Page 68 of Curvy Alpha Bride
“The girls told me about how to live… how to survive against Ivarra. I know how to do things now, like how to spin wool, and knit, and how to churn butter.”
I chuckle softly, brushing a dark curl of hair from her forehead. “Okay, you can churn me some butter first thing in the morning, then.”
She laughs. “Sure. Butter for breakfast.”
“Fried butter,” I correct her, and she chuckles.
“Remember that meeting, back at the Lock?” she giggles. “When we were planning the festival and the street food?”
“I do,” I answer, kissing her hand. “And I think it’s a great blessing that we don’t need any complicated ingredients to make all your favorite fried foods.”
Mabel laughs again, relaxing back into the couch. Her eyelids are fluttering, and I can tell she’s almost asleep.
“Yeah, I’ll be craving soon,” she mutters. “Fried butter will only be the start of it. I’ll be getting so hungry, you’ll have to fry constantly to keep me satisfied.”
“I will,” I say, kissing her forehead. “Just call me your loyal fry cook.”
She frowns slightly, as if there is something else she needs to say, but sleep takes over, and I watch her face relax as she falls against me and begins to snore softly.
“Poor honey,” I whisper, brushing her hair back again. “You’re so exhausted from this ordeal, you just couldn’t stay awake another second.”
I stay next to her for a while, watching her face. She’s truly the most precious thing I’ve ever seen, and I know I have to protect her with my life.
But I have a duty to the pack. Somehow, I have to be there for them as well as Mabel, and I’m not going to let anyone else die.
Memories of our first days together in the cabin come back to me, and I’m in awe of the change in her. She had no reason to stay and commit to these people—to me—but she chose to.
She put herself in danger to save the others, and she’d do it again. To save the pack, she’d sacrifice herself.
Double-checking that Mabel is asleep, I walk over to the window and look out across the lake. The full moon is climbing swiftly to the zenith, and the mountains are flooded with pure white light. My wolf surges in my blood, feeling more powerful than he’s ever been.
I am at my strongest tonight, and the witch is weak. I don’t care if she managed to murder the scouts and hurl theirbodies down at us in a show of threat. That’s all it is: an empty threat.
With the knowledge I gleaned from my father’s journals and what I learned from the townsfolk over the past few weeks, I realize that I have more information on Ivarra right now than anyone ever has.
I’m in a unique position here… and this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I hurry back to the fire, stacking up logs so it will keep burning for a long time. Turning back to look at Mabel, I can’t believe I’m even considering leaving her.
But I have to.
My instincts are beginning to scream at me that I’m running out of time. It’s almost as if I can hear my father’s voice in my mind, urging me on. Everything that I’ve learned about Ivarra confirms my feelings.
She’s weak, starving, desperate. If we go back to our old routines, she will fade, and she knows it. The display earlier tonight was to drive us apart and create confusion. In fact, she probably spent all her strength on it.
I walk over to the front door, placing my palm on the thick wood. I can almost feel the magical wards set into it, spells that are hundreds of years old and stood against Ivarra for all that time.
She planned to attack after killing the scouts. If she could have taken one girl, it would have given her enough strength to keep fighting. But maybe she overexerted herself. Maybe we moved too quickly and prevented her from taking anyone else.
The urgency inside me increases, and I suddenly see Ivarra for what she truly is.
A flawed being. Weak and sickly, barely able to maintain her own existence. The townsfolk see her as some unstoppable force, but her only true weapon is fear.
I turn and look back at Mabel, sleeping peacefully on the couch. Leaving her feels like tearing out my own heart, but I have to do it.
It’s the only way to protect her. I will not live my life as a prisoner, and I won’t condemn Mabel to it, either!
I can kill her. Only I can, and it has to be tonight!
