Page 70 of The Alpha Wolf's Pregnant Bride

“Cyrus…” I shake my head firmly, placing a loving hand on his cheek. “I know how important this is for you. I’ll be fine.”

He perks up a skeptical brow. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“Of course not!” I exclaim with a click of my tongue. “But I’m not gonna keep you away from your duties.”

Cyrus looks up, his eyes softening into iridescent green orbs with glittering gold specks of mesmerization. He takes my hand to plant a soft, lulling kiss on my knuckles, keeping his eyes on mine.

“You really are born to be this pack’s Luna…” he praises, voice so low that it tugs on my heartstrings, creating a song of melodious notes that serve as the soundtrack of my feelings for him.

It almost pains me how badly I want to tell him that I’m pregnant. I actively bite my tongue to hold off the urge to blurt out the news.

That’s not the only thing I want to tell him…

“Did you mean what you said earlier?” I ask, cheeks warming with a blush.

He nods sheepishly, his eyes drinking in the way the color spreads on my cheeks. “I did mean it,” he says, lifting a hand to cup my face as he leans in to steadily stare into my eyes. “Did you think I was lying? Is that why you left dinner?”

I shake my head slowly. “No, I just…” I pause, trying to find the appropriate words, when all I can think of is how sweet he’d been tonight. “I love you too, Cyrus.”

Audibly gasping, Cyrus closes the short distance between us and kisses me sweetly on the lips. The kiss isn’t hurried or greedy as he usually is when he’s about to rip my clothes off.

This time, it attests to the truth of what he declared tonight while showing gratitude for my reciprocation as he doesn’t beckon my lips apart, keeping the kiss chaste and demure. My toes tingle, my fingertips ignited with a surge of awareness that isn’t as fiery as passionate lovemaking.

It’s patient, kind, and peaceful as it affirms that the man who elicits these warm feelings is “home” to me.

Just as I am “home” to him when he draws back and gazes lovingly into my eyes.

“You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that. For a moment…” his voice falters off, and I know it’s because he had insecurities of his own.

Somehow, I’m able to bring the Alpha to his knees, literally and figuratively, when he shows a side of himself that only I get to witness. A vulnerable side, which indicates that his humanity is still very much intact despite being the powerful leader of the Moon Shine Pack. It means his love is true, and I am his peace, hishome.

No longer afraid of seeing him leave, my resolve is strengthened by the love we share and the confidence that it’s my love that will give him strength out there.

“I was wrong about what I said before,” I say gently. “Getting hurt out there is the worst move you could ever make.”

“Then I promise to come back unscathed,” he declares proudly, his shoulders sharpening as he lifts his chin. “I never wanna see you so worried ever again.

“Good, ‘cause I’ll slap you if you don’t!” I warn with a playful giggle, but there’s a hint of dread that I can’t ignore.

Cyrus catches it, too, and wraps his arms around me reassuringly.

“I will never give you another reason to slap your Alpha,” he taunts with a curt chuckle, arms tightening around me. I hear his long intake of breath in my hair, and I know he’s drinking in my scent, filling up his airways to have me close by when he’s out there.

All I can do is internally pray to the Moon Goddess that no harm comes to the Alpha of Moon Shine, my future mate and the father of the pup growing inside me.

He has to return so I can surprise him with the best news.

Chapter 20 - Cyrus

“Thank you, everyone,” Alpha Dorian nods, his eyes solemn and he can barely look at us. The ghastly scar marring his cheek hasn’t healed fully, even though it’s been a week.

His recovery has slowed down significantly, all because his blood had been siphoned during his capture, as he explains to the Alpha Council now when we’re grouped in his pack den in Fort Smith.

“... He began injecting himself with my blood. As the days went by, he was slowly morphing into the beast he is now,” Dorian explains, his voice gravelly as if his throat is still parched from the horrors he’d faced.

The condition we found him in was dreadful. He’d been bound to a dilapidated hospital bed with silver chains that masked his shifting abilities, hooked up to pipes that drained his blood. He’d barely been fed, and his body was deteriorated by the time we found him.

It was a miracle that he was still alive. He was only breathing so his Alpha blood could be drained.

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