Filed to story: Claimed By The Alpha Nursing His Baby (Grace & Alpha Theodore) Book PDF Free
On the other end of the wire is a connection that spans out, making its way across what feels like the vast expanse of the universe until it finds its home within the alpha that’s currently holding me.
The crack of a whip, and then my wolf howls.
The mating bond.
“You…” Theodore murmurs, his mouth falling open in shock. “It’s you.”
The alpha standing before me, the King of the North: Theodore Summers is my bonded mate.
“I-” My mouth feels numb as I try to move it. I can’t believe-no, this…surely there’s no way?
But it’s there. The connection beats steadily in my chest, as sure as my own heartbeat.
Theodore drops me back down to my feet suddenly, stumbling away from me. A short burst of air leaves him as he continues to stare at me-in horror? Disgust? Bewilderment? I can’t tell. It’s too dark and I’m too much in shock to really be able to read him.
I step forward for some reason, an energy I can’t even begin to comprehend compelling me to follow him. My wolf is practically clawing at me from the inside, begging me to let her free so she can finally meet her mate.
“Sorry,” Theodore says again, shaking his head wildly. His own wolf must be driving him mad. “I have to go.”
My heart shatters at the words.
I don’t even get a chance to stop him before he’s shifting and turning to sprint through the hedge maze to get away from me.
Did that…just happen?
I touch my skin where his hands held me, the lingering burning feeling still there even as I try to wipe it clean.
I don’t know how long I’m out here in the gardens before I manage to stumble my way back into the ball. The lights are bright, the laughter and music are loud and suddenly grating on my ears.
I’m too overwhelmed to be here right now, but I can’t just leave while Delilah’s still here somewhere.
Passing by a table, I spot a few glasses of wine and swipe one up before downing almost the entire thing in one go. One of the catering staff gives me a strange look before offering me another one, clearly not surprised I need something for the jitters.
Time passes slowly. I spot Delilah here and there while I stick to the outskirts of the party. My chest aches from being separated so suddenly from Theodore, while my head is filled with my wolf baying in anguish.
Usually when a pair’s mating bond snaps in place, they’re sent off to be alone together for a while to properly let it settle. That’s how it should be at least. Except apparently I’m supposed to be mated to a damn alpha king.
Who still has yet to show his face.
Eventually, I retire back to mine and Delilah’s room for the evening, needing the silence and the space to be alone again. I can hardly breathe, and being surrounded by that many people with their hormones flying is sending me into a deep spiral.
By the time I get my dress off of me and slip into my nightgown, I feel the familiar pinpricks of tears trying to form in my eyes.
Why? Why did this have to happen? I was just supposed to come here and pretend to seduce Theodore to make Daniel happy, not be rejected by my own mate the second our mating bond snaps into place.
How am I going to be able to leave the Pollis packlands while feeling like I’m dying? Is that even possible? Dying of an unclaimed bond?
Suddenly, a knock at my door has me bolting up in bed. Expecting Delilah, I head over to it and unlatch the door to open it.
A deep and masculine scent hits me instantly, freezing me in place as I look up into familiar golden eyes.
“Grace,” Theodore says, before grabbing the door and prying it out of my hand to push his way into my room.
Grace
Before I can say anything, he slams the door behind him and locks it.
My heart hammers in my chest as I slowly back away from him and toward the bed. I don’t know why he’s come here after ditching me in the gardens-maybe he’s figured out who I am and wants nothing to do with me.
I mean, who would?
Mated to the daughter of a defected beta as a soon-to-be alpha king isn’t exactly a winning title, nor would it inspire confidence in any of his allies. If my father could leave his own pack for another so easily, why wouldn’t his daughter do the same?
“Theodore,” I begin to say, but I’m cut off by him reaching over to cup my face and pull me into a heated kiss.
Instantly, everything around us melts away.
My wolf croons, happy to finally be back in the presence of her mate.
Theodore lifts me up off my feet and carries me over to my bed. “I need you. Now,” he growls.
We both flop down onto it like a couple of inexperienced teenagers, pawing at each other to try to get our clothes off.
I can’t believe he’s here and kissing me-touching me. I should expect it since he’s my mate, but after what happened earlier, I’m shocked he even wants to be in the same room as me, let alone push my nightgown up my thighs.
I’ve never done anything like this before. There have never been any times in the past where I snuck away from the pack to go hook up with another in the woods while we were out on patrol.
Or even the typical running in the moonlight and then stopping to rest, only to find ourselves tangled up in each other instead.
“Fuck,” he whispers against my skin. “I can’t get you out of my head.”
My heart sings at his words. No one will dare come within a ten-foot radius of touching me, thinking that my pariah status will somehow rub off on them and make them become one too.
But here, Theodore doesn’t know any of that. Here he isn’t the alpha to his pack or a future king, and I’m not a disgraced pack member whose alpha wants them to suffer until one of us kicks the bucket.
Here we can just be Theodore and Grace.
“Grace,” he mumbles while trailing his lips down my cheek to the column of my neck. I shiver at the feeling of him licking and sucking on me, his desperate and intoxicating touch driving me wild. “You’re going to be a good girl for me, right?”
Oh gods.
My hands tug at the front of his waistcoat, unable to undo the buttons with how badly I’m shaking. I’m nervous for all of this but also dying to see where it goes. I want this-I want him.
Theodore peels his lips away from my skin in order to sit back and grab at the front of his coat. He snaps it apart, buttons flying off in different directions around the room, and then tosses it somewhere on the floor.
Next comes his pressed white button-up, snapped apart and tossed in the same way.