The Mad Alpha's Substitute Bride

Jimmy is smirking at one of his lady friends. Jimmy is being a wiseass about my real-life problems.

My erection vanishes as irritation floods me. He wanted to tag along with me to see this mysterious woman that I was seemingly enamored by. I’m not enamored by anybody. It’s guilt. And maybe I think she’s amusing, but that’s it. Enamored is the last word I would use.

The smug look on his face made me want to introduce it to my fist. Not that it would deter him. Jimmy is among the strongest fighters in the Wolf Kingdom, second only to me. While my specialty lies in strategy and brute strength, he’s wily and fast.

Frowning, I pick up the bakery bag from the ground. There is no way in hell I am introducing Jimmy to this woman. My second-in-command has a thing for exotic-looking women. I’ve had to drag him out of human bars more times than I would like to count. With this wolf shifter of such unique features, Jimmy wouldn’t be able to help himself.

I growl under my breath.

Looking over my shoulder, I see her sitting now, her arms around her knees. She’s staring at the lake. My anger fades. She looks so heartbreakingly young.

"If anything happened to me, nobody would miss me."

I feel troubled by her words. Surely, that can’t be the case. She must have some family. Unless she’s an orphan.

But even then, orphans are well loved within packs. Even if nobody is able to foster them, they are given the best opportunities. She must have friends and people who care about her. But as I gaze at her, she appears incredibly lonely.

I walk back over to her. "Here. I ruined your celebration yesterday, so I got you something. It is your birthday today, right?"

She looks up at me, surprised, and then at the bag in my hand. "You got me something?" There is wariness in her voice. "Why?"

"Because that cupcake seemed important to you," I admit. She shrugs. "It was just a cupcake."

"Either way." I put down the bag in front of her. "Celebrating a birthday by yourself is boring. I thought we could celebrate it together."

She gives me a cautious look. "What do you want in exchange?"

"Nothing!" I exclaim, her words stinging me.

"Really?" she says doubtfully. "People always want something in exchange for being nice to me."

"Well, I don’t." I pause. "No, there is something I want." A triumphant look crosses her face. "I knew it. What?"

"Your name."

My words have her looking confused. "That’s it?"

"Yeah. Just your name."

She studies me curiously. "Why do you want my name?"

"Because you know mine," I point out. "It’s only fair that I know yours."

"Alice Lane."

I clear my throat. "Well, in the spirit of sharing our full names, I’m Darian Wild."

I sneak a look at her, wondering if she will recognize my surname, and when her expression stays the same, I don’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

She peeks into the bag on the ground in front of her. "So, what did you get me, Darian Wild? Those are a lot of boxes for one cupcake."

"Why don’t you open them and find out?" I suggest.

The first box she takes out and opens has six cupcakes of assorted flavors. The bakery I got them from is a special one that only caters to the royal family. Each cupcake is decorated in a delicately beautiful manner, and even I’m impressed. I’m also impressed by how sturdy the packaging was that the cupcakes are all intact despite the way I dropped the bag they were in.

Alice looks shocked. "They’re beautiful. I don’t think I could eat them." "Well, not yet." I grin. "Check the other boxes."

The next one contains a variety of savory snacks, and the last one has a thick tube in it. She picks it up and stares at it. "What’s this supposed to be?"

"It’s a sparkler," I tell her. "One of the companies I ru—work with makes toys and decorations. Humans love these for birthdays."

I can see that I have Alice’s full attention. "How does it work?"

I hold the sparkler away from our faces and twist the top. Nothing happens. I do it again but with more friction this time. It lights up, a shower of sparks and colorful lights exploding from it. It’s like a safer version of a firework.

I glance at Alice, and she’s smiling broadly, excitement and delight written all over her face. Her eyes are pinned on the little display, and for the first time, there is no reservation in them. She looks happy. My heart skips a beat, and my wolf rumbles in interest.

I meet plenty of beautiful women every day. Pack alphas like throwing their daughters at me in the hopes that one of them will catch my eye, but I’ve always steered clear of them. To them, it’s my title that is of value, not me. But Alice looks at me. She sees Darian.

It’s not just that. Being around her lets me relax. It’s like when I’m around Jimmy. We bicker all the time, but he’s my closest friend and ally. I trust him above everyone, including my father. Around my childhood friend, I can be myself. When I’m around Alice, it’s the same feeling. I don’t have to be Prince Darian. Just being Darian is enough.

It also helps that I find her amusing and unpredictable. And when I see her like this, smiling with her guard down, she looks ethereal.

I haven’t forgotten our kiss. It was impulsive, and I hadn’t expected anything to come of it. But when our lips pressed together, it felt like electricity was coursing through my veins.

I needed more. I wanted more.

In that moment, I felt like my heart would burst out of my chest. Her scent, her touch, it was all driving me crazy. I couldn’t get enough of her. Those feelings, invoked by a simple kiss, surprised me.

Touching her last night was like getting a hit of a potent drug, one that I haven’t been able to stop craving since. As I watch her beaming in excitement at this shower of sparks, such a simple thing, I realize how innocent she is. I want to be the one to corrupt that innocence, to claim it. I want her to be mine.

My mouth turns dry at the dangerous thought.

As the sparkler dies down, Alice looks at me in amazement. "That was incredible!"

