Page 226 of Rogue Alpha Prince
My biggest enemy, though, is sitting right in front of me.
I try to think of some excuse, but despite trying to prepare for this exact moment for the last five years, my brain is in a scramble that no amount of adrenaline can fix.
“Cain, I…”
“Shhh, relax, my Queen,” he pulls my stiffened body into a tight embrace in the same passive-aggressive manner he used to scrub my body clean every evening, and it does everything but relax me.
“I’m sorry,” I say, my throat still painfully squeezed in stress and traitorous tears coming to my eyes.
I don’t want to think about leaving the three most perfect babies behind without a mother—or the fact that I don’t feel like a good enough parent to even try to use it as a plea for my life.
He looks deep into my eyes, putting his palm on my chest where my heart is.
“I havefeltyou are my true Goddess-given mate for almost five years now.”
I look at him in shock, and he takes that opportunity to plant a searing kiss on my lips. He takes full advantage when I part them, and I’m lost in it for a passionate moment—overwhelmed by the Goddess-given true mate bondflowing between us. When he takes his lips off mine, he starts tracing his tongue lower, over my jaw, neck, and to the mark he recklessly gave me.
He can feel I’m his true mate.
“Wait, what?” I ask, feeling so numb from the shock I’m not sure what’s going on.
“I realized you are my true mate when you were lying in that hospital bed, wolf dormant and dying. You are lucky I did because you would have died without your true mate constantly with you back then, and we both know that. But I think I started feeling something before that.” He brushes his nose on my neck, caging me between his legs with his arms around my shoulders. “You smell like avocado, you know that?”
“What?” I repeat, looking at him with wide eyes.
He cups my cheeks and plants another kiss that is so familiar but so different, too. It’s… It’s him with all these overwhelming emotions, letting me feel what he feels. What he has felt all along!
“You can ask our Beta or Gamma or the pack doctor… I alpha-commanded them a few years ago to keep quiet until our fifth wedding anniversary,” he murmurs against my lips.
Shit, I forgot to let Beta know my brother is coming here today.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask when he finally lets me breathe.
I can’t believe how many times I laid down on my side with his sleeping breath on my shoulder, being unable to fall asleep myself while finally letting my fear come through the only time he wouldn’t feel it through the mate bond.
“We were all worried you would try to escape thinking I’d kill you, so I decided to give you proof first. A few years of proof. I love you, Ash, so much—and I hope by now you know I would never kill you, if I haven’t yet.”
I want to protest but he shuts my mouth with another kiss.
“You have been my weakness long before I started feeling the mate bond, anyway.”
“Now you’ll lie thatI make you strong or some shit I know you don’t believe,”I look sideways, hurt.
“Those three little devils you gave me?” he asks, “They make me strong. You don’t.”
I look back into his navy-blue eyes for the first time, letting myself feel hope he truly means it.
“Really?”
He nods, opens his mouth, and hesitates for the first time ever. I put my hand on his shoulder, trying to give him whatever support he needs, as always.
He nods again, looks at my golden mark, and finally confesses with something vulnerable in his eyes. “I know I can live without you, but I don’t want to, and it’s my biggest fear.”
“You made me lie about having sex with another man for five years, you dick.”
“It was fun,” he winks.
“I hate you,” I say with a stupid smile I can’t stop from happening.
