Page 15 of Cruel Alpha Beast
Truly, I’ve missed so much. The last five years have blown by for me, but for Lacey, she’s been through so much. Learning she was pregnant in the first place, carrying our daughter, giving birth, and even raising her. And I had no idea about it. For all I know, aside from a few phone calls with Greg, she could have been completely alone.
Yawning, I stretch out my arms and roll onto my left side. My heart swells at the thought of turning over and finding the beautiful woman I married lying beside me on the mattress. I can smell her flowery perfume wafting up from the pillow and through the air, but when I finally roll onto my other side, the bed is empty.
I jolt up onto my arm, then sit up straight. I glance around the room, finding my dresser and floor-length mirror in their usual spots. But no Lacey anywhere that I can see.
“Fuck,” I mutter to myself, clambering out of bed as fast as I can. “She’s running away again, isn’t she?”
But then I can sense something. Her presence. It’s here, somewhere, I can feel it. She didn’t run away. She’s somewhere in the house.
Wearing nothing but my boxer shorts, I cross the carpeted floor and carry on until I’m at the top of the stairs leading down to the rest of the house. Rising up into the air is the delicious scent of bacon cooking on the stove. My stomach is rumbling the loudest it’s ever been.
Stepping through the living room, I find the kitchen in no time. Standing in front of the pan crackling on the stove is my beautiful wife. She uses one hand to flip the bacon, leaning away from the popping grease to avoid a nasty burn. With her other hand, she grips the hourglass curve of her waist.
My first instinct is to come up behind her and slip my arms around her, holding her close to my body, but I know I can’t do that. From all I’ve been able to see, she is still angry with me, and she has a reason. I was truly awful to her in my youth.
So, instead of touching her, I keep my hands to myself. For a moment, I merely stand there, watching, admiring the dark blue sundress she must have packed along with her when she came back to the valley. At the top of her head, her black hair is tied up in a bun, wet from a shower she clearly had taken while I was still asleep.
“Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help me make breakfast?” Lacey asks. She turns around and eyes me up and down. “I, uh, I could sense you watching me.”
“You could?”
I step forward and find a pan of half-scrambled eggs on another burner. Using the rubber spatula sitting in the middle of the pan, I drag it through the eggs, helping to scramble them further. Lacey gives me a sidelong glance, but goes back to focusing on the bacon.
“I didn’t know you could sense things like that,” I continue.
“Just because I can’t turn into a wolf doesn’t mean I don’t have shifter blood in me.” Lacey jerks away from another grease bubble popping. “But also, I heard you coming down the stairs earlier. You’re a heavy stepper. I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you that.”
I snicker at this like it’s a joke, but when I see Lacey’s stone-cold face, I can’t say for certain that was her intent.
“No one has,” I reply. “But most people respect my authority as an alpha.”
“Lucky you,” Lacey mutters down to the bacon.
Standing side-by-side, we finish making breakfast in silence. There’s so much that I want to say, so many questions I feel I have the right to ask, but I can’t bring myself to say anything. I mean, I’ve just basically forced Lacey to marry me. I’m beyond fortunate that she’s standing here, cooking for me.
I shouldn’t push my luck with her any further. Not today, at least. So, I’m happy to catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye. And I’m even happier to gaze upon her beauty.
Once breakfast is ready, we sit down at my small kitchen table by the window. There have always been four chairs, though it’s rare that the three others are used by anyone. I’ve lived alone my entire adult life, but I’ve longed for a family. I suppose I waswaiting for Lacey to return, and now here she is, sitting across from me like she has in my dreams.
Lifting a piece of bacon to my mouth, I bite into it with a loud crunch. It’s perfectly crispy, just how I like it, and its smoky taste is to die for. Once I’ve swallowed, I consider telling Lacey that she’s done an incredible job, but when my eyes find her, I can sense something is off.
There’s a thick layer of awkwardness over both of our heads. She pushes her scrambled eggs back and forth on her plate, ignoring the most incredible bacon I’ve ever tasted in my life. Her lips twist on her face, her jaw sets, and I can feel her anger without putting much thought into it.
My happiness about our wedding aside, I remember how resistant she was to the idea. In fact, when we stood by the altar, I could tell that she had even been crying about it. There was a part of me that wanted to call it off, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.
I need to right my past wrongs.
I need to keep her and our daughter safe.
She may not understand or appreciate what I’ve done now, but someday she will understand.
My memories of our wedding the night prior culminate in me remembering the look on her face before we came home. Of course, my father had to bring up consummating the marriage, and I could see the panic on her face. She didn’t want to mate with me; that much was obvious. I watched as the relief washed over her when I told her I wasn’t expecting sex last night.
I won’t lie, it hurt. My heart still pangs just thinking about it.
Ever since our night at the lakeside, I’ve craved the feeling of her skin against mine again. Nothing has ever sated that desire within me, and I fear nothing will until she and I become one again.
It’s only a matter of time, though, I think to myself. When our eyes meet, I can feel a spark between us. The same spark I’ve felt for all of this time. If I can feel it, then she must, as well. I won’t ever push the issue, but I know that there’s something there between us, whether she wants to admit it or not.
