Page 26 of Alpha's Forbidden Bond

She pointed a finger at me. “Actually, the unprotected part does concern me. Didn’t anyone ever teach you about what could happen if you get a human woman pregnant?”

“Yes, of course they did, but—” I stared at her, unsure of what to say. “I’m so confused. How can you not be more upset by this?”

She shrugged. “I thought we already went over this—we both know that our marriage isn’t built on a foundation of love. It’s built on a foundation of duty. We are here because the two of us were born into very important leadership roles, and we need to save our packs from going extinct. Obviously, there is an expectation that you and I will conceive a child of our own, or more than one, which I am perfectly happy to participate in. But assuming this other woman doesn’t get pregnant, I don’t see why you sleeping with her needs to be my concern at all. I’m actually glad you told me this because now I feel more comfortable coming clean about my own secret.”

I drew back. The kettle whistled, so she got up to take it off the burner, still appearing completely unphased. As if this was just another casual night she was spending in the guest house. “I am in love with someone else,” she said without any build-up. “I’ve been seeing this man for nearly a decade, and he is definitively the love of my life. I have absolutely no doubt about it, and after our packs merge and I have given you a few heirs, I plan on asking for a formal divorce and returning to the East Coast to be with him.”

“You’re—did you just say you are going to divorce me?”

She brought the mugs of hot water over and then grabbed the boxes of tea.

“Yes,” she said, looking at the boxes, deciding which one she wanted a bag from. “That’s the plan. I’ll wait a proper amount of time of course, raise the children until they are old enough to mostly take care of themselves, and then we can come up with whatever story you want. If you want to look like the good guy, you can tell everyone I cheated. Or we could go with something more amicable like the two of us just grew apart. It’s honestly up to you.”

“I don’t understand what’s happening right now.”

She smiled and put a hand over mine. “I’m sure over the years, the two of us will learn to love each other in a platonic way. And I know we are both going to love our children fiercely. But we are not soulmates, and that’s never going to change. I already met my soulmate, and I would be lying if I said I was planning on staying away from him. Even while we are married, I will make up excuses to travel to the East Coast to be with him. I always planned on letting you in on the truth. I just didn’t think it was going to come up so early in our relationship.”

“So—” I took one more second to collect my thoughts, then charged my way through this increasingly complicated situation. “You’re saying that from the outside, we are going to appear like a normal married couple. But in reality, you’ll be sleeping with your boyfriend back home, and I’ll be—what, exactly?”

She shrugged. “Doing whatever you want. Having sex with that human girl if you’d like.”

“Are you insane?”

“No,” she said. “Honestly, I think this is a very logical way for us to do things. I’m being realistic about the situation we have found ourselves in and trying to make this marriage as painless as possible. I don’t see why either of us shouldn’t have extramarital affairs, as long as we’re careful about using protection.”

“What if someone found out?”

“They won’t. We’ll be subtle. It’s not as if we’re the first pack leaders to carry on like this. Because arranged marriages are so common among shifters, I actually know a lot of people who set up these sorts of arrangements. It’s the only way to make sure everyone’s at least mostly happy. I’m surprised you didn’t see this coming.”

“Not at all!” I scoffed. “And I, for one, am not going to be having any extramarital affairs. It all seems too risky, and I’m not in the habit of having sex with humans anyway.” I got up from the table and couldn’t help but give Sarafina a bitter look. “I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I’m not sure that you’ve thought this through.”

She laughed. “I have done nothing but think this through. I spent weeks going over all the different ways this would work long before I agreed to come here and marry you. Really, I think you’re the one who hasn’t thought this through. Have you really not wondered what your life will be like after you marry me?”

“I thought about how this marriage would help my pack, and that’s all I needed to know.”

She sighed and put her palms up in defeat. “Then I guess you’re a more dedicated leader than I am. I wasn’t willing to give up everything from my old life if I didn’t have to. I’m sorry if this news upset you, but I truly think this arrangement will work out best for both of us. You obviously don’t have to carry on in the same way I plan to, but I think we should be on the same page before we tie the knot.”

“Well, clearly we’re not.”

“How about this?” she said, still perfectly calm and collected. “You agree to just think about what I’ve told you tonight, and we can discuss it more down the line. Neither of us has to make up our minds tonight. We’ve got time to come to an agreement together.”

I looked away. “Fine. I’ll think about it, but you should know I’m not changing my mind. Bloodlines are sacred in the Vilks pack, and I am never going to put mine at risk by sleeping with another woman. What happened with Diana was one of the biggest mistakes in my life, and I do not plan on repeating it.” Letting my words hang in the air for a second, I turned and let myself out.

I walked back to the house and got ready for bed. When I fell asleep, I immediately slipped into a dream starring Diana and her gorgeous body.

Chapter 12

Diana

The problem was that Georgie was almost too good a friend. She’d come around the following morning to check up on me and make sure that I got a good night’s rest. But she caught me just as I was waking up from another sex dream about Andreas. We’d snuck away to the barn I noticed on the Vilks property the day my tire blew out, and he was giving me another mind-blowing orgasm. Georgie’s footsteps broke through and suddenly the dream faded.

No wait!

The dream version of me clung to Andreas, but I was already being pulled away and back into the waking world. Georgie bounded down the steps from the kitchen, two mugs of coffee in hand, and I shot up like a rocket—pretty sure my face was a bright shade of pink.

“Hey,” she said, smiling. “Sorry to wake you, but I honestly thought you would’ve been up by now.”

“I wanted to sleep in,” I said. “Since you were all concerned, I wasn’t getting enough sleep.”

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