Page 35 of The Alpha's Forced Bride
When I heard Jermaine grumble and slap the printer, I realized it was him trying to do something important and not my alpha. I chuckled a little bit, drawing Blake's attention, who looked a little angrier than usual.
“I'm sorry,” I said. “I know this is unusual. It's not the greatest of circumstances, and I probably should have contacted you sooner.”
Blake continued to stare.
Harvey jumped in. “If it's any consolation, it's actually my fault. I'm the one who took Kiara from the woods,”
My dad leaned forward. “You kidnapped her.”
I waved for my father to calm down.
“Well…” Harvey stuttered.
Troy leaned forward and coughed once. At once, the entire table fell quiet, just like it had when we had first had our meeting here. It felt like such a long time ago that I had actually been in this particular conference room, in this particular mansion. It was a surreal experience, made more so by the light spilling into the room from the wide windows. Was I so used to darkness at this point? Was I just used to Harvey completely shadowing everything I did? Not that I had too many complaints about that either, but I had to admit this was probably the weirdest experience of my life.
Troy folded his hands on the table in front of him, sitting up regally. As Blake continued to brood, Troy looked at his co-alpha with an amused expression.
“We have much to talk about. Why don't we get to it?”
I gave a quick nod. “We really don't know what else to do. We're here to ask for your help.”
My dad leaned forward to look at me again. “What do you mean, ‘we’?”
I held up Harvey's hand. “We’re a couple.”
Regina looked thrilled while my father looked horrified.
“You're telling me that mutt that I fought is your mate?”
Blake held up a hand. “I did mention that the ritual had gone wrong, Kiara. Are you sure that this man is supposed to be your mate? He's possessed, after all.”
I shook my head. “Actually, he is no longer possessed. You can check for yourself if you don't believe me.”
Regina raised her eyebrows with a sort of victorious smile that she gave to both Blake and her husband. She knew that they were about to ask her for a favor, but she wasn't going to stand and offer it of her own volition. She was going to wait for one of them to request it. Troy seemed entertained by that as much as I did. Harvey looked confused and Blake looked like his face was turning into a ripened tomato.
After a heavy exhale, avoiding eye contact with Regina, he said, “Would you please do the honors?”
Regina grinned and stood, beaming. She released my hand and walked behind me to get to Harvey. She rested her hands on his shoulders, causing him to jump slightly. He relaxed as I squeezed his hands, shortly releasing them so that I wouldn't interfere with Regina's magic. She quietly ran her fingers along the back of his neck up to his scalp. Watching her do this burned me up inside and made me feel an eager desire to send her away from him.
I had to reign myself in. I had never experienced these kinds of heightened emotions before, especially about another person, and especially not about another man. A man I had watched turn from a human into a demonic wolf and back again. I'd watched him convulse in his bed, I had held his hand tenderly in my lap, and I'd made love to him in ways that I had never fantasized about. Yet, here I was. I felt an urgent desire to have his body pressed against mine. I wanted this meeting to be over so I could drag him to an empty room in the mansion and do things unspeakable things to him, but it was more important to focus on the present instead of what was to come. Soon, Harvey would end up fighting Cain in the middle of their village. We needed help if we were going to survive that battle.
Once Regina was done with her magical scan, she released Harvey and returned to her seat, giving an approving nod. “It’s true. The man is free of his demon.” Blake and Troy exchanged a look. Their question was very much evident in their expressions—their twin expressions.
I blushed as I held Harvey’s hand. “Yes, it's true. The mate bond actually cured him. I had to accept his demonic form and give him real love.”
My dad huffed. “Real love isn't forced or kidnapped.”
I shot him a hard glare. “I don't think you're the one who gets to judge.”
Regina held up her hands. I knew she was about to intervene again, but when she saw my expression, the one that pleaded for her not to do it, she lowered her hands. She gave a nod and scooted back so that I could focus on my father fully.
“Whether you like it or not, I found Harvey and I love him.”
Harvey squeezed my hand. I wasn't going to stop and address what I just said, but it excited me and made my heart skip a beat to realize how much I meant it, how much I could feel the word fill me up. It transferred to him, where it bounced off his heart and came right back to me. Metaphorically speaking, we were like ping pong balls on a table, perpetually bouncing back and forth toward each other in a joyous union. Almost like a coordinated dance.
Dad was annoyed, but he let me speak. “I love him, and I'm not letting him go. My love has given him a new life and he's given me the same. Sure, the circumstances aren’t great. Our situation didn't exactly begin like a fairy tale, but I want to see this through. You’re the one who taught me to see my problems through, didn’t you?”
My dad reluctantly nodded and turned away, crossing his arms over his chest. It was going to be hard healing the bond between them, the connection that they could have. But I knew I had to try.
