The Alpha Prince And His Bride
Book 3 The Alpha’s Substitute Bride – Episode 41

~HUNTER~

Maggie’s anger was understandable and there was nothing that I could do to help her. I’d hurt Isabella enough already and now I had to live in such a way that only brought laughter and joy to her. I wanted Isabella to be as happy as possible.

I turned to her and found her looking at me. I could tell that she was worried that I would still go to Maggie after everything. I needed to prove to her that my heart only belonged to her from now on. I walked towards her and gently took her soft hand in mine.

“HUNTER-,”

I glared at the prosecutor and he immediately shut his mouth. I wasn’t finished with the council and I would come back to deal with them in a minute. But I wanted to take Isabella home first. I didn’t want her to stay and witness anymore of this madness; she needed to go home and rest, especially since we needed to do over the rituals properly this time while surrounded by all of the members of my pack.

I didn’t stop walking until it was just Isabella and I alone outside the council’s walls.

She peered up at me and touched my cheek lightly. I leaned into her soft touch and felt happiness seep into my body. My eyes fell to her neck; I was now drawn to it more than ever.

I gently traced my mark with my fingers, for some reason the tattoo on her neck did not bother me. Her body made anything look beautiful and the mark I’d given her was a beautiful addition. I was just happy to see that I’d finally claimed her.

Isabella looked up at me shyly and I wanted to smile at how sweet she looked.

I leaned into her and took her lips in a deep k**s. I felt warmth as her body immediately arched into mine, it was something that I often looked forward to whenever I held her. A low growl tore from my throat at the instant need to bury my seed in her. I wanted to g***n with frustration, the beast inside of me was always hungry for her and now that I’d marked her the feeling had only intensified.

“I just have a few things to finish with the council.” I told her after breaking the k**s. “Some of our men will take you home safely. Wait for me there. We have plenty to catch up on.”

Isabella smiled and nodded without me having to tell her twice. I was surprised that she didn’t insist on staying with me but I was happy that she’d listened.

She didn’t need to be present while I spoke to the council. . .

. . . . . . . . . .

~ISABELLA~

I was blushing from ear to ear on my trip back to Hunter’s home . . . Our home. I still couldn’t believe that he marked me in front of so many guests. He made it clear to me in front of everyone that I was the only woman for him.

Now everyone in the supernatural world would know that Hunter was mine. I closed my eyes and replayed everything in my mind. I wished that I had a tape to watch it over and over again.

“What’s that?” The driver shouted. My throat ached as the jeep crashed into something hard and came to an abrupt stop.

“Protect our Luna!” The man next to me shouted to the rest of men.

“What’s going on?” I demanded as I started to look around us frantically. I stilled when I heard one of the men shout in pain.

Oh God.

This was definitely an attack and whoever it was . . . they’d come for me.

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

I g*****d at the stabbing pain in my head. My eyes blinked as they tried to adjust to the brightness in the room.

Where was I? There wasn’t anything much inside of here. There were a few chairs and one table but that was about it.

“Hello Isabella.”

I froze. I knew that voice. In fact I hated that voice.

“Maggie.” I hissed as she came into my view. “What is the meaning of this?” I demanded as I tried to break free from whatever was holding me down to the chair.

“Isn’t it clear that I’ve just kidnapped you or does your brain not work fast enough?”

I knew that she wasn’t the best person out there but was she really that insane to actually kidnap me?

What was this even about? Was this about Hunter marking me and rejecting her?

“Are you trying to hurt me because Hunter marked me?” I asked as I tried to make sense of this entire situation.

She laughed. “You really think that it bothers me that he marked you?” She asked. “I hate to break it to you Isabella but this entire situation runs a lot deeper than you think. It has very little to do with Hunter marking you.”

My forehead creased as I tried to make sense of her words.

“You see Isabella; there are many dark secrets that you don’t know about your dear mate. For instance, he is a cold blooded murderer. He kills people without a care in the world and he doesn’t care about what it would do to their families.”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded. I knew that Hunter killed but he always had a reason for it. He didn’t just kill for the pleasure of it.

“What am I talking about?” She asked mockingly as she threw some pictures on the ground in front of me. “Take a good look at that. Do you see what he did to this man . . . Do you see what he did to my brother?”

H-her brother? I looked at the photos of the beaten man with b***d and scrapes all over his body.

