Page 60 of Alpha's Embrace
I pressed myself back against the wall, my heart hammering.
Then he reached out. I thought he might grab me, well, not really, for he’d never hurt me, but I didn’t know what he might do.
But all that happened was he touched the side of my face with his naked palm, gentle and warm, his thumb slowly stroking down my cheek.
He glanced behind his shoulder again. When he didn’t see anything, he leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead.
“Please. Get dressed.”
The touch against my cheek was bad enough, but that kiss. Soft lips above my brow. Warm breath. The nearness of him, of my Geo made everything inside me want to flame and melt and explode all at once. I wanted to kneel at his feet, beg him for—what? Everything. Anything he would give me. The instinct was strong. Too strong for me.
Doctor Prim’s words came back to me, but as whispers now. Barely heard.
I pushed the sheets away and stood naked before my king. My voice shook as I said, “All right, Your Grace. But why am I being moved?”
A strained smile pushed at his lips. “It’s all good, I promise.”
He picked up my jumpsuit from where it lay across the foot of my bed and handed it to me.
I loved him but I didn’t yet trust him. It wasn’t about me. It was about him. What he was doing was against all the rules. He wasn’t hurting me, he was hurting himself.
I shrugged quickly into the jumpsuit, fastening it and turned to look at the cuffs he held in his hands.
“Turn around,” he said. “These are to protect you if we are seen.”
I obeyed, placing my hands behind my back. He put the metal rings around my wrists. They were cold against my skin. Hard and unyielding.
“Why am I being moved?” I asked again.
“For your protection,” he answered.
I had no time to process any of what was going on as he took me by the arm and pulled me into the hall.
I blinked hard in the brighter light, trying to see if anyone was about, a nurse, a guard, anyone. But it was silent. The long hall was empty.
“Your Grace, if I may speak.”
He tugged harder, pulling me alongside him, obviously in a hurry.
“I have no shoes,” I said when he didn’t answer.
“You don’t need shoes right now. I’ll have shoes for you where you’re going.”
“You will?”
“Yes.”
Geo led me all the way down the hall. The nurse’s station was dark for the night. The night crew operated from the hospital wing which stayed open twenty-four hours. I knew that from my briefly allotted freedoms when Geo had first come to the castle.
We went all the way to the elevator where Geo pushed thedownbutton.
I knew where we’d end up. On the first floor near his office. There were guards by the front door. I’d seen them before. We’d be caught for sure and Geo would have to explain why he had me with him in the middle of the night.
When the elevator doors opened, I pulled back from him as he tried to lead me inside.
“I’m afraid.”
“You don’t have to be,” he replied softly.
