The Alpha Prince And His Bride
Book 3 The Alpha’s Substitute Bride – Episode 23

~HUNTER~

I peered at Isabella from the driver’s seat and saw that she was still angry with me. As much as I liked her spicy nature, I didn’t like it when she was giving me the silent treatment. I preferred when she was shouting at me, that way I had an idea of what she was thinking. I would have to think of something to get her to speak to me . . . Anything.

“Will you ever tell me about Maggie?” She asked suddenly.

My hands tightened on the steering wheel and I had to force myself to focus on the road so as to prevent us from crashing into a tree.

I never talked about Maggie, whenever she came up I was reminded with the pain of losing her. I tried to forget about her to avoid the pain as much as possible. She was a part of my life that I didn’t know how to let go of, there were too many unanswered questions and strings attached to Maggie. I couldn’t let go until I found the men that killed her and avenged her death. Only then would I feel some peace with losing her.

I blamed myself for the entire thing and maybe that was the biggest reason why I couldn’t find it in myself to forget about the day that she died.

I looked at Isabella and there was something in her eyes that tore at my heart. I desperately wanted to open up to her; somehow I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to tell her how much it hurt all of these years without a mate, I wanted to tell her how lonely and lost I felt. I wanted to tell her all of the bad things I did after losing Maggie. But most of all, I wanted to tell Isabella that she brought about those same feelings in me that Maggie brought out . . . Maybe even more.

While I might be ready to open up a little about my past, I was definitely not ready to confess my feelings for her. It was too soon for that. I was not mentally nor emotionally prepared for it.

The sad look in Isabella’s eyes however had my mouth moving before I even knew it. “Maggie and I met at a friend’s party. The moment she stepped into the house I knew that my mate had just arrived. I searched through the thick crowd to find her and the moment our eyes connected it was love at first sight.” I swallowed when I saw the hurt look in her eyes. I didn’t know how to continue when she looked at me like that.

Did it hurt when I mentioned Maggie? I didn’t want to do anything to hurt her.

She looked away from my penetrating gaze and it gave me time to focus on the road again. Whenever something was wrong with Isabella it was hard for me to concentrate on anything other than her. This time was no different.

“I want to hear the rest.” She said suddenly, her voice soft but confident.

I glanced at her again but she wasn’t looking at me. Maybe that was for the best, I didn’t think I would be able to even remember the past while gazing at her beautiful face.

“Everything after our first meeting happened so fast. Maggie and I agreed to get married a week after and everyone around us was happy for us. We were happy, we would do almost everything together and she agreed to anything I said as long as I—”

I paused, remembering something that always bothered me about my relationship with her. Something that bothered me the day that she died and bothers me even up to today.

“As long as you what?” Isabella asked reminding me that she was waiting for me to continue.

“As long as I didn’t mark her. . .”

Isabella finally glanced at me. “As long as you didn’t mark her?” She asked in disbelief.

I understood the shock in her voice; even I was shocked the day Maggie had told me that she didn’t want me to mark her. The marking ritual between mates was something that almost every werewolf looked forward to.

“Why wouldn’t she want you to mark her?” Isabella asked after I remained quiet.

I shrugged my shoulders. “She said that she was not ready for it. She was okay with the marriage, she said that it was her way of proving to me that she wanted to be with me and that she wasn’t going anywhere. Even though I wanted to mark her, I didn’t push her. I thought that there wasn’t a need to rush anything since she was already by my side every day.”

My head hurt at the reminder. If I had listened to my instincts and marked her, maybe she would still be alive today, I probably would have gotten to her faster because of the bonded link . . . But that would also mean that I might have never met Isabella.

I gazed at her again.

If I was ever given a choice, a choice that gave me the option to choose whether I would want a chance to have Maggie back into my life again but in turn lose Isabella or keep Isabella and forget about Maggie. Would I do it? Would I take that chance and lose the woman next to me right now?

Everything hurt at that thought and I pushed it out of my head before I lost my mind. Thankfully I wasn’t in such a difficult position, Maggie was gone but Isabella was still next to me. Her safety was important to me; I would live my last breath protecting her.

“So that means you and Maggie were never officially bonded?”

I nodded and refocused on the road once more. “No. We were never officially mated. We were never given the opportunity to have the joining ritual.”

My mind went back to the day that I lost her. I always tried to push it behind me. I hated to bring it up. It was easier to lock something behind closed doors and try to forget about it. Now I was opening the locks so that I could somehow open up to Isabella.

I wasn’t sure that it was a good idea however. Once I reopened those old wounds, I didn’t think that I would be able to close it back again.

“Maggie and I had an argument over my sister. Esma and I have always been close after the death of my parents. We were all each other had. As such, I always kept close to her no matter what. When I married Maggie, that didn’t change. I would be there for my sister whenever she needed me. That day she asked for my help with a ranch for her horses, Maggie was angry that I was going to help her again. I had already told Esma that I would be there and I didn’t want to disappoint her. So I left after promising Maggie that I would take her out for dinner when I got back to make up for it. She didn’t want to hear me.” I felt like I was choking on the words with each memory of the past. “I got a mind link that day from Dane; he informed me that Maggie had been taken. I looked everywhere for her but because we weren’t officially bonded, it wasn’t as easy as it should have been to find her. When I finally did find her, she was . . . She was—”

I couldn’t continue. The image of Maggie motionless on the ground with her b***d smeared all over body was too much for me. I pulled to the side, unable to control myself anymore. I held my head and tried to get the image out of my head. I couldn’t take it. It was too painful, I didn’t want to remember, and I wanted the pain to go away.

My body stiffened when I felt Isabella reach across and climb onto lap. I held perfectly still as she cradled my head between her breasts. I closed my eyes and inhaled her sweet scent.

“Shh, you don’t need to say anymore. Let’s not talk about it again.” She whispered as she ran her hands through my hair.

Slowly my body began to calm down. Isabella was like a miracle in a bottle. I had no idea how she was able to return my body to normal.

I slowly lifted my head and gazed at her beautiful face. My breath hitched when I saw the teary glassy texture of her eyes. When the first tear rolled down her cheek I leaned forward and gently pressed my lips against it.

Her back arched towards me and I wanted to do so much more than just k**s her cheek.

I leaned my face closer to her ear and let my warm breath touch her skin. “Thank you.” I whispered. I felt raw need take over my body the moment I felt her shiver in my arms.

Her scent was beginning to affect me again and just like always my body was starting to respond to her soft luscious curves. If I didn’t move her away from me now, I would not be able to stop myself from claiming her here in the middle of nowhere.

I gently pulled away and guided her back to her seat. “I need to get you home safely.” I told her before pulling back into the road.

Isabella and I didn’t talk for the rest of the ride and I was grateful for that. It gave me time to think about everything. I wasn’t willing to keep her away from me anymore. Instead, I wanted to slowly allow myself to accept her and treat her the way that she was supposed to be treated the moment I married her.

When I pulled up to the house, Bruce was waiting right outside my front door. The moment I saw the frantic look on his face, I unbuckled the seat belt and turned to Isabella. “Don’t come out unless I tell you to.”

She nodded and I didn’t waste a second getting out of the vehicle and rushing to his side.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked Bruce.

He dug his hands into his jeans and looked around us frantically. “I need to tell you something and I’m not sure how you’re going to react to it.”

I tensed at his words. I’ve never seen him so worked up before.

He swallowed and looked me straight in the eye. “I think I saw Maggie . . . And she didn’t look like someone who should be dead.”