Page 6 of Betrayed Alpha Bride

“Okay,” I mutter, my throat tight. “I was just—”

“I know,” she cuts me off. “I just want to get that boundary straight.”

Her voice falters, just slightly. At the same time, her scent thickens a little, and her heart slows to a dull throb.

I close my eyes as I sense the heat gathering in her. Her chest, hands, and inner thighs are starting to glow like a well-lit forge.

Oh, God. She’s aroused. She’s still hot for me—

“Come on!” she snaps again, her face flushing as if she knows what I’m sensing. “We have to talk to Iris.”

Clara takes swift, decisive steps across the path towards the picnic tables, and I have no choice but to follow. I can’t stop looking at her long, shapely legs as she strides ahead of me. I’m struck by the casual glamour of the high boots.

Flat heels. Practical as ever. She could walk anywhere in them… but they are also sexy as hell.

Clara always had a knack for looking understated but stunning at the same time. No matter what she wore, it looked like the perfect combination of comfort, practicality, and barely restrained sex appeal to me.

I might be biased.

When we get back to the tables, Clara stops and looks around, frowning with confusion.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Iris was just here. Now she’s gone. That’s my coffee, right there on the table. I thought she was going to wait for us.”

I shrug. “Maybe she is just really busy.”

“But we both have to sign the contract.”

“I did it already,” I reply, now just as confused. “I used a digital signature.”

Clara stares at me. “But she told me… oh, never mind. Sit down so we can figure this out.”

“Okay,” I answer, starting to feel like my voice might be under my control again. I can’t stop staring at her, like I can’t believe she’s real. I lived so many years thinking I would never see her again.

I have never stopped loving her… and I can’t believe I did what I did.

If I could, my love, I’d take it all back.

When I first started dating her, I knew that the rest of the pack considered her to be strange, but I had no idea how bad it actually was. On our first date, she asked if it was okay for us to be together, and I answered yes, of course it was… not understanding what she really meant.

I heard the others whisper and make jokes about her. They called her a freak born without a shifter gene.

Even with the way my family talked about her with an edge of disdain. I still didn’t realize how bad it was.

We spent a couple of wonderful months together. To this day, I remember it as the happiest time of my life.

As I look into her pretty face, I can’t believe what I did to her. In the last seven years, though, I’ve grown up. And I know I’ll never let anyone else come between me and someone I love.

I flinch a little as I remember my family yelling at me, my parents and the pack elders reminding me that I’m going to be the alpha and can’t waste time on a freak who can’t even shift.

My hands clench slowly into fists as I look across the table at the only woman I’ve ever loved. I believed my family—I went against my own instincts, my own judgment—and now I know I’ll never do it again.

I have a second chance now, and by God, I’m going to take it.

“Look, there isn’t much to talk about here,” Clara says, her voice flat. “Obviously, we aren’t doing this.”

“I’ve committed and signed the contract. I thought it was legally binding, now that we’ve both signed it?” I say, my voice surprisingly steady.

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