The Alpha Prince And His Bride
Book 3 The Alpha’s Substitute Bride – Episode 43

~HUNTER~

“HOW IS IT THAT MY MATE HAS DISAPPEARED AND NO ONE SEEMS TO HAVE SEEN ANYTHING?” I roared. My men blinked at my tone but none of them answered my question.

At first, I’d been pissed at all of them for not protecting her enough when I’d realized that I should be angry with myself. It was my fault. I was the one that was supposed to protect her and just like I’ve done in the past, I wasn’t there to protect the woman that I loved. Isabella needed me there with her today and once again I was a huge failure.

It had been hours since I’d found out that the Jeep carrying Isabella had been ambushed and that someone had kidnapped her. I’d been out for hours searching the area and following her scent but I kept reaching a dead end each time. I should have been able to track her since she now had my mark on her but for some reason her scent kept disappearing out of nowhere just like she had done.

It made me think the worst. There was a high possibility that she was taken by witches. Only they would be able to hide her scent from me. But what would witches have to do with her?

I had many enemies and the truth was that I’d shown just how much Isabella meant to me after I had destroyed the wedding and claimed her in front of everyone. There were so many people in that crowd. Any of them could have taken Isabella to get revenge on me.

What was I thinking? Why did I not consider this to be a possibility? I did not regret marking Isabella in front of everyone but I did regret not leaving with her. I should have never sent her home without my protection. I was so focused on my anger towards the council and what they’d done that I didn’t even consider someone trying to use Isabella to get back at me for something I’d done to them in the past.

Now I was dying slowly inside not knowing about her whereabouts or what condition she was in. Why did this always happen to me? Why did I always put the women that I cared about in danger?

What good of a werewolf could I be when I couldn’t even protect my own mate?

I kept seeing Isabella’s sweet smile right before I said goodbye to her back at the council. I was looking forward to coming home and spending some time with her. I’d been starving to take her in my arms again and now I couldn’t even do that. This wasn’t fair. She’s too innocent and kind to have to be going through all of these problems one after the next. I hated to admit that all of those problems were linked to me. I couldn’t understand why she would still want to be with me after everything I’d put her through.

A sudden bang on the front door caught my attention and I immediately started walking towards it. It could be someone with information on Isabella’s whereabouts.

I looked up at the sound of footsteps and found one of my men walking towards me.

I immediately asked the one question that was on my mind. “Did you find anything?”

I knew the answer even before he said anything. I could see the disappointment in his eyes as well as the look of failure.

He shook his head. “I just came to let you know that you have guests. They’re waiting outside for you to let them in.”

Guests? I wasn’t expecting any guests. Who could it be and what did they want?

I followed him outside to find Isabella’s entire family gazing at me. Her brothers along with her sisters and Austin’s family were all standing in front of the door. They had worried looks on each of their faces and I was sure that the news had already reached them. I wasn’t surprised; I’d been turning this place upside down searching for her. I was sure that everyone in the neighborhood was already talking about it.

“We’re here to help with the search.” Austin informed me.

My shoulders tensed. I wasn’t sure that I wanted their help; they never liked my relationship with Isabella. I didn’t want to have to deal with their anger towards me while searching for her.

“We may not have always been on the best of terms but we have something in common now, we all care about Isabella. The only reason why we had a problem with you in the first place was only because we didn’t think that you would take good care of our sister. After she confessed to us that she loved you we understood that she accepted you and we had to do the same. We want to help bring her back safely.” Ermanno said after I refused to let them in. “And we also wanted to thank you for helping to free us from the dungeons.”

I was surprised by his words; Isabella had confessed that she was in love with me to her family? My heart skipped a beat and I felt the warmth flowing throughout my body in a gush. Isabella never failed to surprise me with how precious she really was. I needed to do everything in my power to bring her back to me and I did need all of the help that I could get. The more people I had with me, the more distance we would be able to cover. And it did look like they didn’t come here to start a fight with me but instead to offer their assistance. If Isabella was here she would want me to welcome her family to our home. I would do that for her; I would do anything for her. I said those words over a hundred times already and I meant it.

Marcus cleared his throat reminding me of their presence.

I eventually nodded and stepped aside so that they could step into my home.

Esma walked out then and saw everyone in the room. “Did you find anything about Isabella’s whereabouts?” She asked us.

My sister had grown attached to Isabella, after she’d found out that she’d went missing she couldn’t stop crying. Some of the maids had tried to help calm her down but nothing worked and I was already in a mess and couldn’t focus on her at all. Her eyes were red just like mine were. In fact every single person in this room looked like they were in a mess. This was what my mate did to people. She had the power to devour anyone’s heart. Everyone loved her so much and I couldn’t blame them. Isabella truly was a gem, a diamond, my diamond.

“Hunter?” Esma asked again as she tried to catch my attention.

