Alpha's Sacrifice (Fallen Alpha) Read Free Page B

so manly. Brown hair and huge green eyes that seemed to look right through her threatened to drown her in their depths.
    “Did I know you that you could shift at will?” She bit down on her lip. Her memory was starting to fade much faster than it should have. What had they given her this time?
    “I don’t know. You tell me. I don’t know your name or what’s going on here. I do know that I need to do something about your headache. Your pain is unbearable, and I won’t allow it continue another minute.”
    She shook her head. “My head is your least concern. They are coming to kill you.” She could see it so clearly. When he didn’t listen to her, the times that her dreams had shown other outcomes, he’d always ended up dead. It had destroyed her.
    “I know you think that. Don’t argue with me. I’m not budging until I make you more comfortable. If you want me to do something else, you’re going to have to comply. It’s up to you exactly how difficult you feel like being.”
    He moved toward her like the predator she knew him to be. Hayden tugged her against him, and she let herself, for one second, be absorbed in how right it felt and how his scent—pine needles and soap—made her feel as if she’d finally gotten home. “Chelsea.”
    Hayden laughed, and she heard the small rumble in his chest. “That’s your name, then?”
    “Chelsea Steefle.”
    “That’s pretty.” He rubbed her forehead, moving his hand to the top of her scalp. “I’m not a Healer, Chelsea”— he could say her name all day, every day, she loved how it sounded— “but I’m Alpha here. For some reason, you know what that means, and, well, there are other reasons, but I’m not going to go into it now. The point is that you have to do what I say. I have Alpha magic.” He pressed on her head. “I want your headache gone.”
    Her head felt hot. She gasped, not liking the sensation. It wasn’t a warm gooey feeling but more like someone had jammed a heater inside of her and turned it on full blast. She tried to pull back, but Hayden wouldn’t let her go. “Shh. Quiet now.”
    She tried to listen, but it hurt. Chelsea squirmed in his arms until she felt the heat start to leave. Seconds later, coolness invaded her, and she could breathe again. Her headache had eased. It wasn’t completely gone, but she no longer felt as if she might hit the floor.
    “We’ll work on that again. A stronger Alpha would be able to kill your headache no problem, but you’re stuck with me.”
    She tsked. “You’re always like this. If you don’t die today, you’ll still be doubting yourself at ninety years old. You’re a good Alpha. Lucian didn’t know everything about everything.”
    She’d love to see what a little Alpha confidence could do for him. Hayden managed nearly everything he did with perfection. Why couldn’t he see it?
    “Okay, Chelsea.” He took a step back from her and narrowed his eyes.
    “Oh, we’ve got the serious look going on here. You want answers. I know. I want to give them to you, but there’s the little thing about madmen coming to kill you.”
    He shook his head. “If you know me as you claim to, then trust me on all counts. What’s going on here?”
    “I…” She cleared her throat. This seemed a lot harder than it should have been. She’d envisioned this scenario hundreds of times, had seen virtually every response possible from Hayden, including the one where he kicked her out on her ass.
    “Go on.” He stood so still that he almost looked unreal.
    “When my grandmother—who raised me until I was sixteen—died, I inherited her strange abilities. I can see things. Lots of things. Endless possibilities. I live lifetimes that never happen. I know people I’ve yet to meet. It’s…hard. And she never told me how to deal with any of it. She must have been better at it than me because she was normal, and, well, I’m not.”
    A slew of emotions passed over his face, the one she knew so well—at least