Sold to the Alpha (Alma Venus Shifter Brides 1)

“Of course, why would he? Though it’s stupid, don’t you think? I understand why he wouldn’t tell me about the ex-bride he’s been keeping locked up in the dungeons, but why would he lie to you?”

“I’ve stopped trying to understand why he does the things he does. He seemed a bit off. You’re not giving yourself away, are you?”

“No.” Avelyn thought for a moment. “At least I think I’m not.”

“How are things going between you two?” When Avelyn didn’t answer, Sabine added: “It’s okay, you can tell me. Five years in here have been enough for me to get over him. There’s no way you could hurt me or make me feel jealous, trust me. I want nothing from him anymore. Well, except for my freedom. But he’s not going to be the one to give me that.”

Avelyn sighed. Oh, how she wished Delyse or Claudia were here. Even Amelia. She missed Amelia and her no-nonsense attitude. Yes, she could trust someone like Amelia, someone who would listen without interrupting her and then give her an honest, impartial opinion.

“Things are going fine. He’s always nice to me, gentle and attentive. I’ve tried not to change my behavior towards him since the Seed Moon, and I think I’m handling it well. Too well sometimes. I…” She rubbed her temples and combed her hair with her fingers a couple of times. “I can’t wrap my mind around this. I just can’t. When I’m with him, I lose sight of what I’m really here for. I think I’m having a mental breakdown. And last evening, Karl was so sweet. Even Jocelyn had moments when she treated me like I was a human being, not some kind of vermin. I felt like…” She banged her head against the door, startling Sabine. “I felt like I could belong here.”

Sabine changed her position on the other side to face the door. “No, don’t say that. Don’t fall into this trap. It’s exactly what I did, and look where it got me.”

“I know, Sabine. I’m sorry. But, try to put yourself in my position.”

“I’ve been in your position.”

“Have you? You keep saying that Max locked you up because he got tired of you, but what does that even mean? Sure, sometimes relationships don’t work and then there’s the routine, but people don’t go to such extremes.”

“Are you saying that you don’t believe me?” Sabine’s voice sounded sad and defeated.

“No, God no! I’m saying that it would be really helpful if you gave me more details. I know that talking about these things hurts, but try to see it from my perspective. There’s so much I don’t know. I’m working with scattered pieces of information here. How am I supposed to make the right decision?”

“You’ve already made the right decision. Are you backing down? Are you thinking of staying and risking both your freedom and mine?”

“No.”

“Do you really want to know why he did this to me? Okay then. As much as it pains me, I’ll tell you.”

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I don’t want to force you…”

“I couldn’t get pregnant. I couldn’t offer him children. There. We’ve tried and tried, but it just wasn’t happening, and it made him look bad. An Alpha who could not impregnate a human bride could lose the respect of his entire pack. He couldn’t just let me go either, because I knew too much about Clan Blac

kmane. I had become the disgrace of his pack, and I was projecting it on him as well. When Jocelyn and Karl told him he had to get rid of me, Max refused at first, but then Kevin told him what the Crescents had started whispering behind his back, and that did it. Defying everyone would have meant losing authority over all his wolves. It was either my freedom or his position as the main Alpha of Clan Blackmane. He chose his position.”

“Bastard.”

“You know what? At first, I didn’t even hold it against him. I was too blinded by love, and I thought there was still a chance I could give him a child. He slept here every night, so all we had to do was keep trying. Once I would have gotten pregnant, he would have taken me back among his wolves and we’d have had a fresh start. After one month, however, he stopped coming. He’d only have breakfast or lunch with me, but… he didn’t want to try anymore. I thought it was just a phase and he’d get over it, eventually. He couldn’t just leave me here, forget about me, and go on with his life, could he? He visited less and less, didn’t spend more than half an hour with me, and sometimes I didn’t see him for weeks.”

Those last words came out choked, and Avelyn knew Sabine had started crying. She would have done anything to be able to break through that stupid door and hold her friend.

“You must think I was a fool. You’d be right, too…”

“No, no…”

“I was a fool, I know that now.” Sabine sniffed her nose and tried to control the tremble in her voice. “Don’t make the same mistake. Don’t be the fool who gives her heart to him on a silver plate and lets him do whatever he wants with it. He doesn’t love you, Avelyn. All he wants is an heir. As far as I can tell, you’ve no intention of giving him that. It’s just a matter of time until he figures it out and does to you exactly what he did to me. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re smarter than him, or that he’ll ever choose you over his wolves.”

There was silence for two long minutes. Avelyn tried to assimilate what Sabine had just told her and rearrange it in her mind according to what she already knew. Something didn’t add up. But what could it be? Maybe she was just being paranoid.

“If this is what really happened, then why did you tell me he had gotten bored of you?”

“Because he did.”

“No. As I see it, he locked you in this room because you couldn’t give him children and his pack didn’t like it. That’s a whole different thing.”

“I would have been fine with that if only he had kept coming.”

“You would have been fine with him making you a prisoner if he had just visited you every day?” Avelyn couldn’t believe her ears.