Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Alpha’s Dirty Little Secret: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

" Please, just let me go," I rasped. My throat felt like I’d swallowed a sprinkle of dry beach. " Let you go?" Victor Blackwood did n’t move from his president by the fire. He did not have to. He was the Alpha King of the North; his presence alone was a physical weight pressing the air out of my lungs. He sat there, his frame too big for the cabinetwork, watching me with eyes that glowed a low, dangerous amber. " Elodie," he purred. The way he said my name felt like a mesh tightening." You broke into my house. You shifted on my land. You ran through my forestland like you possessed them. And now you suppose you can just walk out?" " Camille said" I glanced toward the stairs, my heart thumping a frantic meter against my caricatures." She said it was a gift. A weekend flight. I did not know this place was yours, Victor. I swear to God." " Fabricator." He stood up. It was not a jump; it was fluid, like a wolf deciding the deer had run far enough. He was broader than I flashed back

"You’re sweating, El. And you smell... different."I didn't stop scrubbing the kitchen counter. I couldn't. If I stopped, I’d have to look at Camille, and I’d have to face the guilt rotting in my gut. The pine-and-snow scent of Victor was still lodged in my lungs a phantom weight that made my skin crawl and tingle all at once."It’s just the city air, Cam," I muttered. I dug the sponge into a stubborn coffee stain until the plastic mesh started to fray. "Exhaust fumes and garbage. It gets on everything.""Bullshit." Camille leaned against the fridge, her arms crossed. Her eyes were narrowed eyes so much like her brother’s, but without that bone-deep cruelty. "That night at the villa... Victor didn't just kick you out, did he? When I went back to the room the next morning, the door was nearly off its hinges. And the scent? It was thick. It was Alpha."The sponge tore under my thumb. My heart did a slow, painful roll. He’d marked me. Not with teeth, but with everything else. He’d treate

"Tell me the truth, Elodie. Right now."Victor’s voice wasn't a roar. It was a low, vibrating hum that made the medical instruments on the tray rattle. He was standing so close his shadow swallowed me whole. His hand remained flat against my stomach, his fingers splayed, heat seeping through the thin fabric of my dress."I told you," I rasped, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. "The heat. The crowd. I just... I haven't been eating well. It was a panic attack, Victor. My blood sugar dropped.""Liar." He leaned down, his nose brushing against my temple. He inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring. "The scent coming off your skin... it’s different. It’s heavy. It’s sweet, like honey and rain. It’s the scent of a female who has been claimed.""You claimed me!" I shoved at his chest, my voice rising in a desperate pitch. "In the villa. You marked me with everything but your teeth. Of course I smell like you."Victor’s eyes narrowed, the amber glow fading into a dark, calculat

"What the hell is this place, Victor? A museum or a tomb?"Elodie’s voice echoed off the vaulted ceiling of the High Estate. The iron gates had shrieked shut behind them five minutes ago, a sound that felt like a guillotine blade dropping. Outside, the Montana peaks were jagged teeth against a bruising sky. Inside, the suite smelled of expensive floor wax and old, cold power."It’s your room," Victor said. He didn't look at her. He was busy punching a code into a sleek silver panel by the door. "Stay inside. The windows are reinforced. The walls are lined with silver mesh. Don't try to shift. You’ll just burn your lungs out.""You locked me in a cage." Elodie spun around, her heels digging into the thick Persian rug. "I’m an assistant, not a prisoner. Let me talk to Camille. She was crying, Victor. She thinks I’m a traitor."Victor finally turned. His face was a mask of granite. "Camille is at the secondary estate. She needs to get her head straight. She’s being re-educated on what it

"Tell me the truth, girl. Are you carrying the Alpha King’s bastard?"Silas’s voice scraped against the silence of the room. He leaned in so close I could smell the stale tobacco on his breath. The golden light of the Truth Oath didn't just glow; it constricted. It felt like a wire made of sun-fire wrapping around my windpipe. Every breath became a jagged struggle. The magic hummed, a low-frequency vibration that rattled my teeth and made my wolf shriek in the back of my skull.I looked at Victor. His knuckles were white where he gripped the edge of a mahogany table, the wood groaning under his strength. His eyes were wide, fixed on me, a silent, desperate command to keep my mouth shut. Two sentries stepped between us, their silver-tipped spears leveled at his chest. The metallic tang of silver filled the air, a warning to any wolf thinking of shifting.The pressure in my throat spiked. The oath was a physical weight, pressing the air out of my lungs, demanding a confession. If I said