Toxic Love An Alpha’s Regret - Season 1 Episode 2

It’s raining.

I’d taken an Uber into the city to see Dr. Henley and I walked

all the way back to the city limits.

“Miss, do you need a ride?” It’s an elderly couple. They pulled

to the side of the road in their Chevy Malibu. They look

concerned.

I’m concerned.

But what difference does a bit of rain make?

There’re woods in every direction and our packlands are

another thirty miles away.

“We can drive you somewhere, dear,” the woman says. Her dark skin is clear although the cloudiness in her pupils from cataracts makes me think she’s older than she appears.

Any other day, I’d question a stranger offering me a ride. I squint, thinking they don’t look like serial killers. Even if they are… not much point in worrying about that now, is it?

A second car pulls up. It’s a big SUV. I recognize the license plate.

“You’re both very kind,” I tell them. “It’s okay. My friend is here.”

“Friend” is a word I’d use lightly.

James is Aaron’s beta.

He’s a big, brooding wolf who doesn’t particularly like me.

That’s probably because Aaron was supposed to marry his sister, Jessica.

I’m pretty sure Aaron is still in love with her. That he would

already be mated to her if he wasn’t stuck with me. They’re together all the time. She dotes on him constantly.

Jessica is demure and sweet, always trying to please him.

She’s obedient and submissive and all the things I’m not.

And she’s awful to me.

I get into the car and James starts driving. I turn up the heat because I’m drenched and freezing.

He doesn’t ask where I’ve been. Or what I was doing. I know it’s not because he’s respecting my position as luna, or because he’s respecting my privacy…it’s because he doesn’t

In the past, when we were stuck together, I’d prattle on and ask questions, forcing him to converse with me because I knew

he didn’t want to. Today, I stare out the window and don’t say a word.

Not even when he keeps glancing at me.

“Dr. Henley, is it curable…if I’m

hospitalized?”

“There are treatments that might buy

you a few extra months…”

A few extra months.

What does that even mean? Ninety

days. A hundred more, maybe? I can

I’m going to die. There is no hope for me.

Upon returning to the packlands, we

veer off the main highway onto a long

stretch of private road that’s maintained

and patrolled by Aaron’s guards. They

pause the SUV at the gate only to wave

James through.

The security is intended to keep humans

out.

And to keep me in.

Because I’m a means to an end.

A bargaining chip.

It hurts.

I get out of the car and stare up at the

ma*sive house. It’s four stories of stone

with a tiled roof. A ma*sive, glamorous

estate that I’d thought so beautiful the

first time I saw it.

“What the hell is wrong with your phone,

Leah?”

It’s Aaron.

He storms outside and down the stairs.

He grabs my arm and drags me up and into the foyer.

I wrench my arm and break free of his

grasp.

A day ago, I would’ve cowered beneath

his rage. But now…

“What does it matter?” I ask quietly.

He straightens like I’ve slapped him.

Aaron has come to know my many

moods-stubborn, argumentative, quiet-but this defeated tone isn’t typical

for me. I’ve had to fight. For everything

here. Few people here have shown me

kindness.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

When I was a scared, lonely kid, Aaron

had taken pity on me.

I still don’t know why or when everything

Books I’ll never get the time to read.

I sniffle.

Again, Aaron looks shocked.

I refuse to cry for this man. For any of

them.

As a terrified, broken, thirteen-year-old girl taken into this enemy land, I did not cry. I am Leah Arboreaux, and I honor my family and my pack with my strength.

But even that pride… what does it matter,

really?

“Answer the question, Leah!”

How many days and nights have we

His scent wraps around me-rich and

subtle and all but beckoning me near

because for whatever reason this man

smells irresistible to me.

He growls and comes closer.

His chest against mine.

His hips rolling into me.

I suck in a breath.

This is our dance, I realize.

I fight or flee.

He chases and claims me.

Already his eyes are warming, his body