That wasn’t possible. Hunter cared about her too much to ever kill her brother. He wouldn’t do something that would ruin his relationship with her. Maggie had to be insane to think that I would just look at these photos and believe them. This wasn’t something that I could believe so easily, especially not when I knew Hunter so well.

“You’re crazy.” I spat. “Hunter loved you. He would never hurt someone that you cared about, especially not your brother.”

“You clearly think very highly of him and don’t know him all that well.” She hissed. “You should have learnt more about that man before you ever let him mark you. Now you’re mated to a killer. Congratulations. I hope that makes you proud.”

“You’re lying to me.” I hissed. “Hunter would never kill someone unless he had a good reason for doing it. Even though he’d turned into a different person over these past few years he still had some integrity left in him. Let’s not forget that he’d only been that way because of you. You were the one that made people believe that he was some kind of monster.”

Everything was all because of her . . . My mind was racing now. If Maggie hated Hunter for killing her brother then she knew this all along . . . even when they were together. Then was it possible that she’d made Hunter suffer all of these years on purpose? Did she fake her own death to destroy his life?

She quirked a brow at me. “I can see that you’re finally catching on. Let me explain more, shall I?” She asked as she walked over to a chair further away from me. “After I found out that Hunter was the one who’d killed my brother, I was completely heartbroken. Well to be honest, I was more angry with myself than anything else. I felt sick to my stomach to know that my mate was the same man that had destroyed my life and taken from me the one thing I loved more than anything in this world. So I decided to pretend that I was in love with him. It wasn’t that hard to do considering we were already mates. I just had one condition and that was for him not to mark me. I knew that if he’d marked me I would grow some sort of affection for him and I couldn’t let that happen. Hunter of course welcomed me with open arms. He introduced me to all of his friends as well as his sister and everyone loved me . . . Everyone except his sister. I had a feeling that she was catching onto me and I did everything that I could to keep those two apart. Eventually, I realized that nothing was going to do that. So I had to act before she dug up some stuff on me and found out who exactly my brother was.”

She paused to make sure that I was listening. “Then I came up with this great plan to fake my death. I was good friends with a witch and she was more than happy to try out her powers with me. I had her help me to fake my death. Everything was set up so perfectly that every single person fell for it. I was unconscious during the whole thing and sadly missed Hunter freaking out.”

I couldn’t believe that she could sit here and talk about this so easily. Just hearing how much she’d betrayed Hunter was enough to make me want to scream and knock her head against the wall. I couldn’t imagine what would happen when Hunter found out the truth about her faked death.

“These past five years I’ve done my best to stay hidden from Hunter and anyone that may have known either one of us. If anyone saw me I would get my friend’s help to wipe their memories. I had the pleasure of watching Hunter pine for me however and that made the hiding all worth it. He looked so pathetic and vulnerable that it made me so happy. My plan was working perfectly and I would have left him pining for me for a few more years. Of course that is when you entered the picture and spoiled everything for me. He started to feel happiness again though you and I realized that I couldn’t let him get any closer to you than he’d already gotten. So that is when I showed up in front of Bruce and I knew that he would tell Hunter that he’d seen me. That’s exactly what happened. However that was still not enough to break both of you up. That’s when I decided to show up in front of him and make up that whole crazy story that you foolish people believed.”

“You’re sick in the head.” I snared. Hunter had to suffer while she enjoyed every bit of it.

“You’re not listening Isabella.” She said. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“All I know is that he loved you.” I shouted. “He loved you and he worshipped you. He cared about you so much that his entire life was destroyed after he’d thought that you were dead. He even blamed himself for your faked death when he had absolutely nothing to do with it. You were never deserving of Hunter’s love. You never deserved him and you still don’t!” I screamed.

“Now I know why your bond was broken. He was definitely your mate, wasn’t he?” I demanded. “It must have been hard for you to see him with me. Knowing that you were losing the man that once would do anything you asked of him. But it was your entire fault. You rejected him without really knowing it. When you chose to hurt him over and over again he was given another chance at love and that’s where I came in. I’m the happiest person in the world now that I have the love of Hunter. There is no man like him in this universe and you’ve just lost someone that would have cherished you till the day you died. Why am I even complaining? Because of you I was given a chance to show him what true love actually is.”

I could see that my words were affecting Maggie badly and I knew that I should have stopped. However, I needed to say what I had to. She needed to realize her terrible mistake. She needed to see how good of a person Hunter really was and she needed to see that she’d lost someone precious!