as she fights against Haven’s orders, but even the strongest lycan in our world wouldn’t be powerful enough to fight off Haven’s command. “I needed a mate. Someone with a higher rank who could take care of me and protect me.”
I growl at her response. “Do you hear yourself? It’s all about power for you. You don’t even care about Nolan or anyone except for yourself.”
“He is mine!”
I laugh. “You may have had a mate bond with him, but he was never yours. You wouldn’t have rejected him if he was.”
His fingers flex on my hip, and he angles me closer to him, pride radiating from him. “How did you know we were at the mating ball?” he asks.
She tries once more to resist, clamping her lips shut, but the aura compelling her to do as Haven says is too strong for her, and her mouth pops open with a gasp as she answers. “When I arrived in California, I looked Crescent Lake up on social media. Your pack members were posting about the ball, thanking Alpha Wesley and Luna Haven for finally taking the pack to one after so many years of not attending any. I knew if the luna was attending the ball, then the gamma would be there too, so I changed my course and headed to the hotel first instead of the pack.”
“And the bomb?” Nolan asks, and Wesley’s lip curls, his muscles tensing and his hold on Haven tightening. His arm slides around her waist and his hands rest over hers on her belly, protecting their unborn pup. “Where did you get it, and how did you get into the hotel room?”
“I saw you with her,” she spits, glaring at me. “When I entered the hotel, you were all over her on the beautiful stairs in the lobby, tarnishing them with your vile display. After you went into the ball, I followed her scent to that room. I used the black web to find a group of rogues selling bombs nearby, and I bribed one of the poorly paid hotel employees to let me into the hotel room. I told her it was a friend’s room, and I wanted to set up a surprise for their birthday.”
“And you didn’t think about the bomb hurting Nolan when or if he went back to the room with me?” I shake my head, and her face falls as my words hit her and she realizes the major flaw in her plan. “You really are delusional.”
“Thank you, Luna Haven,” a male says from behind us. “I recorded the entire confession. I’m sending it to King Malachi now.”
We all glance at an older male with salt and pepper hair, who pockets his phone as he walks towards us. There is a royal council badge pinned to his sharp suit, and he unclips a pouch from his belt and pulls on a pair of gloves.
“Of course, Frederick.” Haven nods at him with a smile.
“I’ll take it from here,” he adds, producing silver cuffs from the pouch as he approaches Kimberly, where she lies prone on the ground.
None of us say another word. We all turn and head towards the packhouse, Wesley keeping Haven close and Nolan keeping me close. My lips twitch in a small, silent laugh, but it’s interrupted by a flash of blonde hair filling my vision and a growl filling my ears. I blink and both are gone, but with this being the third time it’s happened in the last twenty-four hours, I know it’s not a coincidence.
Not one second later, a growl echoes on the grounds for real. I whip my head around, and for a third time, Kimberly charges towards us. I can’t tell who she’s aiming for—Nolan, Haven, or me—but it doesn’t matter. I act before I have time to think about what I’m doing, grabbing her outstretched arm, wrenching it up and around behind her, and wrapping her in a chokehold until she passes out.
Everyone stares at her crumpled, unmoving body as it falls to the ground. My shoulders heave, and my hands tremble. Nolan wraps himself around me in a heartbeat, one arm across my middle and one across my shoulders, his face in my neck as my shaky hands grab his forearm, and I let out an unsteady breath.
“I didn’t know who she was going after,” I explain, even though no one asks me or seems perturbed by what I did. “I just reacted.”
“I’m so sorry, Frederick,” Haven says, feigning innocence, her hand resting on her chest just above her heart. “I thought you’d cuffed her already when I lifted my aura off her.”
Nolan laughs into my neck and Wesley ducks his head to her ear, whispering something to her that only she can hear. Her cheeks turn pink as Frederick shrugs and lifts Kimberly over his shoulder and takes off towards the parking lot. “Makes it easier for me to get her to the airport.”
Relief and exhaustion fill me in equal parts as we watch them leave. I lean back into Nolan’s warmth, letting him support me and keep me upright. With everything that’s happened since my birthday began, I am emotionally drained. The whirlwind of a day whipped me up, down, and sideways. But the warm press of Nolan’s chest on my back reminds me that no matter what, through it all, I’ll always have him.
CASSANDRA
“Mama! Mpampa!”
I sprint down the dock of Selene’s island towards my parents, flinging myself into my mother’s arms when I reach her, hooking my chin over her shoulder. My dad stands behind her, hovering protectively with his arms crossed, much like my own mate does to me. I reach my hand out to him, and he grabs it, squeezing it and smiling at me, his face softening as it always does when he’s around me.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?