Author’s pov
Let’s get one thing clear: Alpha Sebastian didn’t just kiss - he launched a full-scale campaign.
If kissing were an Olympic sport, he would be aiming for a gold, and a world record.
His kiss ca with a warning label that may cause spontaneous mory loss, temporary inability to stand upright, and a strong desire to make questionable decisions.
Cecilia had thought she was signing up for a lakeside stroll and maybe so flirty banter. Instead, she found herself pressed up against pure temptation in tailored black, his scent a heady cocktail.
And she was all in.
She tried to murmur sothing that maybe resembled a protest - probably sothing responsible like "Wait" or "We should talk" - but all that ca out was a weak exhale that he promptly captured and turned into the next act of whatever dark romance novel he was currently starring in.
Sowhere deep inside, her rational brain flailed like a car alarm in the distance. But the rest of her? Fully subscribed and auto-renewed.
One hand tangled in her hair, the other slid down to her waist with surgical precision, and - God help her - found the clasp of her bra like he’d mapped it out in advance.
Every kiss that trailed down her jaw, her neck, her collarbone left a trail of heat so potent she briefly believed in reincarnation, just to co back and do this again.
Her brain was fried.
She fought back the only way she could, by yanking his stupidly perfect hair and biting his bottom lip.
Alpha Sebastian didn’t back off. He growled softly like a warning or a promise.
She slid her hand under his shirt, fingertips skating across warm, solid muscle and the kind of abs that made you rethink every carb you ever loved.
She didn’t know if she was seducing him or just trying to keep her balance on a taphorical emotional rollercoaster.
And just as her pulse broke the sound barrier, he stopped her.
Alpha Sebastian, in full dominant mode, caught her wrist with a grip that was gentle but final. The kind of touch that said, "I could, but I won’t. Not yet."
He dropped his forehead to her shoulder, chest heaving like he’d just run a marathon uphill in boots and secrets.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, his jaw clenched, every inch of him scread restraint.
In another tiline, they’d have gone full scandal. There’d be grainy photos, headlines, maybe a podcast.
But in this one, he hit the brakes.
When he finally looked up, Cecilia was flushed, dazed, lips kiss-swollen and glistening like so moonlit fever dream.
His voice ca out, rough and low.
Finally, he looked up. Cecilia’s cheeks were pink, lips swollen and glistening in the moonlight. His voice ca out rough, barely above a growl. "If we go any further, you’ll have to negotiate new terms with ."
New terms?
She blinked, adorable confusion written all over her face. "So... uh... how much would that cost? Is this going to set back a mortgage paynt?"
The silence that followed was thick enough to butter toast.
Alpha Sebastian’s eyes darkened, a homing beacon for incoming storms.
He didn’t answer, just zipped up her dress with surgical precision, straightened her hair with a maddening gentleness, and then he left the boat like a man who’d just walked out of a very confusing hostage negotiation...
Cecilia’s pov
Fast-forward thirty painfully awkward minutes.
We’re back at the hotel. If sha burned calories, I’d be shredded by now.
I plastered myself against the elevator wall like roadkill, hair in my face to hide the wreckage.
At 3 a.m., anyone who saw had the right to demand a refund from their hotel.
So poor guy stepped in, took one look, and just about pushed the ergency button.
I didn’t bla him.
Finally free on my floor, I staggered into the hallway, making zigzags like a Roomba gone rogue. Halfway to my room, I realized I’d overshot my destination and had to circle back like a bad sitcom extra.
"Wait," Alpha Sebastian called behind . He didn’t let go, instead pressed a bag into my hand. "You forgot this. Wasn’t cheap. Don’t lose it again."
Oh no. The damn COST word again. I could feel my face burning with embarrassnt.
I took the bag, not trusting myself to look up, and half-jogged to my room.
Inside, I let gravity have its way: the bag plumted from my arms and I drifted through the living room like a sleepwalking zombie, doing laps around the coffee table.
Maybe if I moved fast enough, the laws of sha wouldn’t catch .
I ended up face-planted on the sofa, brain officially unplugged.
The universe chose that mont to send in Harper - my best friend, badass lawyer, general disaster control.
I heard her voice echo from the bedroom:"Cecilia?! What in God’s na happened to you?"
I barely moved. It took all my energy to lie there and not die.
She barrelled across the room like a woman on a mission, flipped onto my back like I was a fainting Southern belle, brushed the hair from my clammy forehead, and peered into my post-romantic-apocalypse eyes like she was checking for brain activity.
"Talk to . Who died?" Harper demanded. "Blink once for Alpha Sebastian, twice for Alpha Xavier."
It took a full season of The Office reruns before I finally croaked out, "I bit him."
Harper’s panic morphed into gleeful curiosity so fast it should have ruptured the ti-space continuum. "And then?"
"I felt him up."
"And THEN?"
"I kissed him."
"AND THEN?!"
"I... I tried to get him to sleep with ."
"CECILIA. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?!"
My voice was soft, mortified. "I... asked him how much it would cost."
A long, soul-destroying silence.
Harper’s excitent evaporated, replaced by the look of soone who just realized her lottery ticket was for last week’s draw. "You asked Alpha Sebastian Black, Alpha of the Silver Peak Pack, if his services ca with a price tag?"
"...Technically, he ntioned it first?" I offered, cringing under her glare.
She narrowed her eyes. "He what? Are we talking ’Pretty Woman’ scenario here? Or was this, like, so kind of double-dare?"
I cringed harder. "He said if I wanted to keep going, it’d be another price.’"
Harper rolled her eyes so hard I thought she might sprain sothing.
Grabbing my shoulders, she shook gently. "Cecilia, for my own sanity, please tell you’re sure that’s what he said."
I tried to recall through the fog. "...Pretty sure? Maybe? I had, like half a shot."
She sniffed and groaned. "Girl, you can’t treaty-negotiate mid-makeout with an Alpha on so little whiskey."
I moaned and flipped onto my side, facing the couch like a dieval penitent.
Harper knelt, poked around the plastic bag, grumbling. "Well, what’s done is done."
Eventually she untied the world’s tightest knot, rummaging through layers: plastic wrap, whiskey, and - oh God - a rainbow assortnt of condoms.
Harper blinked, then grinned with scary admiration. "Is this what I think it is? Were you planning a one-woman bachelorette party or doomsday prepping for the apocalypse?"
I let out a strangled whimper, clutching my head. "Not. Another. Word."
She patted my hand, her grin unyielding. "Hey, no sha. If at first you don’t seduce the Alpha, try, try again."
I was asleep within minutes, practically rged with my throw pillow.
----
8:00 a.m. The next morning.
I woke on the couch, wrapped in a blanket I didn’t rember acquiring.
My head throbbed with "bad life choices," and my mouth was Sahara-level dry.
I fetched water - then saw The Bag on the floor.
Suddenly, last night unfolded in my mind like a Netflix recap: the boat, the heat, the hands, the absolutely mortifying "Is this going to set back a mortgage paynt?" line. I nearly fainted from second-hand embarrassnt at myself.
I stalked the living room, running hands through my frazzled hair, replaying every mortifying second: my teeth on his throat, our kisses, his hand unfastening my bra, my hand on his abs - oh God, had I tried to undress a literal Alpha wolf? Was this a fever dream or my new reality?
Before my anxious spiral could reach full tornado strength -
"Ding dong - "
The doorbell chid. I jerked upright, hair a total bird’s nest, hoping to God it wasn’t Alpha Sebastian coming to invoice for previous services rendered.
With the dread of soone about to walk the green mile, I shuffled over and cracked the door open...
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