Alpha's Secret Bride

It’s been a week since Scarlet started looking for another place to live, but she still hadn’t found anything. Eira had already arranged an apartment for her, intending to assassinate her there. She waited for her to call so she could set her plan in motion, but she never reached out.

Scarlet had always believed renting an apartment in Dublin would be easy, especially with relocation agents. The last time had gone smoothly. After she posted on her new social media account that she was looking for a place, a woman who was moving out reached out to her. Emma had paid the rent, and everything had fallen into place.

This time was different.

She posted in one housing group after another, filled out online applications, and turned on notifications for new listings. Every time her device buzzed, she hurried to check it, hoping it was something she could afford.

It never was.

Most of the apartments started at six hundred dollars a week. Scarlet could only manage three hundred.

She hadn’t realized how difficult Dublin’s rental market was. Every application asked for rental history, landlord references, or proof that she had rented before. She had none of it.

The reality didn’t truly sink in until she began attending apartment inspections.

The first one was for a small one-bedchamber apartment in Blackrock. Even before she stepped inside, she knew it was beyond her budget. The rent was five hundred dollars a week.

Still, she joined the line anyway, hoping that somehow things would work out.

When she saw the crowd gathered outside the building, her first thought was that a wolf had died. She slowed her steps and looked around, expecting to see an ambulance or sentinel officers. Instead, everyone stood in a long line that stretched from the entrance to the sidewalk.

She walked over to a young woman near the back of the line.

"Excuse me," she asked. "What’s going on?"

The woman let out a tired laugh.

"The apartment viewing."

She blinked. "All these people came for one apartment?"

"Yep." The woman nodded. "Welcome to Dublin."

She looked toward the entrance in disbelief. There had to be over a hundred people waiting.

After a while, the real estate agents arrived and unlocked the building.

"Only ten people at a time," one of them called out. "Everyone else, please wait outside."

The line shuffled forward a few steps.

When it was finally Scarlet’s turn to go inside, the apartment was already packed. Before anyone had even finished looking around, people crowded around the agent.

"I’ll pay six months upfront."

"I can move in this week."

"I’ll offer more than the asking price."

"I’ll transfer the money today."

The voices piled on top of one another until Scarlet could barely hear herself think.

She stood quietly near the doorway, her fingers tightening around the strap of her bag. By the time she worked up the courage to step closer, three more people had already handed the agent their documents.

Scarlet slowly backed away and walked out of the apartment.

The cool air hit her face, but it did little to calm the knot in her stomach.

Six months’ rent in advance... and the security deposit on top of that.

She couldn’t afford anything close to it.

For a moment, she thought about going back to her apartment and forgetting the whole search. But the image of Eira flashed through her mind. Scarlet lowered her head and kept walking.

She couldn’t stay there.

Not after everything that had happened.

Two weeks in the resting den while still paying rent on her apartment had eaten through most of her savings. Every day her balance grew smaller, but she refused to quit.

More than once, she took out her device and opened Emma’s contact.

Her thumb hovered over the call button.

One call.

That was all it would take.

But every time she pictured Emma’s face, the memories came rushing back. The lies. The betrayal. The pain she had caused her.

Emma could have asked her mate for help. One call from him, and finding another apartment wouldn’t have been difficult.

But every time the thought crossed her mind, she pushed it away.

After everything she had done, she couldn’t ask for another favor.

She even considered going back to her mother’s family.

The idea faded as quickly as it came.

Her grandmother’s voice still rang in her ears.

You’re not welcome here. Don’t ever come back.

She closed her eyes for a second, locked the screen, and slipped the device back into her pocket.

She would find a way.

She had to.

A few days later, another apartment listing appeared on her screen. It included a date and time for the inspection.

She clasped her hands together.

"Please... let this be the one."

She hurried into the bathchamber, took a quick shower, changed into clean clothes, grabbed her bag, and called a cab.

By the time she reached the address, dozens of people were already waiting outside the building.

Some stood in small circles, talking quietly. Others sat along the curb, scrolling through their devices or refreshing rental websites. Every few seconds, they glanced toward the entrance as another hopeful applicant arrived.

Scarlet joined the crowd.

A young woman standing beside her offered a friendly smile.

