The Alpha Prince And His Bride
Book 3 The Alpha’s Substitute Bride – Episode 24

~HUNTER~

Bruce’s words took its time to register in my mind but when they finally did, my body took its sweet time to recover from the shock of it. There was this tremor within me followed by panic and confusion.

There was no way that I’d heard him right. I was absolutely sure that he hadn’t just said to me that Maggie, my supposedly dead wife was indeed alive. Well he didn’t say it in those exact words but he was definitely implying it.

“Do you know what you’re saying?” I asked him after finding my voice again. “You’re trying to tell me that you saw my DEAD wife and she was seen alive and breathing?”

Bruce kept a straight face; in fact, he didn’t even wince at my tone. It only made this entire thing all the more difficult to believe.

“Do you hear how insane that sounds?” I demanded when he refused to say anything else.

I waited for him to finally speak again. I needed him to confirm this for me; I couldn’t accept it so easily.

He sighed and rubbed his face before staring me straight in the eyes. There was so much emotion in his gaze that I couldn’t do anything but believe that he was speaking the truth even though how crazy that sounded. “You don’t think that I know that?” He asked me. “I thought about this many times before I decided to come and tell you what I saw. I knew that this was a sensitive topic; I knew that it was unbelievable. I also knew that I couldn’t bring this up unless I was sure of what I’d seen. There was nothing different about this woman, everything about her screamed Maggie. She shared all of the qualities that she once had . . . even that small scar in her forehead that she always had. I know this sounds crazy but you know me well, I wouldn’t bring this up unless it was serious and unless I knew that you would want me to tell you.”

I tried to keep a straight face but his words completely crumbled me. I didn’t know what to feel with this information.

For one, I was extremely confused. Maggie was dead. I saw her with my own eyes. My sister held a funeral for her . . . One I did not attend. I wasn’t the only one that saw her dead body. Then how could Bruce stand here and tell me that he saw the woman that’s been haunting me for years completely alive and well?

Then there was also Isabella. How would she feel if she knew that there was a chance that Maggie was alive? I could feel her eyes on me even though she was still seated in the vehicle and situated very far from me. I didn’t want her to see me like this. If she did, she would ask questions and I didn’t know if I’d be able to answer them.

Bruce touched my shoulder, reminding me that he was in front of me.

“Did you confront her?” I asked him.

His face paled. “I was in shock. By the time it registered in my mind of whom she was, she had already disappeared. I searched everywhere for her but she had vanished into thin air . . .” he swallowed, probably realizing how crazy all of this sounded to any sane person. “I know it’s hard to believe but have I ever failed you? This is not something I want to bring up to you; I’ve always wanted to see you move on from Maggie. And I think that there was a good chance that you were finally putting your past behind of you. But this is not something that I could just ignore. Maggie was a big part of your life and the reason why you are the man that you are today, while that may not be such a good thing, I knew that I had to tell you . . . as your friend I just had to or I could never live with myself.”

I studied my best friend and took in his constricted features. It was hard for him to come and tell me this. I trusted Bruce with my life and trust was not something that I gave out easily, people had to earn that with me. He was telling the truth. But I didn’t believe that it was indeed Maggie that he’d spotted. I believed that he saw someone that looked like her. I would never believe my past wife was alive unless I saw it for myself.

But I also knew that I wouldn’t let this news go away without actually doing my own research. Wherever it was that Bruce had seen that woman that resembled her, I would search the area. If she was there once,

I had to hope that she would be there again. I needed to do anything to prove that it wasn’t her or it would bother me for the rest of my life.

In the meantime, I had to keep this information away from Isabella. It was no use worrying her over this if it was nothing worth paying attention to.

Something was telling me that this was only just the beginning. The real storm was about to pass and I didn’t think that I was prepared for it . . .

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

~ISABELLA~

I stared at Hunter; I studied his bodily structure, the way his eyes twitched, the way his mouth pressed together in a tight line, the way his muscles in his shoulders tensed. I saw the tightening of his fists and the shock and disbelief in his eyes. I also saw the way all of the color drained from his face.

Whatever the news was that had just been delivered to him had to be something extremely horrible. I searched my brain for what it could be and found myself with a pounding headache.

My feet itched to run to his side and find out what it was that had him on edge but I forced myself to stay put. I’d just gotten him to confide in me, I didn’t want to push him right now. I would wait until he was ready to tell me.

I held my breath when he turned to face me. Our eyes locked and I swore my heart stopped beating for a second. There was this broken look on his face and I could have sworn that I spotted fear in the depths of his eyes as well. It was crazy how well my body could read him; it was also insane that I could almost feel his emotions from all the way over here.

He quickly masked his face of all emotions as he approached me but it was already too late, I’d seen enough to know that something was deeply bothering him.

I was right. He didn’t want me to know about what had just happened. He pulled the door open and unbuckled the seatbelt around me. I felt an instant warmth seep through my body at his closeness. His hair was inches away from my face and I didn’t hide inhaling the heavenly perfume scent that it gave off.

Hunter froze and I could hear his breathing quicken at my actions. I felt my cheeks grow red at my embarrassing act.

I gasped when his arms wrapped around my waist as he helped me down the Jeep. Our closeness only reminded me of what happened back in the forest and I desperately wanted to lean into him and take whatever he offered to me.

“Is everything okay?” I asked him before I could stop myself. I was hoping that he would say something, anything to let me know what was happening.

His jaw clenched and he looked back to Bruce who was studying us with interest. “No. It’s nothing that you need to be concerned about.” He assured me.

Hunter was quiet as he guided me back into the house. The silence was in no way awkward. However, there was tension in the air; most of it radiating off Hunter’s body.

“Are you not coming to bed?” I asked when he dropped the bags onto the floor and turned to leave the room. He turned to me with a heated look that almost melted my heart. My cheeks grew red after realizing what I’d just asked him. My eyes followed the movement of his throat when he swallowed and there was this strong need to bite him there. I jumped when a soft curse left his mouth. It brought my attention back to his face.

My heart dropped when he shook his head. “I have some more things to discuss with Bruce. I won’t be back here until late. So don’t wait up. Get some rest; you’ve had a long week.”

I didn’t have a chance to stop him; he was out the room before I could say his name.

I dropped myself onto the bed as my mind wandered back to all of our moments together. I felt myself blush as I thought about the way he kissed me in front of everyone back at the palace. He didn’t care who was there and he didn’t care that most eyes were on us.

I buried my face against the pillow and grinned like an i***t. I could only wish that there would be more moments like this between Hunter and I from now on.