Page 82 of Alpha's Impostor Bride

My head whips back around to meet his eyes. “What do you mean?”

He shrugs. “He is your fated mate. He hasn’t given Vivian the mating mark. He hasn’t impregnated her. He has never moved on. I do believe he cares for you.”

I press my lips together to hold in my anger. “If I give Cedric a chance, Erik, I have no guarantee of what he’ll do to us. Cedric cares more about his duty to his kingdom. He and the rest of the Northern Wolf Kingdom are obsessed with the purity of the royal bloodline. Finn is not a pureblood. They would never tolerate him. And Princess Vivian is the queen now, isn’t she? I have no place there. The only reason he would take me back to the North is if he wanted to get rid of me permanently. I’m not going to be a fool.”

“You sure are acting like one, though,” Erik comments. “If he were obsessed with the purity of the bloodline, he would have had a child with Vivian already. He would have given her the mating mark. You were dead, as far as he knew. There was no point in putting off any of it. No, Leanna. The man wants you.”

“He also wants to use his mating with Vivian as a bargaining chip with the East.” I hold Erik’s gaze. “Where do you think that will leave me? She will still be the queen. Will he make me his mistress? Will he hide me like a dirty little secret? Because that’s what I’m afraid he’ll do. I understand politics better than you think, Erik. Even if he doesn’t want her, he needs Vivian as his queen. There is no place for me at that castle, and as long as she is there, there’s always the chance that he will have a child with her. The elders will put that pressure on him. Where will that leave my son?”

Erik’s silence makes me sigh.

“He will never let her go, and I will once again be a substitute. Only this time, my son will pay the price, as well. It doesn’t matter if Cedric is my fated mate or not. It doesn’t matter whether he cares for me or not. His priority is his kingdom, not me or my son. And I know enough about royal families to understand that he will throw me to the dogs if he thinks his kingdom will benefit from it. And I know the same of you.”

When Erik looks away, I laugh bitterly.

“See? You can’t refute that. This is why I want no part of wolf society.”

When he leaves minutes later, I lower myself back down on the bed and stare at the ceiling, dry-eyed.

“You can fight this all you like, but you’re still my mate. That’s never going to change.”

Cedric’s words make me curl up on my side.

That’s the whole problem, isn’t it? The fates tied me to a man who will always break my heart if it conveniences him and his kingdom.

Chapter 16

Leanna Avery

It takes me three days to recover.

Maya is a constant presence in my home, refusing to leave me by myself. “What if you fall over in the bathroom or something else happens to you? Jerry told me your insides are still healing. No, I’m not going anywhere.”

Maya and Jerry are not the only ones keeping an eye on me. Cedric has stationed himself outside my house, in the large park across the road. He doesn’t try to come inside like I expected he would, though. It’s more like he’s watching over us.

“Hmm. I thought he would force his way in, like last time,” Maya muses over breakfast. “By the way, he’s the one who kicked that hole in your door. How’d you get it fixed so fast?”

I shrug. “I have a contact. They replaced the whole thing last night while you were in the shower.”

Maya studies me, eating her muesli. “Is it just me or are you a little too calm about your ex stalking you like this? I’d be blowing a gasket and calling the police. And then there’s all the meat he keeps dropping off at your doorstep. Those are expensive brands.”

“I’m more surprised he knows the brands,” I mutter. “And there’s nothing the police can do. He is a king, after all. And no matter what Erik says, he’s not going to let anything happen to Cedric.”

“A king.” Maya blinks. “You’re royalty, huh? I always wondered how you had such elegant table manners. Now I know.”

“I’m royalty by association, I guess.” I sip my coffee. “Anyway, it’s better he’s out there than in here. I don’t want to see him.”

Maya waggles her fork in the air. “You’re going to have to at some point. Why not just nip it in the bud?”

“Because he’s not going to let me nip anything in any bud,” I say irritably. “I don’t think Cedric knows what the word ‘no’ means.” I glance at her. “In any case, I have to go to the palace today. Shouldn’t you be getting to work?”

Maya makes a face. “Don’t remind me. I’m going to start looking for a new job.”

Surprised, I set down my cup and stare at her. “I thought you just got a promotion with a pay raise?”

“I’m a researcher, Leanna. I like to get my hands dirty. I like to discover and solve things, not sit behind a desk writing reports. That’s what the new promotion means. I’ve talked to my boss about going back to my old position, but he won’t hear it. At this rate, I’m going to end up smacking him in the face with my resignation letter. The whole reason he doesn’t want me in the lab is because his wife and I don’t get along. Hustling me to another department using a promotion is just another way to cover up her many mistakes in the lab.”

“Sounds like you need a vacation.”

---