Free The Alpha's Unwanted Mate: (BWWM) Paranormal Romance Standalone by Ellie Valentina Page A

to invade her privacy. However, she sounded as if she might be in pain, and his pride wouldn’t allow him to ignore such a thing.
    Slowly, silently, he pushed the door open. His breath caught in his throat as a shaft of sunlight spilled across the small cot. The young woman had tossed off the sheets and lay on her back, spread across the bed, her nightgown hiked up high on her thighs. Long, dark legs contrasted sharply with salmon colored sheets and the woman slumbered with her lush lips slightly parted, her short hair haloing around her head.
    Half of the blood in Clyde’s body immediately slammed to his groin. A dark, primal lust, the likes of which it seemed he hadn’t felt in ages, flooded through him. He swallowed thickly, struggling against his animalistic tendencies. Before him, Angeline shifted, moaning softly in her sleep as her brown eyebrows knitted together in obvious distress.
    Clyde watched as she turned onto her side, her mouth drawing into a tight line. She was having a bad dream. He felt no small amount of guilt that her soft whimpers and sighs went directly to his already straining cock, and contemplated whether or not he should wake her. It really wasn’t his place.
    On the other hand, no one deserved to suffer through nightmares. Since Leila had died, he woken from quite a few himself, always drenched in sweat with an emptiness in his chest. He made his way soundlessly across the room to kneel next to the bed. The woman that lay before him made him want nothing more than to take her into his arms to love away every fear that she might have.
    But Clyde knew better. Angeline had barely decided if she wanted to be in the same room with him, much less go running to his bed. As her entire body trembled, Clyde swallowed his lust to reach out and touch her shoulder gently.
    “Angeline. Angeline, wake up.”
    The young woman only moaned lowly, rolling over to frown deeply. She was a heavy sleeper. Her form jerked and a soft cry escaped her. Her obvious distress made his heart clench, and Clyde took her shoulder in a firmer grip, turning her back over to face him gently. “Angeline, wake up.” His voice was louder now, but no less comforting. “You’re only dreaming.”
    He shook her shoulder lightly and the young woman’s dark eyes shot open as she gasped sharply. She sat up so quickly that her head almost connected with his before her gaze shot around the room as her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “I…what?”
    Clyde touched her arm gently, drawing her attention back to him. Though he ached to touch her, he forced himself to come to terms with the fact that the timing was not right. “It’s ok, Angeline.” The most he dared was to reach out and cup her cheek gently in reassurance. “It was just a bad dream.”
    “Clyde…” It was the first time she had uttered his name since she’d entered the camp, and the sound made his entire body tense. Angeline was looking at him through eyes still half-asleep, and he knew she must not be fully conscious of what she was doing. The young woman reached up to run her fingers through the length of his hair, her eyes locked on his. “You’re gorgeous , Clyde.”
    His gut clenched in a searing desire that threatened to overpower him. She had no idea what she was doing to him. None . She had only been in the camp for three weeks and already she had turned his life upside down. He desired her even as he suspected she might not be completely genuine. He longed for her smile even as his children shied away from her. Everything about the two of them together was utterly and completely wrong.
    So why was he still so drawn to her? Why did her face haunt him every night as he lay awake, contemplating what the next day might bring? Without a second thought, Clyde lowered his mouth to hers. At the first touch of his lips, she moaned softly, an arm curling about his neck to draw him closer. She tasted sweet, fresh and clean, like something he’d been craving his