Leaving The Cold-hearted Rich Alpha

ia Simons, the mate of Zane Le

ing every cent through endless red tape, waiti

e checkout with nothing but lint in my pockets for a pack of pads. Some stranger clock

and said the mess had ruined the car seats, so he'd just handed

d me flat, passed out cold and woke up in a healer's ward, fighting for air. That same night, they hit pause on

ike a quarterly report: why hadn't I filed the

've blown up his line a dozen times begging for cab fare. All

ing like a lash, I locked eyes on that godforsaken appr

wung open, warm blood

ost th

finally greenlit-and hit the floor like a sack of br

t then. I thumbed it on

t on my end. Two hours to the

room for my

season's hottest threads from the high-end racks-t

vian Lynn's pampered pup Snowy, toas

five hundred grand in cash right by the d

ze nailed to that wad, fists balled so tight

all damn night to rubber-stamp. H

in my belly worth less than this

stomach, and a bitter l

supposed to mean? You think it's a hoot, all

lling up like faucets. "To you, it's just s

my waist, shoving me a step forward, voice like grav

the last threads of hope in my gut

armed me into groveling to her-five

eady? Triggered h

ed with her grandma's

ny, with that vista she obsessed over

w? Her

ut by the wrist

s, the kind money can't touch. Y

d silence into showing him the truth, but in his wolfish eyes? I was

ng our fates post-grad, moonlit promises and all. But on diploma day, the

ut in his arms and leaving him scarred for life. So I swallowed

d, but he'd already rewritten the story: I'd

hen, and with those doctored receipts sta

ss in the pack's gaze, but starve

f-of-love gauntle

n't make me bar

wolf before me and finally got it: you ca

, smooth as scr

She flung herself into his chest, all coy, smear

chuckle, stroking her back like a fre

batting those lashes. "Make it official, be

ke it was kin, and the pack erupted-whistles

stairwell edge, drowni

th as silk, and tucked it in. "Look at you, head

ody spared a glance for the ghost in the corne

and dance, and next to h

without a ripple, sno

ef-my pup snuffed out, while

boots numb, when my phone

l? Where you at

a post-Vivian's fresh grid, nin

t-built me ten snow wolves out there. That g

nowy's scruff. Phone slipped fr

dpicked for our pup, dreaming

the drifts with her-her-and off

n my cheeks. I fished the p

ck ribbing to keep the vibe alive. Dial back the huff

ood

the roadside, choking on a laugh that wouldn'

smic wink from the moon. Now? Cryst

e in check, I raced the

Lewis clutched his

ing wounds; pulled the old wolf

ndsons in the great hall, locking eyes on me. "These pups are yours

s prank too rich-but my gaze snagge

of the five.

inds, I stretched out a hand his

ne, I'd claimed

ubbed the sal

rot unbound.

y ashen face-set like flint-and rasped it out

"Pup's gone. Three years gr

papers in hand. Snag ten percent of the pack's stake-keep it close. That's my amends for th