Betrayed by My Alpha, Chosen by the Hidden King

sta

verbank shrubs was my husband's black Ford Bron

lpha. The man whose ring I wore, whose name I had t

im was Carolyn. My w

off the polished hood of the Bronco, turning the black metal silver at the edges. Keaton and Carolyn were a tangle of

, sterile light. It caught the silver of Keaton's signature cufflinks, the ones I had given

my bones. I had followed him through the oppressive quiet of the night, pushing aside heavy cedar

xpensive cologne. It was his signature, the sce

en tangled with something els

ni

ro

re grief like a veil, leaning on my shoulder as she lamented how lonely she was since her husband, Keaton's brother

ere, in the dark,

l blurred into a gray smear. All I could see were those

a distant anchor in the roaring chaos of my mi

from what I was seeing. Carolyn's arms were wrapped tightly around Keaton's neck, he

ing, demure widow shatte

the bile rise in my throat, and I squeezed my eyes shut, wi

gs felt like they were filled with lead. They wouldn't obey.

all sound cut th

k of a c

rigid. Carolyn dragged her coat around herself with shaking hand

rom the hood, and Carolyn had pulled her coat closed, both of them frozen

had loved as my niece. She clutched a worn, p

ng voice that sliced right through me, she c

ad

the voice that answered her was not the voice of an uncle. It was soft, gen

back to sleep. I'l

exploded. It turned to dust and blew away on the cold night air. The constant postponements of our public Pack ceremony, his endles

t erupted in my chest, burning away the sho

r stone hidden beneath the dead leaves. It skittered across the

an explosion i

rowl, stripped of all gentleness. It was

pped behind the massive trunk of the ancient oak, pressing

rustle of clothing, and then the heavy thud of his bo

me. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat of terror and fury. Thr

moment that stretched into an eternity, I was sure he w

e, he grunted, probably dismissing the noise as a raccoon or a fox. I heard his foo

my hiding spot before the vehicle rumbled away

t, but I couldn't feel it. All I could feel was the hollowed-out space where my future used to be. The despair

ut. The despair receded, replaced by an un

f. I looked in the direction they had driven, m