Page 38 of The Alpha Wolf's Pregnant Bride

“Clearly…” Jarrod concedes with a soft chuckle. “And of the many things on your mind, Cassie isn’t one of them?”

Shit! Can he see right through me?

“Why would she be on my mind?” I cough to clear my throat. “She means nothing to me.”

“Yeah, right!” Jarrod bleats, his refusal to accept my denial infuriating me. “She’s the reason you blew Emily off the other night.”

“That’s not true. You know how I feel about these she-wolves. They’re all the same.”

“That’s why you insisted on having Cassie under your watch during patrols.” Jarrod pauses and turns to me with a frown. “Did something happen between you two?” he gasps. “That’s why you haven’t been coming these past few nights.”

A growl builds up in my throat, but it does little to dampen Jarrod’s high spirits as he grins from ear to ear.

I clear my throat again and boldly declare, “I can assure you that nothing is going on between Cassandra and me. I’ll prove it.”

Jarrod laughs as he turns to me with a raised brow. “How do you plan on proving that?”

“Let’s swap rotations tonight. I’ll take your shift and patrol alongside Cassie.”

“Okay…” Jarrod doesn’t sound convinced, though I’m unsure why I need to prove anything to him.

Perhaps I need to prove this to myself. I don’t have any feelings for the dorky girl who riles me up. Even if she’s not the geeky teen I remember her to be, the one who used to make my pulse quicken, she’s not who I need.

I don’t need a she-wolf to complicate my life.

***

“Are you going out?” Mother asks when she finds me biting into an apple in the kitchen.

“Uh-huh,” I nod, swallowing the mouthful and turning the fruit over for a fresh spot to bite into. I’m trying my best to remain indifferent to the fact that I’ll be seeing Cassandra tonight.

Still, my blood boils while my gut churns, depleting my appetite and forcing me to grab an apple for a quick bite. With my mind racing a mile a minute with unanswered questions, I wish this fruit was plucked from the Tree Of Knowledge instead of my backyard.

“I thought we’d have dinner together,” Mother sighs downheartedly as she sits at the island table.

“Not tonight, Mother. Forgive me. I have to patrol.”

“You didn’t have that excuse these past few nights, Cyrus. Is something bothering you?”

Discarding the core in the trash can, I shake my head dismissively. “No. Why would anything be bothering me?”

Mother narrows her eyes skeptically. “You don’t have to speak to me if something’s bothering you, Son. But it would be nice to havesomeoneto speak to. You cannot shoulder the weight of the world on your own.”

“Lemme guess…” I chuckled dryly, folding my arms. “... This is another lecture about me taking a mate.”

My mother rolls her eyes, reaching for the fruit basket in the center. “If you know what I’m about to say, I’ll just get to it. Have you come to your senses?”

“Oh, Mother…” I walk up to the table and lean over with a sigh. “... I’m in my senses, alright. I will not take a mate, and that’s final.”

Shaking her head, Mother throws a grape at my face. I’m able to nimbly dodge the playful attack, bursting into laughter. Mother joins me, her youthful giggles filling the air, and for a fleeting second, I can’t help but feel guilty about my firm decision to never take a mate.

Mother would have loved to chase a grandson around the empty house and fill it with the kind of laughter the air was blessed with in my youth. With Father gone and with me in charge, the empty vessel of loneliness has shown me the light.

The Rudolph family is as cursed as we are blessed with the true Alpha blood running through our veins. Each time a male in the family takes a mate, he probably does so with the hope that he’ll change the status quo and produce more than one son in the family.

I don’t wish to take the risk and leave behind a son who yearns for the companionship of a big family.

Goddess knows how lonely this life is. No siblings, no cousins. Nothing really to look forward to.

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