Page 31 of Knocked Up By My Fated Alpha
I wasn’t discouraged.
“We will be partners.”
“No,” Raven interrupted me before I could finish, a horrified look in her eyes. “I might be pregnant with your child, but I will not be coerced into a mating with a self-absorbed, conceited asshole like you.”
My wine glass shattered in my grasp. I stared at my bleeding hand for a second before raising my gaze to a baffled Raven.
“Good, because you will never be my mate.”
Raven blinked, clearly overwhelmed.
“But you just said…”
“I’ll buy you time,” I clarified, taking the handkerchief from the breast pocket of my suit and wiping the blood and glass shards off my already-healed hand.
“By claiming you as my fiancée and mother of my heir, I can prevent Ivy from enforcing the duel until months after the birth. I willprovide for you, protect and train you to ensure you survive the duel. And if you decide to run, I’ll back you financially.”
Raven eyed me suspiciously.
“And what do you get in exchange?”
The words left me reluctantly. “I need an heir.”
What I needed was for the council to back off on insisting that I reinstate Elias as alpha heir. We had serious issues. The serial killer was still at large, and my priority as a thirty-seven-year-old alpha who wasn’t stepping down any time soon was preventing an impending human-wolf war that would result in thousands, if not millions, of casualties.
Regardless of how our confrontation this night had gone, I had faith in Elias. He would shape up to be a great alpha someday. I was certain of it, even though the secrets I’d unearthed about him recently threatened to shake my faith. I just had to buy time for now. Naming a new heir would do that. Raven backed up, her arms going around her middle.
“I’m not giving up my child.”
“Neither am I.” It still didn’t feel real that child already had an unshakable hold on my heart. “But I’m not asking you to give the child up. I would never. We can discuss the terms of custody after you survive the duel.”
Raven stood still for several moments, her eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.
“You don’t have much of a choice, Raven,” I reminded her gently.
A helpless look of frustration swept over her delicate features, and I grappled with that ever-present need to comfort Raven. Raven’s back straightened, all of her emotions tidily swept behind that fragile mask of calm.
“I have my own conditions,” she said pointedly, and I nodded.
“I’m listening.”
Raven hesitated.
“What happened in your office…it can’t happen again. This is strictly transactional. There won’t be any real intimacy or emotional entanglement between us. If we need to be… close,” Raven took a breath as though even the words were repulsive to her, much less the act, “it would be just enough to sell the act and nothing more.”
My eyes dipped to her mouth instinctively, my mind generously replaying how it had felt to kiss her, to own her for those few moments against the wall of my office before reality had intruded.
“Fine,” I agreed, pushing the stray thoughts out of my mind. “Just enough to sell the act.”
My wolf didn’t agree. In fact, he was downright livid, but he’d adjust. I wasn’t a slave to my baser instincts.
“I want to keep my job, too,” Raven tacked on combatively, watching me carefully as though she expected me to backtrack in the face of this new demand.
I swallowed my protest. She didn’t need to work. When I said I’d provide for her, I meant it. But right now, I wasn’t ready to push her on anything for fear that she’d leave.
“Done,” I nodded. “Do we have a deal?”
Raven swallowed. Then, very hesitantly, she responded.
