His Defiant Mate: Awakening The Broken Alpha

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m was, my husband had never touched me in

lse-something wild and primal that made my stomach clench. I

across my skin, a cold that had nothing to do with the temperat

t. My dress was a crumpled heap of fabric near the fireplace, my

glance back

sleep. A lock of dark hair fell across his forehead, the only soft thing about him.

se in m

me wolfless-defective-and let them keep believing it. They'd assured me it was a formality. They'd whispere

s exchanging pleasantries. Then someone pressed a glass into his hand. I'd watched him drink. I'd watched his eyes change, the cold silver bleeding into molten gold. Then I saw him stagger out of the ballroom on his own-barely upright,

en a man; he had been a force of nature, a storm of pure possession. And my

wave of panic through m

ain around my neck, yanking it taut. I fought back a sob of frustration, jerked the zipper

n came fro

frantic bird trapped in a cage. Alexa

gain. I crept toward the massive oak door, each step a pr

y door open just enough to slip through. As I squeezed through the nar

I barely registered it. I closed the do

shadows. I didn't look at the ancestral Sterlings sta

my shoes

nous foyer. I dodged the path of a lone security guard making his rounds, melting in

t in this go

uted earlier. It was unlocked. Freedom was

nda, parked three blocks away, a deliberate distanc

he sleeping, wealthy neighborhood. I slammed the car in

llow myself to breathe. I sucked in a ragged gasp of air, my knuckles white on the s

ande

of the manor clicked sh

was alre

my chest. The doctors called it severed. The Elders called it a cur

was scr

i

gh me like a blade t

ate. Fi

air. Faint, already fa

Fresh rai

of her presence, slipping away with every passing second. Unfamiliar, yet it was the thi

fire reignited. Certainty, violent and absolute, slammed into me

mal wave of possession crashed over me. She was go

hing small and hard pressed against my bare sole on the rug near the

and pick

ng light filtering through the window gave it a dull, milky sheen.

ll warm fr

wolf howled again, a possessive, furious sound. Fist tightening aroun

. I picked up my phone, thumb already swip

rough with sleep, but it sharpened the moment he rec

y, colder than I'd heard it i

g silence. "Alp

e. "The woman who was in my room

e it together through the fog of interrupted sleep. "I-yes, Alpha. A woma

ng. Every camera, every guard's report, every license pla

nt flooded my senses again, stoking

twenty-f