The Alpha Prince And His Bride
Book 3 The Alpha’s Substitute Bride – Episode 38

~ISABELLA~

It was now two days away from the wedding and I was finding it hard to wrap my mind around the fact that it wasn’t Hunter that I was about to be married off to.

I was trying to be strong, I understood what was at stake here and I wasn’t the only one involved in this alliance. Seeing my brothers bleeding in the dungeons with deep cuts and bruises all over their body was the little push that I needed to go ahead with the marriage without complaining.

I tied my hair into a bun and looked at the dark circles under my eyes in the mirror. I looked like someone who had little left to live for, someone who had been taking drugs for months now and didn’t know how to escape it.

I slowly glided my hands over my body and imagined it to be Hunter’s big warm hands. I shuddered at just the thought of it being him. I missed the rush of b***d all over my body whenever he touched me.

I touched my lips and imagined his mouth on mine. I loved being kissed by him; I loved the ability to feel like I was in another world. A world that didn’t have pain like this one did.

I stopped moving as a familiar emotion rushed through my body. My eyes snapped opened and I started to look around my room frantically.

Surely . . .

It couldn’t be. Hunter wouldn’t come here. He wouldn’t come for me. My mind had to be playing tricks on me.

I was clearly losing my mind after imagining him touching me. I shouldn’t be surprised by that reaction. Even thoughts about him had strong effects on me and my body. I sighed and made a move to enter my bathroom to throw some water over my face.

I paused midway as his scent hit me hard. My body instantly felt alive, like it had a reason to move again. A second passed then another and another and before I knew it I was bolting through the council’s palace, my body moving before I could even tell it to do so.

I couldn’t remember ever running through these corridors like this before. It was like I was desperate to find the source to the feelings awakening inside of me. I already knew who it was; only one person could ever make me feel this way. Images of him flashed before my mind and my heart raced just as fast as my feet did. They were both running to him, happy that he was here. I was moving so quickly that my hair untangled itself and flowed over my shoulders in a loud whoosh.

My feet came to an abrupt stop as his scent hit me harder than before. He was definitely closer now and around here somewhere. He was so close that I could almost taste him. I turned to the left and walked into an art room. At first there wasn’t anything unusual in here until I saw something move from near the curtains.

And then I saw him. Standing a little distance away from me. It was magical . . . Seeing Hunter again. There were no words as good as that one word to describe what it felt like to see the man of my dreams in person again.

He was dressed in a white shirt and black pants. My eyes drank him in like water in a desert. Just like me, his eyes were dark and baggy. It made me wonder if he’d been just as miserable as I had been. Even his hair was in a mess but to me it still looked beautiful.

He took a step forward but then paused again as his gaze scanned me from head to toe.

All of the air left my lungs. I’ve missed being looked at like this. He always made me feel like I was the only woman in the world whenever he looked at me like this.

His eyes took its dead time taking in every single inch of my body. He looked like someone who didn’t believe that this was reality; he looked like he believed that he was in a dream.

I knew that he was thinking these things because I was doing the same. This didn’t feel real at all. It felt like a distant dream and I was scared that I would wake up any minute now.

And then my body was hit with the sudden realization that this was actually Hunter, my Hunter. He was in front of me and it was reality, not just one of my crazy thoughts or imagination— and then I was running. Running like I was trying to save a life. I was indeed trying to save a life . . . My own.

I jumped straight into his arms and held on for my dear life. Hunter immediately grabbed my body and pulled it to him. I kissed his forehead, his cheeks, his nose, his neck. I couldn’t stop kissing him over and over again as my hands ran over his body in desperation. It was important for me to feel his body heat against mine, it felt good to feel like I was alive again, like I was given air to breathe. Hunter allowed me to explore his body; he looked like he needed my closeness just as much as I needed his.

And then reality sunk into my brain like a strike of lightening between us. We weren’t back at his home where we were protected by his men and the people around him. We were in the council and I was supposed to be getting married in two days . . . In two days. To a man that I didn’t love. A man that wasn’t Hunter.

Oh no. He shouldn’t be here. I couldn’t be seen in this room with him!

“What are you doing here?” I demanded as I looked around us frantically. The council had guards in and out of here like crazy. I didn’t think that they would have a problem with Hunter, after all they thought highly of him. But they wouldn’t expect him to be here with me either, everyone back home believed that Hunter was in love with Maggie and would want nothing to do with me. And that was good since they didn’t see him as a threat towards the wedding. If they saw him here with me two days before the wedding, it would stir up trouble, trouble that I was so desperately avoiding. They would understand that Hunter actually had reason to stop my wedding and I was not going to allow what would happen next if they found that out.

I simply wouldn’t let them.

“You need to go now.” I insisted as I squeezed his shoulders.

He looked unhappy by my words. His eyes darkened a shade and there was this hurt there that I’d often seen whenever I looked into a mirror and thought about Maggie and him.

“You need to leave Hunter.”

He gripped my arms and pulled me towards him. “Are you not happy to see me?” His question was laced with anger and hurt.

How could he ask me that after knowing how much I was in love with him?

“I’m not going to answer that. You should know.” I hissed. I was not about to belittle myself in front of him again. If he couldn’t see that I was so deeply in love with him then he was simply blind!

