Fated to the Alpha who Hates me

ut chili oil on

e like I'd committ

hopped onto the kitchen counter. "It's a thing.

s white shirt rolled to his elbows as he reac

be dr

Then his eyes widened. "Oka

ide with my kn

racked open to let in the breeze. The city hummed outside-car horns, laught

f blueprints and client sketches. "Remind me again why y

e bills," I said, hopping down. "But

spicy berry salad

act

t and safe and as always

oved tha

ll scrubbing diner floors

of coffee and forgot his sketchbook at my booth. He smil

tched furniture, a two-burner stove, and a balcony fu

ng on my

ay, with city lights flickering behind him and his ha

e made me feel like

I was

diting a new recipe dra

wn Nu

answer, but the

gh I pick

el

h and unfamiliar came from

one had called me that

.Ye

Nora. From the

own I would have stag

e you cal

d. "She passed last

r goddess

u attend the burial. You we

. G

ght me to braid my hair and scolded me gently for stealing hon

. "I haven't been back in years.

n," Nora said.

about it,"

ne wen

through my routine like a ghost-shopping, cleaning, w

se takeout and k

t kiss

some random show play

rice and I refu

ntually, voice low,

TV, words crow

o way I'd refuse going

love when I thought it

gently this tim

ce cracked. "From someone I

"You never talk

ot a place I li

face me. "Okay

. She raised me after my parents were killed. The pa

frowned. "Lik

d-and knew this moment would

would never come - the day Daniel would disco

softly. "Li

ed. "I'm

s around myself. "I'm not w

ay.

who grew up off the g

lau

hed, like I'd cr

idn

owed was the loudest

re se

es

ke he could throw the words off.

not j

ves don'

exi

No, this is insane. You're telling me...

ietly. "We shift. By will. Not the m

ack. "How long have

ng. I was pro

m wh

world. From the part o

ying we've been engaged for a month and you neve

ne - and I wanted to leave it all behind. That

you're go

ave

her and you have been hiding something like this to me? It neve

e it was a slap across my fa

nie

ward the window, then back

nie

s? This is too much. I don

orward. "I'

or the first time, I

you'r

gotten him after our engagement - set it gentl

ispered. "I can't

shut be

ere for a

en I sat on the floor beside the coffee ta

the lif

already startin