Page 79 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

I stare at her. “So, she’s going to avoid me?”

“There is only one man that Alice has ever loved, and that is her deceased husband. I will not let you wreck her life. She has no interest in you. I saw the way you were looking at her, and I saw how she reacted to you. You clearly have some intentions when it comes to her. Those intentions are not going to come to pass.”

My anger stirs, along with a vein of ugly jealousy.

The only man she has ever loved? That human?

I’m her fated mate, and she gave her love and her heart to some insignificant human?

Listening to the way Katherine describes Alice’s relationship with her deceased husband has my blood boiling. The man may be dead, but he died with Alice’s heart. This anger and jealousy are irrational, but my wolf is a beast. It doesn’t care about rationality. All it cares about is that our fated mate gave her heart to someone else. She mourns the loss of a different man. And in her eyes, I am nothing.

“If you want to continue with this collaboration, you will ensure that Miss Lane is part of it. If not, you are welcome to wait another couple of decades for somebody else to produce this technology, Miss Lockhart.”

The way the color drains from her face makes me smile callously. She should never have admitted how important this project was to her. She showed all her cards.

“You can’t do this—”

“I can,” I say simply. “We will not cooperate with any lawyer other than Miss Lane. If she does not show up tomorrow night, you can consider our agreement off.”

With that, I walk out of her office.

As king, the weight of the responsibilities on my shoulders has always forced me to think with my head, ignoring my animalistic instincts. For the first time, I am letting those instincts take control.

Another man? She gave her heart to another man?

My beast is raging within me, desperate to get to Alice. It needs to claim her, to mark her, to make sure that ghost from her past no longer reigns in her heart.

The voice of reason inside my head is fading.

When I find myself outside Alice’s office building, I feel a hint of hesitation, but I crush it.

“There is only one man that Alice has ever loved, and that is her deceased husband.”

“She has no interest in you.”

I make my way inside. I don’t know if Katherine will tell her friend about my ultimatum, but I’ll make sure she knows.

What am I doing?

My claws dig into my palms. I need to find out. Did she ever care? Was our bond so weak that she fell into another man’s arms with such ease?

She slept in his bed. She gave birth to his child. While I suffered these past seven years, miserable and unhappy, she was in love with another man.

My wolf is pissed.

The receptionist tells me Alice’s office number, and as I head to the top floor, I try to decide what I’m feeling. Anger? Hurt? Jealousy?

Seven years. Seven years I spent crushing my heart into nothing, into dust, and she spent it giving hers to someone else.

A woman is sitting outside Alice’s office, and she looks up at me. “Can I help you?”

“Is Alice in?”

“Yes, but—”

I walk past her and open the door.

Alice is sitting at her desk, a pen in her mouth as she looks at some papers. “Holly, set up a meeting with Richard Gre—”

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