Mate (Bride, #2)

by Ali Hazelwood

Serena was a spur-of-the-moment decision by a nurse, but it’s my name because I made it so. Everything I built is attached to it.

Would you like some tea, Alpha?” “That would be lovely. Chai, two sugars.” “Nele? Do we have…No? No chai, unfortunately. Can we offer you anything else?” Koen sits back. “Lady, fuck you and your tea.”

I lift my fists. “Right or left?” He snorts. “Fuck this losing game.” “Do you really want to renounce one of two prizes, both of inestimable cash value—”

Our mouths are touching. I feel as though we’re made of the same stuff. Me and him, set apart from the remaining matter of the universe.

“I’m really not feeling well.” “I know.” His nose nuzzles behind my ear. My heart could explode with joy. “You’ll be okay. I’ll make you okay.”

I wonder if he’s storing every little touch for later. If he’s even aware of what he’s doing, staring at me with a faint half smile that is just… Lovesick.

“Are you— Please tell me you are joking.” “While I’m widely known for my prankster personality and comedic timing, no. I’m not joking.

“Koen, no. You actually like being Alpha. You live to order people around.” He holds back a smile. “Guess from now on, you’re going to have to be people.”

“You are the heart of this pack, Koen.” He nods. Even as he says, “And you are mine, Serena.”

“Where is she?” “Um, so. Koen was, um, mad.” “Ah.” “You have been de-aunted, I fear.”

I’ve had a lot of time to consider recent revelations, and I’m not at all surprised that you come from a long line of cult leaders. You’ve talked me into so much weird shit through the years, and I always wondered why I kept falling for it.”

“Can you believe that Juno won’t let me go suck their fucking pets dry in front of their fucking useless eyes?”

“You mean, you knew?” “Not for sure. But there were signs.” “Oh.” I blink. “Really?” “Serena, our first meeting sent you into Heat.”

“So we can just…stay here? In this cabin? And I’ll find some job? And you’ll do your Alpha stuff? And we’ll…we’ll go for runs together? And be boring?” “That sounds like a dream, actually.”

Alpha instinct doesn’t normally concern itself with external approval, but Serena…she feels like another part of him. His heart, in another body.

Koen keeps expecting to see betrayal in the beast’s eyes, but he seems genuinely happy to have been domesticated and bedazzled. Koen can relate.

He considers asking Change my mind on what? When it finally occurs to him what she’s talking about, he takes the brush from her hand and pulls her into his lap. To kiss her in the least bored way he’s capable of.

“I think,” he pants against her ear, ragged, “you should just start coming on these trips with me.” His hands are trembling. He wants her too much.

“I was being a patient, considerate, respectful, non-intrusive, accommodating mate. I was trying to—” “Koen, you are the most intrusive mate ever.

When he can’t wait any longer, his teeth cut into her supple flesh. The iron tang of her blood is strong and sweet. It tastes, Koen thinks, like forever should.