Page 46 of Alpha's Forbidden Bond

“But aren’t you getting married to someone else? What are you going to do about—whatever her name is?”

“Sarafina. And I don’t know.”

“That’s not a good enough answer, Andreas.”

“I just need a little bit of time,” I said. “I only just realized how much I cared about you last night. And in my defense, since that moment, things have been pretty chaotic. But don’t worry. I’ll come up with a plan, a way that I can keep my pack safe, and also call off the wedding with Sarafina. There’s a path forward. I know there is. I just haven’t found it yet.”

“And in the meantime?”

I smiled softly at her. “In the meantime, we lay low.”

She lowered herself back down, and I held her close. “Does that mean we won’t be able to see each other? Because I’m telling you right now, that might be hard for me.”

“Not in the daytime,” I said. “And we definitely can’t meet up in town. But you can come to the compound at night.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes,” I said. “Tonight. It’ll be hell going throughout the day without having you nearby, but I have to talk to my brother and figure out what I’m going to do about the Morena pack. And you should go to work and keep up appearances as well. We don’t want anyone getting suspicious or asking too many questions.”

She groaned. “The last thing I want to do is go to the bookstore and do my boring old job!”

I laughed. “I know, but we just have to get through the day. Meet me at the place we saw each other last night after dark, and hopefully, I’ll have a plan put together by then. Oh, and I probably don’t have to say this, but just in case, don’t tell your friend Georgie about any of this.”

“Right. Georgie.” Her voice cracked a little. “I forgot about Georgie.”

“Are you going to be able to keep this a secret from her?”

“Wha–oh yeah. It’s fine. I just remembered that she’s going to be expecting me soon. I have to get to the bookstore, or she might drop by unannounced, and then we’d be in real trouble.” She tried to get out of my arms, but I didn’t let her go right away.

“Just wait,” I said, and she settled back down again. “I just need five more minutes.”

I felt her smile against my chest. “Okay, yeah. Five more minutes. That sounds good.”

Chapter 22

Diana

As previously promised, I had to fill Georgie in on some stuff. Keeping my relationship with Andreas and his family’s secret, well, a secret, was very important to me, so I opted instead to tell her about Stanley Kingsley. I told her that I’d finally caught him snooping around the house the night before but that he swore he would stop following me around.

“And you’re just going to take him at his word?” she asked, putting her coffee mug down with an exaggerated clink. “Doesn’t that seem a little naive, Di?”

“He seemed genuinely apologetic,” I said. “He hated having to follow me around, and was super offended when I even suggested that there might be something creepier going on. I truly think he’s just trying to find my dad, and it should be pretty clear to him by now that I don’t know anything about my family’s whereabouts. He didn’t want to follow me around any more than I wanted to be followed.”

“Hmm… That all sounds very convenient.”

“He was telling the truth. I know he was.”

“Still. I don’t like it.”

You and Andreas both.

“I understand that you’re freaked out about the whole thing. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling uneasy myself, but I really think things will be fine now. He’s out of my life. I’m just glad I know the truth and can put all of this behind me.”

“You can’t put any of this behind you!” she said, surprising me with her sudden animation. “This Kingsley guy is the father of the man who sent me the stuff about the Vilks. What’s that connection all about?”

I winced. I was really hoping Georgie wouldn’t dwell on that little detail. It felt like we were veering a little too close to territory I definitely didn’t want to get into. “We don’t know for sure that there even is a connection.”

She shot me a look. “Oh, c’mon, Diana! You’re the one who put two and two together, and after you called me last night I went down a rabbit hole of information regarding poor Michael’s disappearance. They never found a body, you know. Which is why a lot of people still think he’s alive and well somewhere—perhaps working at a library in Sacramento. It’s gotta be him, right?”

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