I shook my head. “Still no leads, I searched the entire area and there still isn’t a single sign of her.”

“No!” Esma cried as she covered her mouth in horror. “Who could have done this to her? Where could they have hidden her from us? She doesn’t deserve this!”

Lucy walked forward and gently touched Esma’s arm. “We will find my sister.”

While growing up Esma and I never really had anyone to support us. We had each other and that was it. My heart felt a certain type of way to see Isabella’s family show support to her even when they themselves were grieving.

“At this point it could be an enemy of either one of us.” Austin said. “Isabella has ties to all of us. Everyone knows that by now. The question is what do they want from us.”

“Do you think they would contact us soon and ask for something in return for her?” Eden asked. “At this point I just want to know where my sister is. She shouldn’t be out there alone, especially since she’s—

Eden stopped talking after the look of warnings given to her by her family. Their actions totally surprised me. It made me feel that they were trying to hide something from me. But why would they? They’d come here to offer their assistance to me in order to find their sister. Why would they be keeping anything from me?

“Is there something that you’re keeping from me?” I asked suspiciously when everyone remained quiet.

Whatever it was that Eden was going to say had somehow managed to create tension in the room. I was positive now that they were trying to hide something from me.

“If you want to stay in my home, you need to be honest with me. Isabella is my mate and if you know something that I don’t know then you need to tell me.” I threatened. I didn’t want to threaten her family but I was desperate to know what they were hiding from me. It had to be something important, they wouldn’t act this way if it wasn’t.

“We weren’t trying to keep anything from you.” Lucy whispered with tears in her eyes. Austin seeing her distress immediately walked over to her side and pulled her into his arms. “We just weren’t sure whether or not Isabella would want you to hear it from us. We also weren’t sure whether or not this was the right time for you to find out.”

Why would Isabella not want me to know something? She didn’t hide things from me. The only thing she’d hidden from me was that entire situation with the Blackners but she didn’t completely hide it either. She did mention it to me; she just never gave me the full details.

“Actually,” Eden cut in. “we don’t think even Isabella knows. She had an idea to call the doctor but it was only confirmed after her disappearance. She wasn’t there to collect the results from him.”

Isabella’s sisters were not making any sense to me. What exactly were they trying to say to me? What results did the doctor have for her? No one was speaking fast enough for me and I was losing my patience.

“I do not understand. Explain to me what you’re trying to say.” I growled impatiently. If this was something that could help with finding Isabella then I needed to know right away. I couldn’t understand why they were hesitating to tell me.

And why was Isabella seeing a doctor? Was something wrong to her? All of these questions were sending me closer and closer to insanity! She knew how much I hated when she kept important things like that from me; she understood that after my reaction to her keeping my sister’s secret. But she also thought at the time that she would be marrying someone else. I couldn’t hold it against her but I couldn’t stop the anger either. The anger was fueled by my fear however. There were so many things that worried me and it kept getting worse by each second that passed by without Isabella by my side.

“It’s something that our brothers found out after they were released from the dungeons.” Lucy explained after sensing my impatience.

I didn’t understand what this had to do with finding Isabella but the tone of her voice made me listen to her words closely.

“They were handed this from a doctor Isabella was seeing without telling anyone back at home.” Eden informed me as she stepped forward and placed an envelope in my hand. “You might want to take a moment and read through it. We were all surprised when my brother first showed it to us.”

“What is this?” I asked her as I took the envelope from her.

“Take a look; you’ll know when you see it.” James joined in.

I did as he said and ripped the envelope so that I could get the small folded paper inside of it.

It took me a little while to read the content but one thing stood out from everything else.

Pregnant.

In that moment everything in me stopped working. My heart stopped beating, I was no longer breathing and my mind was completely blank.

A few seconds later and then everything in me exploded. My head pounded and my tongue felt heavy in my mouth.

Pregnant?

“She’s pregnant?” I asked hoarsely.

My heart hammered and images of Isabella holding our baby flashed across my mind.

f**k.

Isabella was pregnant? With my baby?

I fell back on the sofa behind me and felt all of the b***d drain from my face.

This was the greatest blessing any man could ask for from his mate and Isabella had given that to me. Yet she wasn’t here to celebrate the news with me. I wanted to hold her in my arms. I wanted to hold our baby and hug him or her, cradle my little prince or princess in my arms and watch them grow to be someone as amazing as their mother.

But all of that would only become possible if I found Isabella and murdered whoever had dared to take her away from me.

Now that I knew Isabella was pregnant I was even more anxious than before. Our baby’s life could be in serious danger and I had no idea where they were.

“We need to get the search on.” I shouted out orders to everyone in the room.

Esma brought forward a map and I circled all of the places I’d searched already. We still had a lot of areas to cover and I was scared that I wouldn’t get to her in time.

I needed to find her, my life depended on it. . .