The Alpha Prince And His Bride
Book 3 The Alpha’s Substitute Bride – Episode 17

~HUNTER~

Something wasn’t right. My wolf was clawing at me to get out and I had a feeling that it had to do with Isabella.

f**k.

I should have never left her alone in the first place. I thought that she would be safe here with my sister but clearly I was wrong. I only left because the sight of her and my sister together had my heart feeling even more for Isabella. Maggie and Esma never really got along but it was the complete opposite with Isabella. They bonded so well that one would think that they were sisters. Seeing it today brought joy to my heart and I had to fight the feelings before I fell any deeper than I’d already done.

But now my emotions were all over the place and my heart was telling me that something was indeed wrong.

My suspicions were confirmed the moment the horse hit the backyard of my sister’s home. I jumped down and scanned the broken chairs and tables scattered all over. There was definitely a fight here . . . that, I was sure about.

I listened for any weird noises but couldn’t hear anything. Whoever was here earlier had already left.

“ISABELLA!” I shouted before I could stop myself.

I stormed inside the house and searched all over as I continued to shout her name. I felt my heart begin to race when I couldn’t replace her anywhere. How could I have been so stupid to leave her here alone? The whole reason I brought her here with me was so that I could protect her and keep her away from any harm. I couldn’t remember the last time I’ve ever been this pissed with myself. I was so angry that I would claw out my own eyes if I could.

“ISABELLA!” I roared, my head spinning with how many directions I’d been turning in the last few seconds. Her sweet scent was all over the house and it only made me more anxious to replace her.

“Hunter. . .”

The soft g***n forced me to pause in my tracks. I followed the sound and found my sister bleeding on the ground.

I pulled her into my arms and held her closely to my chest. “What happened?” I asked. “Where is

Isabella?”

“They took her.” She cried.

My entire body shook with rage at her words. “Who took her?”

“I should have told you.” She cried. “I’m so sorry.”

I couldn’t understand her words. What did she keep from me? My sister didn’t keep any secrets from me. She wasn’t making any sense. But none of that was important right now, all that I cared about was replaceing out where Isabella was.

“Who took her?” I demanded.

“Jeremy and his men. . .” She coughed. “They came for me but Isabella took the fall for me. She told them that her name was Esma Miller and they took her.”

She wasn’t making any sense. Why would they come for her? If they believed Isabella then that would mean that they never saw my sister before. What exactly was she keeping from me? It had to be something serious for someone to come here for her. I’d been away for far too long, so long that my own sister was keeping secrets from me.

I shook my head, Isabella. Where the hell are you?

But more than that, why would you do something so f*****g risky!

“WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?” I roared angrily. My anger was fueled by my fear. She knew what happened to me whenever her life was in danger; I confessed it to her before. Then why would she go and do something like this?

“Don’t blame her Hunter.” My sister insisted. “She was only thinking about you. You’ll probably be able to catch them if you leave now. They shouldn’t be far. They left around three minutes ago.”

I didn’t wait for her to say anything more. My wolf took over after that. Jeremy and his men were dead.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

~ISABELLA~

I looked at each men closely. There were five of them in total and each looked like they were good at fighting. I considered shifting into my wolf and trying to fight them off but I wasn’t sure if that would be the best thing for me to do right now.

I should wait . . . For Hunter. Something in me was sure that he would be here any minute now. I would only resort to my attack if I really needed to. In the meantime, I would wait.

I felt chills travel down my spine when they stopped at the entrance of the forest. “Where should we take her?”

“It doesn’t matter. Once we get rid of her and carry proof that she’s dead our work will be done and we could get paid.” I heard the leader say.

So someone did send them to get rid of Esma. Then what she’d said to me was nothing but the truth. Her own mate wanted her dead. What they’d said about the Blackners was absolutely true, they were heartless beings. How could anyone kill their own mate? That was crazy; he was killing a part of himself by getting rid of her!

