Page 130 of Alpha's Forbidden Fate

Begging him to give me everything he has.

Finally, after my third orgasm, he collapses with me by his side.

I am breathless and exhausted, my lips still coated in his blood. I turn my head to stare at him. He is so beautiful.

His eyes are half-lidded, and his mouth curves into a smile. “I can feel you staring,” he says.

“I'm sorry, Liam, but you're kind of hard to look away from,” I chuckle.

He opens his eyes, and turns his head to stare back at me. “Right back at ya, Selene. Since that very first night…”

“You mean the night you wanted to kill me?”

His hand comes down to brush my hair back. His movement causes his knot to shift inside me, and I moan. “I made so many mistakes. I wish I knew then what I know now.”

“And what is it that you know?”

“Just how gorgeous and sweet you are. How almost benevolent you were! I was raised to fear and loathe your kind, and after what happened to Mariya, I couldn’t see past it. But now, I know better. I know that I was quick to stereotype all vampires.”

I swallow the lump forming in my throat. “Can you tell me about her?”

“Who? Mariya?”

I nod. “Your sister mentioned her, and you have mentioned her a couple of times but never in detail. She must have meant a lot to you since your restaurant is named after her.”

He smiles sadly. “Yes, she meant a lot to me. I always think of her as a mother. I told you she raised me alongside my father before he and Mom met, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well. She did more than just raise me. My mother and father have always been involved in council business. Mom being a fairy and helping Dad take down the evil council members sadly took up a lot of time. I mean, I don’t hold it against them. They are the main reason this place is even running. They kept up with the peace and the treaties and all of that…”

“Okay…”

“Mariya was always there with me. She stayed up with me most nights. She taught me how to paint, draw, and, most importantly, cook. I am not sure if her being a witch had anything to do with it, but she was such a great cook. I don’t think anyone else could compare.”

“I could argue the same about you, Liam, because I don’t even like food, but I really enjoy your soups. She definitely passed some of that talent on to you. That has to count for something, right?”

He leans in and kisses the corner of my mouth. “It does. I should use that as a tagline. So good even vampires will eat it.”

I smack his chest once, which causes him to laugh. “Hey, that was mean.”

“Sorry, baby. I’m just teasing you. You know me. Anyway, I also told you about the attack that night with the uhm…vampires.”

This time, when I respond with “yes,” it is a little less self-assured.

“Okay. She used this trick to outmaneuver them. She was able to fake her death in an attempt to keep me safe. I mean, her plan was successful, but doing that kind of magic has consequences. It was too much dark magic for one person to handle.”

“Oh God!”

“I know. After that, she seemed okay. She told everyone that she was alright, but I could tell that something was off. Her spells would malfunction sometimes, and she never healed quite as fast.”

“Did your parents know?”

“Not until it was too late. It took a little more than ten years before we knew the full extent of the damage done to her. By then, I was a scrawny teenager who was a lot more interested in cooking than sports. I remember coming home one evening and finding her face down with blood dripping from her eyes and nose.”

I reach out and take his hand. “Liam…”

“I panicked and called my mom. She came home immediately. It took more than two days for Mariya to finally open her eyes, but by then, we all knew what was happening. We didn’t know how much time we had left with her, but we knew what her eventual fate would be.”

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