Page 41 of Bully Alpha's Pregnant Mate

“No catch.” He grins, leaning back on his elbows, looking maddeningly relaxed. “I’ve got this whole night planned, actually. Think you can handle it?”

“Please,” I scoff, rolling my eyes. “I can handle anything you throw at me.”

He leans in, lowering his voice. “Is that so?”

Heat flares in my cheeks, but I keep my expression cool, giving him a challenging look. “So, what else is on this master plan of yours?”

In response, he pulls out a small box of chocolates—homemade, from the looks of them—arranged neatly in a row. He offers them to me with a dramatic flourish.

“Chocolates?” I laugh. “Really, Alec? What, are you pulling tips from some ‘Romance for Beginners’ manual?”

He pops one into his mouth with a deliberate slowness that’s both infuriating and—dammit—alluring. “One bite, and you might just change your mind.”

I raise an eyebrow, reluctantly reaching for one. It’s surprisingly good, dark and rich with just the right hint of bitterness, the kind of flavor that lingers. I look over at him, trying to hide how impressed I am.

“Alright, not bad.”

“Not bad?” He looks scandalized, and I can’t help but laugh as he lets out a dramatic sigh. “Tough crowd.”

A comfortable silence falls between us as we settle back, watching the fading sunset cast a golden shimmer over the lake. The air is cool, laced with the earthy scent of moss and wildflowers. For a moment, the weight of the past week, the attacks, the pack’s tension—it all fades away, replaced by this simple, quiet peace.

“So, a necklace, wine, homemade chocolates,” I say. “What, is this some kind of apology tour?”

Alec chuckles, shaking his head. “Can’t a guy take his wife out without it being an ‘apology tour’?”

I give him a side-eye, barely holding back a grin. “I mean, in our case, I think it’s safe to say you’ve got a few things to apologize for.”

“Fair.” He nods, looking down with a faint smile. “Guess I did put us on the wrong foot back then. But I’m trying to make up for it.”

There’s a quiet intensity to his words that makes my heart stutter, but I try to play it cool. “You know it’s going to take morethan a date by the lake to make up for years of being a complete jerk, right?”

He lets out a soft laugh, his eyes meeting mine with a sincerity that leaves me feeling dangerously vulnerable. “Yeah, I know. But I’m in it for the long haul, Izzy.”

The words hit me harder than I expect, and I look away, trying to ignore the hopeful flutter in my chest. Because this is Alec, and there’s a part of me—however small—that wonders if this is all just temporary. If someday the old Alec, the cocky, inconsiderate guy I spent years avoiding, will reappear.

But right now, with the lake stretched out in front of us and Alec sitting beside me, his eyes soft and steady, it’s hard to hold onto that doubt. So I lean back, letting myself enjoy the moment, the quiet intimacy that feels like a promise.

He shifts closer, his hand finding mine. His thumb brushes over my knuckles in a slow, deliberate rhythm. “Tell me something,” he says, his voice low, almost hesitant. “What would you have been doing right now if things had gone… differently?”

It’s not the question I expect, and I look over at him, surprised. “Differently? You mean, if we weren’t… this?”

“Yeah,” he replies, watching me with a focus that’s almost unnerving. “If I hadn’t… well, if I hadn’t been such an ass, and we hadn’t ended up in this arrangement.”

I think about it, about the life I’d envisioned before all of this, the plans that had once felt so solid but now seem hazy, like a faded photograph. “I don’t know,” I admit. “I never really had a plan in place for when I got back from my sabbatical. But now it’s hard to imagine doing anything else.”

He nods, his gaze turning thoughtful as he looks out over the lake. “Guess that makes two of us. So…why did you go on that sabbatical in the first place?”

I shift a bit before responding, “I realized I’d been a people pleaser all my life. Always trying to meet everyone’s expectations, always trying to fit in, especially after… Well, you remember how things were when we were younger.” I pause, searching his expression before continuing. “I felt like I didn’t know who I was outside of my family and the pack. I wanted to find some control, some sense of self that was entirely mine.”

“And the sabbatical gave you that.”

“Yeah. Learning about security systems, how they work, managing equipment—it made me feel… stronger. Like I was finally in control of something, after years of feeling pushed around and, well, powerless.”

“I get that, maybe more than you’d think.” He gives my hand a gentle squeeze. “For what it’s worth, I think you did exactly what you needed to.”

“I think so, too,” I agree.

We sit there in a comfortable silence, the world around us dimming as the stars begin to appear, faint pinpricks of light against the deepening sky. And for a moment, I let myself believe in this—this warmth, this connection that feels too real to be a trick, too genuine to be anything but the truth.

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