Page 1 of Knocked Up By My Fated Alpha
Chapter One
Raven
“Who would have thought a worthless runt like you would end up getting mated into the prestigious Blackwell family?”
Ivy’s cutting remark might have hurt if I hadn’t spent the better part of a decade on the receiving end of similar tirades as the heir to the Ivory Moon Pack who “couldn’t even shift.”
“Try not to sound so excited about it, cousin,” I deadpanned without a glance in her direction, accepting another offered cup of spirits from a server with a bright smile.
Nothing could dim my mood. My mating ceremony was tomorrow, and tonight was my Prenuptial Bonfire, a sacred pre-mating tradition the Ivory Moon Pack still held onto despite the modern age. The ceremony might have been drawing to a close, but the dancing around the bonfire was still going strong.
A low, vicious growl rippled through the air as Ivy took a threatening step towards me, her blood-red hair framing golden eyes lit with the fury of her wolf.
“You—” She growled only to stop abruptly when Elias appeared in front of us, his dark hair mussed and his pale blue gaze focused on me.
“Raven,” my fiancé’s sweet, shy smile lit me up from within, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
Then, he registered Ivy’s presence, and his smile cooled with indifference. “Ivy,” He nodded briskly.
“Elias,” Ivy responded with a tight smile, her hateful glare was quickly hidden, and her eyes changed back to their regular brown.
“Happy Pre-nuptials,” Ivy said in farewell with a quick kiss on my cheek, her claws digging into my shoulder in the mimicry of a warm hug between cousins.
The moment Ivy was gone, Elias was at my side, his voice heavy with concern. “Are you alright?”
“You know, just typical Ivy,” I shrugged, ignoring the slight pain in my arms from the movement. The injuries from Ivy’s claw marks would be gone in a day. Compared to what she’d done to me in the past, this was nothing.
Ever since Elder Dawson, Ivy’s father, adopted me and took over as regent in the Ivory Moon Pack after the death of my parents, Ivy made it her sworn duty to make my life a living hell. In public, she was the perfect cousin to the tragic orphan, the sister I wished I never had. In private, she tormented me, never letting me forget the fact that my parents, the alpha couple, were dead, and it was my fault.
As though he could hear my dark thoughts, Elias pulled me into a solid, comforting embrace.
“Once we are mated, no one will ever dare cross you again,” he promised fiercely, and I believed him. After all, who would dare cross the mate of Elias Blackwell, the unofficial alpha heir of the Shadow Thorn Pack?
Even without considering their estimated net worth in the hundreds of billions, the Shadow Thorn Pack was one of the largest and most powerful werewolf packs on the North American continent.
“This will bethe last night we spend apart,” Elias vowed, kissing theback of my hand after escorting me back to my room as the celebrations wrapped up.
At the sight of the soft expression on his face, I tensed, already knowing what was coming. Elias didn’t seem to notice as he drew closer, stars in his eyes as he leaned in to kiss me. I stayed still.
I wanted Elias to kiss me. I wanted to kiss him. I felt the warmth of Elias’s breath on my skin, but I turned away before his lips could meet mine, and his kiss landed on my cheek.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, unable to meet Elias’s gaze.
We’d been in a relationship for a year, engaged for six months, and getting mated by dawn, yet I could count the number of times on one hand that Elias and I had kissed passionately.
For shifters, our love wasn’t the loud and frenzied kind. Rather, it was gentle and steadfast. The complete lack of intimacy between us was solely my failing.
I trusted Elias. I really did. I wanted to be with him with all of my being, but every time he reached for me, all I could feel was a crippling sense of unexplained…fear. Elias settled for kissing my forehead.
“It’s alright,” he whispered, but I could still detect the strain in his voice. “We have the rest of our lives ahead of us.”
Elias’s quiet acceptance made me feel terrible, so much so that I couldn’t fall asleep after he left. Elias was understanding, kind, sweet, supportive, and ridiculously handsome. He was everything I could have ever asked for in a future mate. Kissing him shouldn’t have been nerve-wracking.
But maybe it didn’t have to be. Maybe if I took the initiative for once…I bolted upright from my bed and hastily pulled on some clothes before my confidence could leave me, grabbing my cell phone before heading out.
Misha,my best friend, picked up on the first ring, just as I anticipated she would. Her cyber security job, knee-deep in human territory, often kept her up longer than most wolves.
“I’m going to do it,” I informed her.
