The Alpha Prince And His Bride
Book 3 The Alpha’s Substitute Bride – Episode 9

~HUNTER~

I g*****d as the sun kissed my skin, it felt hot and painful everywhere. I rolled onto my back and stayed there completely motionless for a minute. Memories from last night crashed into my mind causing me to jerk upright. I opened an eye and tried to adjust to the brightness. My eyelids felt heavy and my head hurt everywhere.

I looked around me to see that I was still in my study. From the shitty way that I was feeling right now it was safe to say that I’d drank too much last night and fallen asleep in here. I couldn’t remember much. The last thing I remembered was telling Alice to leave when she tried to hug me one last time. I’d already started drinking by then and I had no idea what happened after.

Judging by the messed up room, I would guess that I may have fought with the furniture, threw some chairs . . . broke some glass. Damn, I did a lot in here without even realizing it.

It’s been a while since I’d done something like this. When I’d first lost Maggie, I’d almost destroyed the entire house with rage. Bruce and my sister had to stay with me for months to ensure that I didn’t do anything like that again.

At least this time I’d limited the damage to one room alone.

I sighed and rubbed a hand down my face. I didn’t know what I was doing to my life anymore. I’d grown accustomed to not caring about anything or anyone. I knew how to control my temper but now everything was reversed. I felt like I no longer had control of my own body and all of it was because of Isabella.

“Isabella.”

Her name fell from my lips like music from a violin. I felt rage at my own weakness. I swore to myself never to allow myself to experience anything close to the pain I’d had to endure in the past.

I slammed my fist against the wall in anger. I wasn’t about to do this to myself again. . . I would not allow it this time.

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

~ISABELLA~

I was still angry after last night. Hunter never came to me and I had no idea what he did last night. Maybe he spent it with his mistress, anything was possible.

I grabbed my plate off the table and proceeded to the kitchen. The maid’s eyes widened as soon as she saw me walking in and she quickly took the plate from me. “I’ll take that miss.”

“It’s really okay, I can do it.”

She shook her head at me and placed it into the sink. “No, I mustn’t let you do that, it’s my job.”

I watched the middle aged woman closely. She looked like someone who’d been here long enough to remember Hunter’s first wife. After seeing the picture of her, I wanted to know much more about her and I knew that Hunter would never tell me.

“What do you know about Maggie?” I asked before I could stop myself.

Her back stiffened at my question and I could tell that she was hesitant to say anything.

“We don’t really talk about her around here.” She confessed as she started to scrub the plate. She paused and turned to gaze at me. I didn’t know what she saw in my expression but for some reason her entire stance changed, she looked like she was a lot more willing to tell me what she was thinking now than before. “But there’s something strange about our last madam. She was never happy. She would act like she was happy around Hunter but whenever he left she would look a lot happier. All of us could tell that she was trying to portray something to Hunter than what she actually truly was feeling. Everyone in the house saw it except for him. No one dared to say a word however. He’s always been blinded in his love for her, that hasn’t changed even up to now.”

That didn’t seem right to me. The woman in the picture looked genuinely happy. This wasn’t the first person to tell me this however.

There was something about Maggie that people were keeping from me, nothing about her death seemed normal. Maybe there was a lot more that I didn’t know, maybe that was why Hunter was so caught up in her death and unable to move forward from it. I didn’t think anyone here would be willing to tell me anything more however. They seemed uptight and scared whenever I mentioned her. Judging by the way Hunter acted after just seeing her picture I shouldn’t have been surprised at all.

“Thank you for telling me this.”

The woman smiled and her brown eyes twinkled a bit. “I’m glad that Hunter married you, you’re a lot nicer than that mistress of his.”

The reminder of Hunter’s mistress was like a cold dash of water to my face. I didn’t like that woman. She was the reason I’d chosen to wear my outfit of the day.

I was beginning to feel like I’d dressed like this for no reason. Before I got ready this morning, I made sure to choose one of the sexiest dresses in my closet. It was a short white dress that exposed my legs and chest area. I couldn’t remember ever wearing anything like this before but I wanted to do anything that I could do to get back at Hunter for last night.

I was disappointed when he didn’t show up for breakfast however. According to the maid, he didn’t leave his study since last night. I had no idea what he was doing in there for so long. But I was getting impatient waiting to put my plan into motion.

My eyes fell to the doorway when I heard the door close. I stared at our new guest. It was the same man from last night; I believe his name was Bruce . . . Hunter’s best friend.

I inwardly smiled. This was exactly what I needed to get back at Hunter. If I could flirt with Bruce just a little bit, then I could get a reaction out of Hunter. The only problem was that Hunter wasn’t anywhere around.

Bruce’s eyes widened as they settled on me. “Oh, Isabella.” He said as he approached me while giving me a once over. “Damn, Hunter is damn lucky, isn’t he?”

