Page 20 of The Alpha's Honor

“Not gonna happen, sweetheart.”

She sighed loudly. “Just say what you want to say and go.”

“Nope. Only face to face.”

“I don’t want to see your face,” she retorted.

He grinned. “Sure, you do. I’m very handsome.”

“Oh my gosh, conceited!”

“It’s not an ego issue if it’s true, just like you’re gorgeous and I need to seeyou.”

The door unlocked and she opened it slowly, her eyes luminous with unshed tears. She was dressed simply in leggings and a top, her hair wet and pulled back from her face in a ponytail. “You promised you wouldn’t break my heart, Duke.”

“I know. I messed up and I’m sorry. I’ll spend the rest of my life apologizing, sweetheart, but let me say what I need to.”

“I’m listening.”

He held out his hand and she stared down at it, her lips pursed in thought. Then she took it and let him lead her out. She sat on the bed, smoothing the covers with her hands and not making eye contact with him.

Dropping to his knees, he rested his hands on her thighs and said, “Before I met you, the only thing I wanted to do was become alpha of my pride. My father is alpha, and the only thing stopping me from taking his place is the fact that I was single. Lions only mate lions, or they risk being exiled from the pride. And an alpha can only mate a lioness, or he loses the bid for alpha entirely.”

She opened her mouth but he pressed a finger to her lips.

He really didn’t want to go forward with this conversation, but he knew he owed her the whole truth. “I only cared about being alpha. I saw being unmated as an obstacle to overcome. Our people find mates two ways – a heart-match and a mate-match. I didn’t want to wait for my heart-match, so I contacted our pride matchmaker and she matched me with a lioness from another pride. I signed a contract to mate her yesterday and then I went to the bar. If I’d had any idea that I’d meet the most amazing female in the world last night, I would never have signed the contract.”

Ree stared down at him, tears tracking down her cheeks. She sniffled. “Do you like her?”

His lion grumbled. “I only met her once, sweetheart, and I didn’t like her then, and I especially don’t like her now that she tried to scare you away. There was nothing emotional about what I did with her – it was an arranged marriage. She was in it because she wants to be alpha female. She doesn’t care about me personally, she cares about the title.”

“You care about the title.”

“I did. I don’t anymore. Twenty-four hours ago, I thought doing my duty as alpha was the best thing I could do. Now I know that there’s no honor in an arranged mating for power like that. I only want to beyourmate.”

She swallowed hard and looked up at the ceiling. “You’re talking about walking away from your family for me.”

He shook his head and stood, pulling her to her feet and wrapping one arm around her waist to hold her close. With his hand on her cheek, he said, “I’m not losing my family. My parents are still going to be my parents, and they can’t wait to meet you. I’m walking away from the alphaship, but that doesn’t matter a bit to me anymore. Imightbe exiled from the pride, but so the hell what? I’ll make a pride with you and our cubs. And maybe your sister, Barron, and their cubs, if they want to join. Okay? Nothing changes for me except I get you, and I learned what really matters in life – love.”

“Why did you leave me this morning?”

He was pretty sure that if his lion had the ability, that he’d fighthimfor that royal fuck up. “I woke up early and you were asleep. I needed to talk to my parents, so they could get the ball rolling on canceling the mating contract. My father needed to talk to the elders about whether to exile me or not. I swear on my life that I believed you were safe. The door was locked when I left, and the floor is private. Only Titus and I have keys. But, the female I had agreed to mate came to the bar last night and witnessed you and I together. I didn’t know she was there or I would have kicked her out and told her we were through. Her friend seduced Titus and then took the key to my place, which he keeps hanging from a hook by the door like an idiot.

“I believe they planned to confront me, or perhaps try to separate us so they could scare you off, and unfortunately I made you vulnerable to them because I left. I did, however, leave a note for you with my number explaining my absence.”

She shook her head. “There wasn’t a note.”

Damn Madison. “The females must have taken it, but I swear I did write one. I messed up. I hurt you and made you think I lied. I will spend the rest of my days apologizing to you, just please tell me you forgive me.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment. His words seemed to hang in the air between them, and he desperately wanted to crack a joke or kiss her to break the tension.

“What do you want to happen?” she asked softly.

“I want to pull you down on top of me on that bed and see how many times I can make you purr in pleasure.”

Her eyes darkened slightly as she narrowed them. Arousal and annoyance at the same time. Damn he was crazy about her. “You know I didn’t meanthat.”

He stroked his fingers through her hair, lightly fisting the soft strands. “Ree, I want to take you to meet my parents. I want you by my side when I find out what my fate with the pride is, because I should have had you there with me in the first place.Then, I want to take you home and spend the next week or so enjoying the hell out of each other.”

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