But she wasn’t the one here right now. My life was the one in danger and I had no idea how long I had left.

I kept searching for ways to escape the further we went into the forest. I tensed when I heard something like a waterfall nearby. It was confirmed when I saw the cliff in front of me. There was definitely a waterfall there as well.

“Should we just dump her over the cliff?”

Dump me over the cliff? Once there was water I should be able to survive the fall. Right?

“No we need to finish her off first and then throw—

He was interrupted by the sound of a chilling howl not too far away from us. I felt warmth spread all over my chest for I recognized it immediately.

Hunter . . . He’d come for me.

“What’s she smiling for?” The leader hissed.

“I’m smiling because you’re all going to be dead in a couple of seconds.”

“Look here you little piece of—

He didn’t even get time to finish. All I saw was a flash of black before he was ripped away from me. The other three men shifted before my eyes revealing brown wolves. They tried to circle Hunter’s wolf but he didn’t wait for that to happen. Instead he tackled two of them at the same time. It didn’t take long for him to rip both of their throats open. I couldn’t help but gaze in awe at how powerful he was. My brothers were also extremely powerful but there was something about Hunter’s wolf that stood out. He fought with mighty grace and that May not make any sense but that’s what it looked like to me.

When Hunter was finished with the last one he turned to us and focused on the man’s hold on my arms. A loud menacing growl escaped him and it was like music to my ear.

“I told you that you were all going to be dead in a few seconds.”

The man narrowed his eyes at me. “And so are you.”

I screamed when the man let go off me just before Hunter reached me. To my horror he jumped off right after me. What the hell was wrong with him? Why would he jump off a cliff for me? Everything happened in slow motion after that, Hunter shifted back into his human form midair and if this was the last image of him that I would ever have, I wanted to soak it all up. He was so breathtakingly beautiful even falling from a God damn cliff. I gasped as the water hit my back and a few seconds later I felt hands grip my waist and I was pulled roughly into a hard chest.

I was coughing when Hunter brought us out of the water. I scanned his face, happy to be in this man’s arms again. He came for me. Hunter really came for me. He even jumped off a cliff for me! I wanted to keep staring at his face but something bothered me. He was angry and it was definitely because of me. He was so angry that he wouldn’t even look at me.

“Hunter.” I whispered as I tried to get him to say something.

He didn’t say anything; instead he kept walking until he had me pressed up against a tree.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” He roared. We were now chest to chest and his breathing was loud and heavy.

I tried to catch my breath. So many things had happened all at once and it was taking me a while to replace my thoughts. In fact, his sudden anger surprised me.

What did he mean what was I thinking?

“How could you take my sister’s place?” He demanded. “Why would you tell them that you were her and put yourself in danger after everything that I’ve told you about in the past?”

I now understood what he was referring to and I could feel my anger resurfacing as well. How could he ask me something like that? I was trying to protect someone that HE loved! How could he stand there and be angry with me for that?

“What was I thinking?” I repeated his question with a shout that echoed throughout the quiet forest. “I was thinking that you told me that whole story about your mate. Where you explained what it felt like to lose her, to have your heart ripped open and stumped on like that. I was thinking that you would be completely destroyed if something happened to your sister as well. I was thinking that you wouldn’t be able to handle the pain this time. I was thinking of protecting you from feeling that again!” I screamed.

We were both panting hard and glaring at each other.

My legs were wrapped around him and my back was pressed up against the tree behind of me. I could see multiple emotions cross his eyes and I tried to read every single one of them.

Staring into Hunter’s eyes was like looking down into a well and wondering what was down there. It was easy to drown in it.

I knew that my words had some sort of an effect on him but I didn’t care. He’d forced it out of me and I was glad to tell him why I’d done what I did.

I gasped as his thumb finger pulled on my bottom l*p completely out of nowhere. “Don’t. Ever. Put. Your. Life. In. Danger. Again.”

That was the last thing I heard before his lips came crashing down on mine.