The Alpha Prince And His Bride
Book 3 The Alpha’s Substitute Bride – Episode 46

~HUNTER~

I g*****d as a piercing headache rocked my brain. I couldn’t remember the last time my head had ever pained me this much.

What had happened? I couldn’t remember much with this pain in my head. Did a fight occur?

I forced my eyes to open after the scent of b***d hit my nose. What did I get myself into again and why was I taking so long to remember? I winced at the sunlight above me and let out a hiss at the pain all over my body as I tried to sit up. I looked down at myself and stared blankly at the b***d all over my body. I was definitely in front of my house, that much I knew. But why was there so much b***d and why was I lying here in the ground with no memory of anything?

Where did this come from? Was I in another war? Even if I was in, how was I this badly injured?

I lifted my hands midair and stared at the knife that my fingers were wrapped around. There was b***d on the knife as well as my fingers. This wasn’t just my b***d alone, there was someone else’s b***d mixed with mine and I needed to figure out who it was. I took a deep breath before I inhaled deeply, trying to figure out what the hell was happening around here.

I kept staring at my bloody hands and eventually the scent hit me in such a way that I almost stumbled forward in shock. I was paralyzed by the memories that pounced on me.

I froze as images slammed into my head one after the next. I saw myself racing down the stairs to get to my mate and then being shocked when she had stabbed me.

She’d stabbed me . . . My mate had stabbed me not once but multiple times.

My body started to shake as it finally dawned on me whose b***d this was.

ISABELLA!

Where was she? What had happened? All I remembered was her stabbing me and then everything went blank after that. If her b***d was on me that meant that she was hurt and I needed to get to her immediately.

I scrambled to my feet and g*****d as another headache pierced my brain. I couldn’t even keep my eyes open for long, I had to keep blinking and trying to ease the pain so that I could see clearly.

Everything around me was still fuzzy but still I wanted to get to Isabella. Despite the pain I knew that I had to reach her.

I clutched my stomach as another pain touched me there. I dropped back to the ground and stifled another g***n.

“Isabella . . .” I croaked as I tried to open my eyes again, this time taking a proper look around me.

I stopped moving as a chill made its way down my entire body. I was scared to turn after spotting the body through the corner of my eyes.

Please don’t let it be her. Even though I wished that it wasn’t I already knew by her sweet scent, it was mingled with her b***d.

My breath hitched and my mouth parted slightly at the sight of her a few feet away from me. Her long black hair was flowing all around her on the ground and her dress was smeared with b***d. She wasn’t moving and I couldn’t hear a heartbeat either. It was why I didn’t spot her before. There was no heartbeat or anything that showed that she was . . .

My tongue felt heavy and it was finding it hard to breathe as I tried to make sense out of everything.

There had to be a heartbeat. There must be. She couldn’t have possibly . . . I couldn’t even bring myself to think about that one word.

There had to be a heartbeat . . . Had to be.

I continued to pray that there was one as I tried to build up the courage to actually go to her and find out for myself. She was a few feet away from me and even though I already knew the truth from the back of my head I still had hope that there was something else going on here.

I crawled towards her, dragging my body all over the ground as I tried to reach her despite the pain from the stab wounds coupled with the pain in my head.

I stopped right above her and looked down at her beautiful face. Her eyes were closed and her skin looked extremely pale. There wasn’t any movement from her whatsoever and the panic inside of me started to spread.

My hand trembled as I hesitantly cupped her cheek with one hand.

“Isabella.” I heard myself whisper. There was no response and I still couldn’t pick up a heartbeat.

I lowered my head until my ear rested on her chest and I listened more closely this time.

“Come on.” I said. “Give me a heartbeat.”

I swallowed when none came and I lifted my head once more to stare at her face.

“Isabella!” I shouted more desperately this time. “Give me a heartbeat!”

There was no response once more and I fell forward with my head pressed up against her neck. I inhaled her scent to try and calm me down so that I could think properly but the scent of her b***d only triggered my frustration and panic even more.

How did this happen?

“Please wake up Isabella . . . Say something please.” I begged her unmoving body.

I was going insane, I was completely losing it and I needed her to say something to me before I went crazy and started killing from a side.

Who’d done this to her?

You did . . .

I paused and a sick feeling touched my tongue.

What was that voice? I didn’t hurt her . . . I would never harm the woman that I loved . . . Never.

You’re the only one here . . . Her b***d is all over your body and the knife was in your hand.

I didn’t know where the voice was coming from but it did speak some truth. The knife was in my hands when I’d woken up and her b***d was in fact all over me and all over the knife as well.

I stared at the weapon a few feet away from me; I’d dropped in onto the ground unconsciously when trying to look for her. It laid there motionless as if to remind me of the horror I’d committed.

K-killed her? I’d done that?

No.

I couldn’t believe that. I would never believe that I would hurt her. I loved her too much to ever do something that insane.

But yet the evidence said something completely different. Isabella and I were the only ones here and I couldn’t pick up anyone else’s scent especially not when there was so much b***d around us.

I lifted my hands again and this time stared at them as though I didn’t believe that they belonged to me.

Hands that killed my mate could never be my own . . . Never.

How could I?

She was everything to me. She was my reason to live. My reason to breathe and now she was no longer by my side.

And I was the reason for that?

I dragged myself over to her again and picked her up in my arms as I felt tear drops roll down my cheeks.

“ISABELLAAAA—,” I roared.

I dropped my head against her chest and held her close to me as I continued to cry over and over again.

My body was shaking as I continued to roar with agony at the loss of my mate. I stroked her hair and cried some more. “I’m so sorry . . . I’m so sorry Isabella.”

I lifted my head up to the sun and let out another cry that pierced through the sky so loudly that even birds started to fly from the trees around us.

“WHAT DID I DO?” I roared. “What did I do? What did I do?”