Page 87 of Alpha Claimed
Without waiting for a reply, Cherry walked toward Strider, who lifted himself off the wall and followed her down the hallway to a back staircase, where she ascended to an upper floor. She walked to the third door and shoved it open before doubling over and letting the tears flow.
The door closed quietly behind her, and then Strider's warm hand pressed into her back. Cherry let out all of the tears she'd held back and then ran to the bed and grabbed a giant pillow. Plunging her face into it, she screamed as hard as she could. She screamed a second time and then a third before stopping and sitting on the edge of the bed.
Weak. Unfit.
How could she have been so stupid? How could she have not anticipated something like this happening? Why didn't she have a contingency plan?
Because River wasn't supposed to be a Lycan king's mate, that's why. Because she was supposed to just take her pills and stay under the radar. How was Cherry to know the pills wouldn't work on Alpha Lycans?
A minute passed, and Strider sat beside her and took the pillow from her face.
He pulled her into his strong arms, and her wolf grumbled.
"It's not your fault," Strider soothed.
"Isn't it?"
"You can't fight nature. She is what she is, just as you are what you are. You staved it off as long as you could, but this was always going to happen at some point. The pills couldn't last forever. Or she would forget to take them. Or run out. She had to go into heat sometime."
"I should have told her the truth. I should have told her what the pills did. Then maybe-"
"It's too late for that, Love. You did what you thought best."
"But I was wrong."
Strider lifted her chin to look into his soft, gray eyes.
"You can't be right all the time." He kissed her.
A flutter raced through Cherry's belly like it always did when Strider kissed her. The way it had since she was sixteen years old, skinny dipping with him at the lake under the moonlight. He still had the same beautiful, soft brown eyes and shaggy hair now tinged with streaks of gray, but she didn't care. He was the only one who understood what she'd been through because he'd been through it, too. The only one who loved her despite her faults. The only one who knew the real her- not the mother, not the enforcer, but the woman she wished she'd become.
He was hers, and she was his. Always had been, always would be.
He went to break the kiss, but she pulled his lips back to hers. She needed him.
Her wolf snarled.
Shut it, bitch. You had your mate. This one is mine.
Cherry broke the kiss and pushed Strider back on the bed. She pulled off his classic rock band t-shirt. The sight of his lean, muscular body never stopped being her favorite sight.
Cherry smiled.Her love. Her wolf. Her mate.
He always knew just what she needed.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
RIVER
River awoke feeling prickly all over. She groaned as the sheets felt like gravel on her skin.
She opened her eyes to darkness. She looked around for a light but had no idea where one was. She scanned for her phone, trying to remember where she'd put it. She didn't even remember getting back to the estate the night before. What was going on?
She sat up, the room spun, and the air felt like a blanket suffocating her. She peered at the wall where she remembered a window being and got to her feet wobbly. Instantly, she knew she was naked because she could feel every inch of her lady parts rubbing against her legs. What the hell?
She went to touch herself and found her body swollen and hot. That couldn't be good. She tried to remember what she'd been taught in biology class about when your privates were cold, it meant you were close to freezing to death. If they were hot and swollen, did that mean she was close to overheating? Something told her that wasn't the case. Either way, she moved disjointedly to the curtains and pushed them aside before grabbing the window and cranking it open. The fresh air washed over her bare skin, making it pebble and offering a slight relief.
River moaned in satisfaction. She breathed in deep and was struck by a scent.