<h4>Chapter 136: Chapter 136 Morning After Madness</h4>


    Author’s pov


    Let’s get one thing clear: Alpha Sebastian didn’t just kiss - heunched a full-scale campaign.


    If kissing were an Olympic sport, he would be aiming for a gold, and a world record.


    His kiss came with a warningbel that may cause spontaneous memory loss, temporary inability to stand upright, and a strong desire to make questionable decisions.


    Cecilia had thought she was signing up for akeside stroll and maybe some flirty banter. Instead, she found herself pressed up against pure temptation in tailored ck, his scent a heady cocktail.


    And she was all in.


    She tried to murmur something that maybe resembled a protest - probably something responsible like "Wait" or "We should talk" - but all that came 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.


    Somewhere deep inside, her rational brain iled like a car rm 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 sp of her bra like he’d mapped it out in advance.


    Every kiss that trailed down her jaw, her neck, her corbone left a trail of heat so potent she briefly believed in reincarnation, just toe 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 bnce on a metaphorical 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 screamed restraint.


    In another timeline, 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 some moonlit fever dream.


    His voice came out, rough and low.


    Finally, he looked up. Cecilia’s cheeks were pink, lips swollen and glistening in the moonlight. His voice came out rough, barely above a growl. "If we go any further, you’ll have to negotiate new terms with me."


    New terms?


    She blinked, adorable confusion written all over her face. "So... uh... how much would that cost? Is this going to set me back a mortgage payment?"


    The silence that followed was thick enough to butter toast.


    Alpha Sebastian’s eyes darkened, a homing beacon for iing 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 shame burned calories, I’d be shredded by now.


    I stered myself against the elevator wall like roadkill, hair in my face to hide the wreckage.


    At 3 a.m., anyone who saw me had the right to demand a refund from their hotel.


    Some poor guy stepped in, took one look, and just about pushed the emergency button.


    I didn’t me 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 si extra.


    "Wait," Alpha Sebastian called behind me. 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 embarrassment.


    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 plummeted from my arms and I drifted through the living room like a sleepwalking zombie, doingps around the coffee table.


    Maybe if I moved fast enough, thews of shame wouldn’t catch me.


    I ended up face-nted on the sofa, brain officially unplugged.


    The universe chose that moment to send in Harper - my best friend, badasswyer, general disaster control.


    I heard her voice echo from the bedroom:"Cecilia?! What in God’s name 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 me onto my back like I was a fainting Southern belle, brushed the hair from my mmy forehead, and peered into my post-romantic-apocalypse eyes like she was checking for brain activity.


    "Talk to me. 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 time-space continuum. "And then?"


    "I felt him up."


    "And THEN?"


    "I kissed him."


    "AND THEN?!"


    "I... I tried to get him to sleep with me."


    "CECILIA. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?!"


    My voice was soft, mortified. "I... asked him how much it would cost."


    A long, soul-destroying silence.


    Harper’s excitement evaporated, reced by the look of someone who just realized her lottery ticket was forst week’s draw. "You asked Alpha Sebastian ck, Alpha of the Silver Peak Pack, if his services came with a price tag?"


    "...Technically, he mentioned it first?" I offered, cringing under her re.


    She narrowed her eyes. "He what? Are we talking ’Pretty Woman’ scenario here? Or was this, like, some 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 something.


    Grabbing my shoulders, she shook me gently. "Cecilia, for my own sanity, please tell me 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 me 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 medieval penitent.


    Harper knelt, poked around the stic bag, grumbling. "Well, what’s done is done."


    Eventually she untied the world’s tightest knot, rummaging throughyers: stic wrap, whiskey, and - oh God - a rainbow assortment of condoms.


    Harper blinked, then grinned with scary admiration. "Is this what I think it is? Were you nning 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 shame. If at first you don’t seduce the Alpha, try, try again."


    I was asleep within minutes, practically merged with my throw pillow.


    ----


    8:00 a.m. The next morning.


    I woke on the couch, wrapped in a nket I didn’t remember 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,st night unfolded in my mind like a Netflix recap: the boat, the heat, the hands, the absolutely mortifying "Is this going to set me back a mortgage payment?" line. I nearly fainted from second-hand embarrassment at myself.


    I stalked the living room, running hands through my frazzled hair, reying 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 chimed. I jerked upright, hair a total bird’s nest, hoping to God it wasn’t Alpha Sebastianing to invoice me for previous services rendered.


    With the dread of someone about to walk the green mile, I shuffled over and cracked the door open...