“I’m not leaving without you. You’re coming with me Isabella.” He growled.

My lips parted at his words. Coming with him? Was this what it was? Did he come here to steal me away from the council? For a moment I felt happiness seep into my body. I would have never ever dreamed that this day would ever come. But then another thought crashed into my mind.

What about Maggie? Was she still in the picture?

I peered up at him. “Did you decide who you want to be in your life?”

The look on his face told me everything I needed to know. And then my heart broke all over again reminding me of why I’d left in the first place.

“Then you must leave now.”

His jaw clenched and his hands on my waist tightened.

“I said I’m not leaving without you.” He growled.

“I’m getting married in two days Hunter. We are not husband and wife anymore. I will now belong to the Alpha they’re marrying me to. You’re going to have to let go eventually. Why not do it now?”

It pained me to say those words to Hunter but I didn’t want him mixed up in all of this. I didn’t want a fight that could hurt the people that I deeply cared about. Right now the council and Hunter weren’t on extremely bad terms, if he did anything, that could change.

I saw what had happened to my brothers after they’d tried to overthrow the council’s decision to marry me to the Alpha. I didn’t think I could handle seeing Hunter like that. I needed to get him to leave and never come back here. He needed to live his life with Maggie now. She was the one he’d cried for, he needed to forget me and live his life with her.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

~HUNTER~

Isabella’s words threw me completely off guard. I didn’t think that words would have the power to break me in half and poison my veins.

How could these words even come out of her mouth?

I grabbed her neck and pulled her towards me so that I was staring deep into her soul. “I thought you said that you loved me?” I accused with menace and hurt dripping from my voice.

How could someone in love with me stand there and tell me that she was going to belong to another man? Did she not care about my feelings? Did she not see how those words crippled me?

She didn’t look away from my penetrating gaze and she didn’t back down either. I missed this about her but I was too angry and in pain to enjoy the moment.

“Loving you and doing what’s right for the people around me is two completely different things.” She choked out. “I told you that I can’t wait for you to love me back anymore; I will not do that to myself. It’s too painful Hunter. Please, you have to let me go.”

I became silent at her words. She didn’t have to wait for me to love her . . . That was not why I had her waiting . . .

“If I had to do something for me, I would have stayed with you Hunter but what did staying with you bring to me but pain?” She asked with tears in her eyes.

I closed my eyes at her words. I didn’t want to hurt her. It was why I’d let her go in the first place. But I couldn’t stay here and let her marry someone else. She was mine. The entire world needed to know that.

I inwardly g*****d as another wave of her sweet scent hit my nose. I would die if I didn’t bury myself in Isabella right now. If I had to leave here without her today, I needed to take something with me. I needed to know that she was still mine, that her body still only belonged to me.

I grabbed her and pushed her up against the wall. “You can never belong to anyone else Isabella, you’re already mine.”

“I know that,” she whispered. “My heart will always belong to you. So would my body. But on paper and to society, I will belong to him. Not you.”

I growled and covered her mouth with mine. Isabella clung to me like her life depended on it and I was living for this. The fact that she still needed me like I needed her only fueled my desire to f**k her. I pushed her dress down and my mouth clamped down on her n*****s. I g*****d at the taste of them. I wanted to do this every day.

I shoved her underwear below her knees and unbuckled my belt before pulling my aching d**k out. I was desperate to feel her juices all around me again, desperate for her aroused scent. The moment it hit my nose everything else became a distant blur to me. She was wet; I knew it without even touching her bare p***y.

I lifted her dress and held it up as my eyes zeroed in on my prize. Beautiful. I wanted to stare at it every single second of the day. I wanted her on my desk, my bed, my Jeep, I wanted to see her spread out everywhere. This was a view that I would kill anyone that tried to take it from me.

Isabella trembled and cried out the moment my fingers touched her there. I was right, soaking wet for me.

My d**k strained towards her, desperate to finally have what it had been craving for days now.

I entered her in one go; she was that wet and slippery for me. I g*****d and buried my face against her chest as I continued to pound into her.

I paused midway and Isabella grabbed my hair and forced me to look at her.

Her eyes were clouded by l**t and there was this hunger in her gaze that fed my own hunger. “Move. Please.”

“Tell me that you love me. Tell me that you’ll always be mine.” I whispered. It was torture just staying still and not moving in her gorgeous p***y but I needed to hear those words.

“I’ll always be yours Hunter.” She cried. “I’ll always love you. Only you.”

Good. I needed to hear those words more than I needed my next breath.

And then I was pounding in and out of her tight p***y all over again. I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to stay like this but Isabella’s sweetness was too powerful for my d**k. I was already close to climax. I pushed forward one last time before I buried my seed inside of her just as she screamed from her own climax.

And then the moment was over. Reality sunk back in again.

I pulled out of her and buckled my pants. Next, I fixed her dress to cover everything that belonged to me. I leaned into her and my next words were spoken with venom.

“If you decide to go ahead with this wedding, I will tear this motherfucking place down.”

She blinked at me as my hands let go of her abruptly. I turned and walked out of there with only one thing on my mind.

I would kill. Kill. Kill . . .

Kill anyone that tried to claim Isabella. She was mine. Today. Tomorrow. Always. Only mine.