Page 18 of The Alpha's Heir

I miss her terribly. Our apartment seems cold and bare without her in it. In a down moment, I wonder if this is how I will feel if Amber is sentenced to imprisonment? Am I destined to feel alone and lost forever?

After three days, I am patrolling the forest when Nikki appears from nowhere yet again.

“How did you get here? How did you know where I was?” I ask her, flummoxed. We seriously need to tighten the security on our borders.

A smirk curls her lip. “Hi, future mate, it’s great to see you too. I was so disappointed that you stood me up the other night. It made me very, very angry.” I can feel power rolling off her, but I cannot distinguish what it is.

“Who exactly are you? What are you?” I ask her exasperatedly, but she just laughs and shakes her head at me, and she closes the gap between us, stalking me like prey at her mercy.

“You can see a tiny fragment of my power and ability, Beta Preston, and you still resist the offer I gave you to save your mate.” Fear starts to prickle up my neck and into my scalp.

“I love her. I don’t want to leave her; I don’t ever want to be apart from her.” The facts pour out of me involuntarily, but I am not ashamed. I’m not embarrassed about the strength of my feelings for my mate, I am proud and loyal to our bond.

“I’m sure my mate didn’t want to leave me either. It’s not about what we want, this is about karma. I need to rebalance. I suppose I could just kill you and then we would be even, but that doesn’t solve my issue of wanting a mate and a pup of my own."

She pauses to impress that point on me.

“I want vengeance and repayment. I want what is rightfully mine. You can give it to me and save your mate or you can both live with the consequences of Amber’s actions.” She seizes my wrists and holds me tightly to her ample chest.

“Stop, please. I don’t want to. I love her, I love my mate.” Before I can stop her, she starts to suck on Ambers mark on my neck, the mark I have had for less than two months after waiting seven years for it. I am filled with self-loathing and disgust as waves of pleasure and yearning course throughout my body. I close my eyes and I can see my Red. I can see her kissing my neck and rubbing her hands over my body.

“GET OFF ME,” I bellow, my Beta voice and aura taking over and blasting her to the ground. It’s unsettling and upsetting when my hardened cock starts to twitch like it has a life of its own. How the fuck did she do that?

“Preston, darling, I am just showing you how I can make you feel good. How I could pleasure you every night and every morning. I would give you the family you crave, the little boys to carry your legacy. I could give you it all. Just reject Amber, but first let me fuck you so the pain twists her up inside.”

Her talking about my Red like that breaks whatever illusion she has tried to drag me under.

“Never. I will never, ever give her up. I don’t fucking want you or your sons. You repulse me. I will rip your fucking throat out if I catch you on our lands again. Do you understand?”

She starts to walk away, undressing as she goes. Her dress slips off her body as she does so, revealing tanned, toned skin with curves in all the right places. She shouts over her shoulder at me.

“I understand the words that you are saying, my love, but I can feel the hesitation behind your conviction. You do want me, you can try to fight it, but you will do the right thing. I will see you in two nights. Same time, same place.”

In a flash, she shifts and runs to the boundary.

I sit in shock for what feels like an eternity. I wish Amber or Aiden were here. I need their help. I don’t know what to do anymore.

*** Eva ***

I finish baking cookies with Summer on the fourth day of Aiden being away.

“Where daddy bear gone?” she asks with wide eyes and her hands held out on either side. She constantly asks for her daddy bear.

“Remember, he had to go on a trip to see someone.” She makes a dramatic “O” with her mouth and then shakes her head.

“Daddy bear come back?” She is frowning now and I’m not sure if she is asking if he is coming back or demanding that he comes back. The mix of her beautiful innocent brown curls, big blue eyes and dimples seem at odds with the fierce scowl she is trying to give me.

“Come here, sunshine.” I scoop her up and sit down with her on my lap. “Do you miss your daddy bear?”

My lovely little girl nods her head. The frown is gone, but instead, her eyes fill with tears and her bottom lip quivers.

“Shall we call him?” I ask her and her face instantly brightens as I pull my phone from my pocket. I decide to video call him so Summer can see his face too. Aiden answers after two rings and my heart pounds and flutters when I see his handsome face looking back at me.

Summer seizes my phone and in between her babble, I decipher small parts of what she is telling him. “Mummy makes cookies, mummy looks sad. Daddy bear come back home, and we all be happy!”

Summer hands my phone back to me so I can hold it, while she shows Aiden her new jump, which is hilarious because her feet never leave the ground.

Aiden chuckles down the phone, laughter dances on his face and his eyes crinkle in the corner. Good grief, I have fallen hard for him. After assuring Summer he will be coming back home in ten sleeps, she runs off to play with her toys, leaving me alone to talk to my mate.

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