curse of the alpha - episode 05 & 06 Read Free

could hear Erik humming in the kitchen. She turned the corner and he looked up at her.
    “Hey,” he said softly, pushing a mug of tea across the counter.
    “Mmm, thanks!”
    The smell of peppermint filled her nose and she took a tiny sip, knowing already that it was too hot.
    “So did you get any sleep?” he asked.
    He’d turned to crack a few eggs into a pan. Ainsley noticed with regret that he had found his t-shirt again as well as jeans and work boots.
    “Yes. You?”
    “Yes,” he said thoughtfully.
    “But?”
    “But nothing. I usually don’t sleep well with… company.”
    Ainsley smiled into her mug. The sound of another egg cracking told her that Erik was back at work on their breakfast.
    “Can I help?”
    “Nope, I’ve got this.”
    Ainsley looked out the window. A flash of brown fur reminded her of everything.
    “There are still wolves patrolling?”
    “Twenty-four seven until I tell them to stop,” Erik replied grimly. “I know you probably don’t want to talk about what happened yet…”
    He paused, and Ainsley could tell there was a but coming. She decided to spare him.
    “No, I don’t mind telling you. I was freaked out last night, but I’m fine now.”
    She toyed with the string on her teabag, trying to decide where to begin. Erik kept cooking - a mercy, since it made it easier for her to speak.
    “I invited Clive over last night. I thought it would be best for the town if I could choose an alpha. You finally convinced me,” she laughed weakly.
    “Why did you choose Clive?” Erik asked lightly.
    She had told him her parents wanted her to choose Clive. But it was a lie. Maybe Erik had sensed it.
    “Because he seemed like an easy choice. And because…”
    Erik turned. There was a look on his face that Ainsley couldn’t place. It was almost like he expected to be disappointed. She might as well tell the truth.
    “Because I didn’t plan to stick around. I figured with Clive I could choose him and then extricate myself and go back to New York as soon as things were settled. I knew I wouldn’t accidentally fall in love with him. Though I knew I would have to love him in some way to make it happen. I hoped that loving the way he took care of everyone else would be good enough. Pretty dumb, huh?”
    She swore there was a victorious little smile hidden in Erik’s cryptic expression as he spun back to the pan of eggs.
    “There’s no way that could work, Ainsley.”
    “So…so clearly it didn’t work. And he got angry. He decided that if we had sex it would happen without me making it happen. And when I got scared and angry and told him to leave, he told me he would be alpha whether I wanted him or not. And he came after me.”
    There was no point bringing up the ghostly visit from Brian. This story was hard enough to tell.
    Erik was silent.
    She could tell he was listening hard, but trying to give her the space to talk. She was glad he wasn’t being too sympathetic. She was a strong person and it would have been an insult to have him treat her like a poor pathetic thing.
    “So I backed up and knocked over my softball trophy. And I grabbed it and when he stepped toward me, I threw it at him as hard as I could.”
    “Nice,” Erik remarked as he flipped their eggs onto plates.
    “Yeah, it cut his face too. Didn’t really slow him down, but it was a good feeling.”
    Erik slid a plate to her and grabbed forks out of a drawer.
    “He was so mad that his eyes went yellow. I knew he was going to change. And I thought the best thing I could do was change too. I’ve never changed before, but I almost changed once.”
    Erik raised his eyebrows.
    “This is going to sound crazy,” she warned.
    “Try me.”
    “So, the guy, Julian, who I, um…”
    “Yes,” he cut her off mercifully.
    “Remember when you heard the noise and you found me in the house with the broken window?”
    “Day before yesterday?”
    Wow, had so little time passed?
    “Yes. Well, he isn’t just a college