I flushed at his words, apparently I wouldn’t need to try that hard to flirt with Hunter’s friend. He seemed like he would make it very easy for me.

“Where is he anyway?” He asked, looking around us for any sign of my husband. “We’re supposed to meet for some business talk earlier today but he never showed.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “He slept in his study last night, I haven’t seen him since.”

Bruce looked taken aback by my words. “He didn’t sleep in the same room with you on your wedding night?” He asked in disbelief.

I felt even worse at his question. No, Hunter preferred to spend our wedding night with his mistress doing lord alone knows what. Apparently, he wanted her to satisfy him instead of me. She seemed to be good enough for him whereas I was nothing of the sort. All of those thoughts ran through my mind but I held my tongue back from saying anything to Bruce.

At the end of the day, Bruce was Hunter’s best friend, not mine. Everyone here would favor Hunter over me. Again, I missed my family and the bond that we shared. I wished that they could come visit me even though today was just my second day here.

“Did something happen last night?” He asked, concerned. I was sure that he could see through my pain. I didn’t try to hide it that well after all.

I didn’t know whether this was something I should discuss with someone I barely knew. All thoughts flew out of my head as I felt Hunter’s presence behind of us.

I focused on Bruce without turning around to acknowledge my husband.

It was game time!

I smoothed his chest and put on my most flirtatious smile. “No . . . nothing that you should worry about. But thank you for being so kind to me Bruce.”

Bruce looked startled by my sudden change in mood. His eyes went from me to Hunter and I could tell that I’d just put him in a very tight spot.

The seconds seemed to tick by as the tension in the room doubled after my risky actions.

“Bruce.” Hunter roared, breaking the silence amongst us. “Outside . . . with me now.”

His friend looked at him with an innocent smile. “Ah, sure. Let’s talk outside.”

By his expression, I was sure that he understood what was going on now and was happy to leave the room with two of us still in it. As soon as Bruce left, I turned to Hunter. I gave him a once over and proceeded out of the kitchen. His eyes burned into my skin as I walked pass him and I had to remind myself not to fall for his searing gaze like I always did.

Hunter growled and grabbed my arm roughly with his hand, pulling me closer to him. “What the hell is this you’re wearing out of our bedroom Isabella?” He demanded. His warm breath was right above my ear and I shivered at his closeness. I still remembered our time together last night; my body had never felt so alive. I remembered the feel of his big hands all over my body and the way each thrust of his tongue made me feel like I was in a completely different world. I couldn’t let my emotions control my body. I needed to stay strong and focus on my plan to make his life miserable.

I snapped my head in his direction and glared at him. “It’s a dress Hunter. The last time I checked, it wasn’t a crime to wear clothing.”

His eyes narrowed. “Your whole a*s will be out if you bend over just a little. I do not want every man in the God damn house staring at my wife.”

I laughed, “what makes you think that you could control me?” I demanded. “The last time I checked Hunter, I’m your wife. . . Not your slave.”

His jaw clenched. “I never said—”

“I don’t want to hear anything. Why don’t you go to your mistress and control whatever she wears and leave me alone!”

I pulled my arm out of his grip and stormed out of the room. This was nothing compared to what he’d done to me and just look at the way he was acting for something so simple.

This wasn’t over.

I wouldn’t stop until I drove him completely crazy by the end of today. I stormed into my room, both annoyed and relieved that he didn’t follow me up the stairs. I looked through the closet and found what I was looking for a few minutes later. I stared at the pink bikini in my hand and smiled.

There was a pool out in the back where Hunter and Bruce were having their business discussion. I was sure that he would be more than thrilled to see his wife walk in with a two piece bathing suit and taking a swim during his meeting.

I took off all of my clothes and slipped into the tiny swimwear. I didn’t think getting revenge on him would feel this good. It was like I wanted him to feel what I’d felt after seeing him with his mistress.

I knew that two wrongs didn’t make a right but I wanted this a lot more than I was willing to admit. Getting reactions out of Hunter made me happy. Apparently, he was usually this emotionless robot, everyone around here knew him like that after Maggie died. But for some reason I was able to bring out another side to him. It made me feel powerful to know that I was the only one that could do such a thing.

I ignored the looks of the staff as I walked down the stairs and through the back door.

The moment I stepped out into the open air, Hunter’s body stiffened. His back was turned to me but I was sure that he could still sense me by the way his body tensed. It amazed me that Hunter could so easily know that I was standing only a few feet away. His body was aware of me just like my body was always aware of him. Bruce’s eyes fell on me and his entire face grew red. I watched as he scratched the back of his head and looked away.

After his earlier interaction with Hunter, I could tell that he didn’t want to do anything to upset him furthermore.

Now it was just for Hunter to turn and see what I was wearing.

This should be fun.