"You’re here for the one-bedchamber too?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"I’ve been looking for almost a month." The woman laughed under her breath and shook her head. "Every decent apartment is gone before I even get a chance."

"I’ve only been searching for two weeks," Scarlet said.

The woman gave her a sympathetic look.

"Then brace yourself. The rental market is brutal."

Scarlet forced a small smile.

"I’ve started figuring that out."

Just then, another cab pulled up. A man stepped out, glanced at the crowd, and groaned.

"Seriously?" he muttered. "This many people for one apartment?"

The young woman laughed.

"Welcome to Dublin."

"I know the feeling," Scarlet said softly.

A man a few feet away let out a weary sigh and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I took the day off work for this," he said. "If I don’t get this apartment, my landlord’s kicking me out next week."

A woman turned toward him.

"You too?" she asked. "I’ve already been to three inspections this week. Every time I get there, there are already dozens of people."

The man gave a humorless chuckle.

"Looks like we’re all fighting for the same place."

A few people nodded in agreement.

Every time a car slowed near the building, heads turned toward the gate. Then the car would keep going, and another wave of disappointment settled over the crowd.

Thirty minutes passed.

Then another thirty.

A young woman checked the time on her device and frowned.

"Do you think they’re running late?"

"I called the number on the listing," a man replied, lowering his device. "No answer."

People clicked their tongues.

"That’s not a good sign."

The conversations grew quieter.

People shifted from one foot to the other. Some sat on the curb. Others refreshed the rental listing on their devices over and over, hoping for an update that never came.

Just as a few people started talking about giving up and leaving, a car turned into the driveway.

Every head snapped toward it.

"They’re finally here," a woman said.

Instead of real estate agents, a middle-aged couple climbed out of the car with grocery bags in their hands. They stopped at the gate and looked from one face to another, clearly confused by the crowd waiting outside.

The woman stepped forward.

"Can we help you?"

A man near the front answered first.

"We’re here for the apartment inspection."

She frowned.

"Apartment inspection?"

"Yes," another applicant said, holding up his device. "The listing said the inspection was today."

The couple looked at each other.

The man let out a long sigh and shifted the grocery bags to one hand.

"I’m sorry," he said. "This apartment was rented out last week."

The crowd fell silent.

"What?" several voices blurted out at once.

The woman gave them an apologetic smile.

"The agents gave us the keys a few days ago. We signed the lease last week. They were supposed to take the listing down."

A heavy silence hung over the crowd.

Then the complaints started.

"So we’ve been standing here for hours for nothing?" the young woman beside Scarlet asked, staring in disbelief.

The man gave a tired shrug.

"Looks that way."

"What a joke," a man muttered.

A young woman threw her hands into the air.

"They couldn’t even cancel the inspection?"

"They wasted everyone’s time," another man said. "Do they think people don’t have jobs?"

"They should be reported," another called from the back.

One by one, people turned away from the building. Some shook their heads. Others muttered to themselves as they walked toward the road. A few pulled out their devices, already searching for the next apartment listing.

Scarlet stood where she was for another moment, staring at the building before letting out a quiet breath. Then she slipped her device back into her bag and slowly walked away with the rest of the crowd.

Another wasted trip.

Another door that never opened.

By the time Scarlet made it back to her apartment, she dropped her bag onto the floor and stood quietly in the middle of the chamber. After a long moment, she let out a slow breath.

She couldn’t keep wasting the little money she had left on the resting den. It wasn’t getting her any closer to finding a place.

She considered calling Eira, remembering her promise to help secure another apartment. But then she realized she had thrown away the business card that contained Eira’s contact information.

She pulled her suitcase from the corner, packed the few things she had taken with her, and moved back into the apartment. When everything was in place, she looked around the small chamber.

"Enough," she whispered to herself.

For now, the apartment could wait. Finding another job came first. Once she had a steady income again, she would start searching for a new apartment.

The next moonrise, she picked up her device and turned off airplane mode.

The screen lit up almost immediately.

Message after message from Greg flooded in until her notification bar was full.

She didn’t open a single one.

She pressed Delete, watched the messages disappear, then switched the device back to airplane mode and set it on the table.

A few miles away, Greg woke to the sound of his device ringing.

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