I can’t help but feel a little proud. "So, I guess I’m not a jerk anymore?" She flushes. "Right. Sorry about that."

"Let’s eat!" I hold out one of the cupcakes for her, and despite her attempt to look stoic, her ears are still red as she takes a bite out of it.

Her eyes turn wide as saucers. "It’s really good!"

We sit on the ground, eating the cupcakes and the snacks, and I ask, "You’ll be coming to the mating gathering this weekend, right? Did you get address?"

"My friend gave me one as a birthday gift," she tells me, munching on a puff pastry meat pie. "She also got me some shoes. She knew what would look good on me. She’s a romantic at heart."

"And, I take it, you’re not?" I study her.

Alice scoffs. "I’m just going to the mating gathering because I can’t find a way to get out of it. It’s going to be a waste of time. I would rather be anywhere else."

I frown. "Don’t you want to find your fated mate? You know, this is the only time, once a year, when our wolf spirits search for their mates. You let that chance go, and you may have to wait an entire year to find your fated mate."

A shutter falls over Alice’s expression. She takes another bite of the savory treat in her hand. "I’m not going to find a fated mate."

"You can’t know that," I argue. "And even if you don’t, someone might express interest in you. Not everyone mates the person they are fated to."

She lets out a dry laugh. "Yeah. Fat chance of that happening, either."

The conviction in her voice doesn’t make any sense to me. "Nearly everybody gets paired up during the mating gathering, unless a few of the attendees want to hold off and wait till the next year for their fated mate. What makes you so certain that you won’t end up with someone? You do know I’ll also be there, right?"

Alice’s body goes stiff. "You’ll be at the mating gathering?"

"Well, yeah." I shrug. "I—"

I pause. I’ve never attended a mating gathering, despite the fact that I’ve been of age for two years. According to my father, my main focus has had to be the transfer of power from him to me. Members of the royal family always mate their fated mates. It is only now, with my father’s illness

getting worse, that the urgency for me to find a mate has increased. Alice’s name is not on the list of suitable mates, but if she and I were to meet at the gathering, maybe fate would...

I don’t complete the thought. This is the first time my wolf has ever responded to someone. Given my sudden attraction to Alice, it can only mean that there is the possibility of a deeper bond between us. If she has just come of age, that means she’s twenty-two. We don’t have much of an age difference. I’m only two years older than her.

"I’ll be at the gathering," I finally say. "How’s this? If neither of us finds our fated mate, we could choose each other."

Alice freezes. "What are you talking about? You don’t want—"

"I have a good feeling about us." I put my arm around her shoulders casually. "You already think I’m good looking."

"I believe the word I used was ’pretty,’" Alice says sarcastically. "I refuse to be offended," I decide. "If you like pretty, I’m pretty."

Her face turns red, and I hide my smile as she glowers. "Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? And even if neither of us finds a fated mate, you’d never want me. Trust me."

I disagree with her. "Never say never."

She makes an exasperated sound. "Look, I’m just going to the gathering to eat food and have a good time, as much as I can."

"We’ll have a good time."

"You keep saying ’we.’" She pushes my arm off her shoulders. "There is no ’we.’ There’s you, and then there’s me. You’ll be the center of attention because of all this"—she gestures toward my face—"and I’ll be at the back of the room, stuffing my face."

"I can stuff my face, as well," I point out. "It’ll be fun."

She rolls her eyes at me. "Only you would call a mating gathering fun. It sounds exhausting, and since there will be a few of my packmates there, I know it’s going to be."

My humor fades. "Alice, do you not get along with your pack?"

I see the troubled look in her eyes, which she tries to hide. "Don’t ask questions I can’t answer."

"Yesterday afternoon, when you were hurt, did somebody from your pack do that to you?"

"It’s not important."

"It is important," I say angrily. "I’m going to give you my number. Next time someone hurts you, you’re calling me. I’ll make sure they never lay their hands on you again."

Alice runs the tip of her tongue over her lips, which seems to be an anxious gesture for her and one I found very arousing. "Why do you care so much? You don’t even know me."

I give her a half smile. "Maybe I like you."

Instead of blushing as I thought she would, her eyes darken. "If you knew what I know, you wouldn’t like me."

I let out an annoyed sound. "Just tell me. What is so bad about you that you think you won’t find a fated mate or that I couldn’t possibly like you?"

She opens her mouth and then immediately presses her lips together, silently shaking her head. "I think I’m a little selfish because I don’t want to tell you. I don’t want you to look at me the way everybody else does."

The sadness in her eyes does not escape me. "Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad."

She looks toward the water. "You work for the royal family, right? Look me up. You know my full name. All wolf shifters have records. Go find mine. I won’t blame you if you don’t want to see me again after that."

I push a strand of her red hair away from her face. "You think too much. No matter what it is, I am not going to treat you like everybody else does. I promise not to find you any less annoying than I do now."

She laughs lightly and just a little sadly. The childlike edge to her voice breaks my heart. "You say that now." When her gaze meets mine, I feel my chest tighten. "You say nice things, and I like to hear them. But the truth is going to change everything. It’s best if you stop trying to be friends with me, Darian. I don’t plan to be here for much longer. I don’t like the way our kind looks at me."

I wish I knew what to say to make her feel better, but my words are stuck in my throat.

How bad can her secret be?