Free The Alpha's Curse (Wolf Shifter Pregnancy Romance) by Scarlett Grove Page A

down and away. He still wore the wet shorts he had arrived in, but was now wearing one of Avery’s largest t-shirts, one she wore to bed, and it was tight across his broad chest and muscled arms. To add to the look, the shirt he’d chosen had a series of pink flowers flowing across the white cotton.
    “Love?” she asked, curious if he’d been in love before. She’d felt something that could have been called loved before, but nothing like what she felt for Lucien. Nothing so deep, so full, so complete. She reached out to touch his knee, offering him her warmth.
    “Or lack thereof. I wanted to love my mate. I wanted her to be my true match, my fated mate.”
    “That’s lovely,” she said, rocking the baby. His little mouth found its way to her breast and he began to suck vigorously, drawing out her milk.
    “But it wasn’t lovely to my father. He wanted me to produce an heir for the pack before I took my place as Alpha. He demanded I do my duty. But I refused to mate with any other than my fated. I knew the difference between a fated union and a random one. The latter was full of misery. In addition to that, I knew my fated was out there. If I just waited for her, for you, I knew it would be more wondrous than I could even imagine.”
    “What happened?”
    “My father wouldn’t allow me to wait. He punished me for disobedience and cursed me. Until I produced an heir for the family, I would remain in wolf form and would only be able to shift into human form one night each month, on the full moon. Then they moved away. The entire pack. All of our farms went up for sale. But this place, this place remained cursed as I was, for it was to be my farm one day. Over the years, I watched the property and watched out for my fated. I searched for her, one night a month. But she never arrived. Until you came.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me all this before.”
    “I couldn’t. It was part of the curse. I could never reveal my identity. Only my first name. I could never tell you I was a wolf. I could never tell you why I disappeared and did not return.”
    “I waited for you,” she whispered.
    “I know.”
    “I knew from the moment we met that we were destined to be together. I’ve always known. Even when I thought maybe I was losing my mind. I had faith. What we shared, what I felt, it was the truest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
    “The first moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were her. That day in the woods when you were picking mushrooms. I saw you kneeling beside a tree trunk from between the thin branches of the underbrush. My whole body seemed to go electric with energy. I stalked you through the forest until we made eye contact. I thought I might shift then and there, but alas, I did not. From that moment forward, I knew that you were mine. I had to wait until the full moon, but then I came to you.”
    “I thought that night was a dream.”
    “I know. That is part of the curse’s magic. Because you cannot know if I am a man or a beast. You cannot know who I am. I could only come to you that way.”
    “It all makes sense now. But what about the barn? How did that happen? Was it you?”
    “On my one night as a man, I was given one supernatural act. Perhaps a side effect my father never intended. I’d learned about it over the years and had used it for many different things. But during the time I was with you, I used it to fix the barn, piece by piece.”
    “How did you know that I wanted to fix the barn?” Avery asked, her baby sleeping in her arms.
    “Because that was the project I intended to do first, as soon as I inherited the farm.”
    “And now you have. For us both.”
    “Yes, my beloved. Now we can be together on our land.”
    “What about your family? Your dad sounds like a dick.”
    “My pack left years ago, right after the curse. That was how much they wanted to shame me. But now that I am free, my debt is paid. Now I am Alpha. I can claim what is rightfully mine. I have the magic of