The Alpha Prince And His Bride
Book 3 The Alpha’s Substitute Bride – Episode 27

No matter how much I tried to deny it, it was true.

I was staring at the same woman from the picture I’d seen in our room. Every single detail was the same. She hadn’t aged at all. She was still just as beautiful. It was bad enough that I had to compete with her thinking that she was dead but now that she was alive, how could I compete with that?

I couldn’t, at least not in the way that I wanted to. I wanted Hunter to want me, to crave for me like I did for him. But I’d seen on numerous occasions that it was actually her that he wanted and missed all of the time.

Now the woman of his dreams was in front of him again. What did that mean for me? What did it mean for us?

I could see now why Hunter couldn’t get over this woman. Everything about her was perfect and she seemed like the type of woman to leave a lasting effect on someone.

Her eyes touched me for a brief second and I was sure that there was a hint of jealousy before her gaze went to Hunter again.

There wasn’t a single sound between any of us. I didn’t dare turn to look at him. I didn’t want to see the look on his face. I wouldn’t be able to bear it if he looked at her with love in his eyes. It would tear me in half and I wasn’t ready for that kind of pain. It was already painful enough seeing this woman here.

I felt my heart break when she threw herself into his arms. I didn’t want to watch but my body couldn’t help but do just that. My heart clenched and I felt like I was choking on absolutely nothing.

My entire life shattered before my eyes and there was nothing that I could do to stop it. The pain started in my chest before traveling to every inch of my body. It was so bad that I feared I was having a stroke.

Hunter was frozen, he wasn’t doing anything. In fact, his hands weren’t even wrapped around Maggie. She was the one holding onto him while he tried to get over his shock of seeing her alive.

Why wouldn’t he be in shock? Maggie was supposed to be dead. He’d pined for her all of these years and she was finally in front of him again.

“Maggie?” He finally asked, his eyes searching hers for answers that only she could give.

She nodded reaching up to cup his cheeks in her hands. Something I’d done just recently . . . Now she was the one touching him. I wanted to hate her so badly. But how could I when she was the first woman in his life? He loved her before he even knew that I existed. I was the outcast; not her.

“I don’t understand.” Hunter said, his voice almost shaking. It hurt to listen to him, especially when he was like this because of her. “I saw you . . . You were dead. You weren’t breathing. There was no heartbeat. How could you be in front of me right now?”

Maggie looked down as Hunter slowly pulled away from her, putting some distance between the two of them.

It was then that Esma joined us. She took one look at Hunter and I before her eyes fell on Maggie. Her eyes widened in horror and she looked like she was staring at a ghost.

“Will somebody explain to me how she’s alive?” Esma asked in disbelief.

That’s a question that we all wanted to know the answer to right now.

I saw the way both Esma and Maggie looked at each other. Esma was completely shocked but Maggie couldn’t hide the distaste from her face. She clearly didn’t like Hunter’s sister.

“Can we go inside and talk about this?” Maggie asked with pleading eyes.

I was grateful when Esma placed her hand on my shoulder to give me comfort and support. I needed it a lot more than I realized.

When we were all settled in inside Maggie took a quick glance around before she turned to Hunter with a smile. “You haven’t changed much around here. It still looks beautiful just like when we were together. There are so many memories in this home. It’s so amazing feeling like I belong somewhere again.”

Her words cut through me like sharp broken glasses. This was her home before it was mine and according to her, Hunter didn’t change a single thing about it since her death. Well, fake death.

“Maggie.” Hunter said, stopping her from saying anything more. “I need to know what happened. This isn’t something normal that you’re dropping onto me here. I need to know more so that I can understand how the woman I thought was dead is in fact alive and in front of me.”

She sighed and leaned back on the sofa. “I lost my memory Hunter. I’ve been living these past five years as someone other than myself. That day those men kidnapped me, they didn’t kill me. In fact it was a plan put together by some men that wanted revenge on you for killing someone close to them. They knew that the best revenge was to have you think that your mate was dead. I believe that they were planning on using me to get to you again but I spoiled their plans. My memories came back to me one day and I’ve been trying to escape from them ever since. I managed to get out of there alive and you’re the first person that I came to see.”

I gaped at the woman. Surely Hunter was not going to believe this story? It just didn’t sound right at all.

“This doesn’t make any sense Maggie.” Hunter growled. “I saw you bleeding on the ground. You had no heartbeat. I would know. I stayed on that ground holding onto your body for hours. I would know if there was a heartbeat.”

Tears formed in her eyes and it felt to me like it was completely forced. “They did that to me. I remember everything quite vividly. They brought a witch and made her put a spell on me. It’s something like a sleeping spell, except without breathing. They knew that they had to make everything believable and they did.”

“Who are these people?” Esma asked. “Your words don’t make any sense at all Maggie. No one hated my brother as much as you expect us to believe, at least not back then. He was nice to everyone, they adored him.”

Maggie shot Esma an annoyed look and it completely surprised me. How could she go from crying to glaring at Hunter’s sister in a few seconds?

Besides that fact, Esma was someone important to Hunter and she was extremely kind. Why would Maggie hold anything against her? In my opinion, Esma was someone that she should have had a good relationship with.

“I d-don’t know.” Maggie stuttered. “They made sure to keep everything from me.”

“For five whole years?” Esma asked in disbelief. Maggie’s story wasn’t adding up, there were things that she was clearly hiding.

But . . . why would she?

“Who is this woman Hunter?” She asked as her eyes went over to me once more.

Everyone in the room stiffened as she waited for him to answer her question.

Hunter finally looked at me for the first time since Maggie returned home. Our gazes locked and there was so much emotion in that one look that I wanted to run to him and bury my face in his chest. Hunter’s hand started to shake and even my own body began trembling.

“She’s my wife . . . Isabella.”

Maggie’s eyes widened in what seemed to be feigned shock. There was this knowing look in her gaze. I didn’t think that this was the first time she’d heard this. She tried to hide her knowledge of our relationship but she’d clearly failed.

Our gazes collided and there was this raging storm between us that only intensified with each passing second.

“Well you do know that you aren’t his wife anymore now that I’m here?” She asked me directly. “I mean we never got divorced, so technically, I’m his only wife . . .”