Alpha Beast (The Alpha Shifter Collection)

She wasn’t used to being anything other than … Jenny, the weird one, and plenty of other names besides that. This was nice. This was new.

Smiling at him, she had no idea what else to talk about.

“Do you see spirits now?” he asked.

“What? No.”

“I just … with how quiet you’ve gone, I didn’t know if you were listening to other people.”

This was so incredibly odd. “I … there’s no one here, but, er, I don’t talk about it.”

“Is that because you don’t want to, or because your dad has instructed you not to?” he asked.

“You really do think you know everything, don’t you?” She was uncomfortable by just how accurate he actually was. It was crazy for him to be so … aware of her.

“I make it my mission to know everything about everyone I have dinner with.”

She chuckled. “That’s so not romantic. My father has issues with what I can do. He doesn’t like to know about it.”

“Why?”

“That’s not something I can talk about.” What went on between her parents was between them.

“Do you ever see your mother?” he asked.

An overwhelming sadness rushed through her. “No. Out of all of my relatives, she seems to be the one who doesn’t like to talk to me.” She licked her lips that were suddenly dry. “Are you still wanting to marry me?” She needed to change the subject or go crazy. In the back of her mind, she knew she had to turn him off to the idea.

“It’s not just a matter of want, Jenny. It’s a matter of our families making the necessary arrangements.”

“Right. We all have to do what our parents want, no matter what.” She wasn’t going to get angry. “Not many men want me. I’m not exactly a desirable mate, Liam.”

“How so?”

“First of all, my uncanny way of talking to dead people, that should be an indication. I cannot turn into a wolf. There is a chance at least one of your sons or daughters, if we were to get married, would be exactly like me.”

He smiled at her. “And yet, I’m sitting here, still wondering how and why that could be a bad thing.”

“Stop it,” she said.

“No, I don’t want to stop it. Jenny, you see yourself as completely undesirable and I can’t … I don’t believe for a single second that you are. You’re beautiful. I can tell that you’re kind. If anything, I do believe you’re cursed. You’ve been completely forgotten about. I can see you and I like what I see. I want to get to know you. Is that so hard for you to accept?”

She pressed her lips together and looked down at her hands. “There are so many eligible women who would give you normal kids and an easier life. This … the dead, they don’t sleep. Sometimes they seek me out. It’s not all fun and games.” She couldn’t tell him her biggest secret. The one her father should have told him. “You do know that I’ve never been allowed to date. I’m rarely allowed out in public, and that’s if I’ve had a spirit-free few weeks. Did you know that? Did you know I’ve never been on a single date? I’ve never been allowed around anyone.”

“Are you trying to tell me that you’re a virgin?”

This made her pause and she laughed. “Wow, I’m trying to save you from being married to me and all you can think about is sex.”

“Jenny, we’re not like humans. We don’t have to save ourselves for our mate. In fact, our body, come the full moon, always needs some release.” He locked their fingers together, and the pleasure of his touch consumed her. She looked at him as she felt everything. “You see. I can feel it. I know you can, and you’ve been denied all this time. That is the greatest curse of all.”

She pulled away as the waiter came back and lowered their plates in front of them. “Have a wonderful dinner.”

Her body was on fire and it wasn’t for food. No, it was for something else. Glancing over at Liam, his gaze was on hers.

No man had touched her.

She couldn’t turn into a wolf, but she craved the full moon, and there were times she would go half-mad with needing some physical touch. It was hard, though. No one would touch her, and in the loneliness of nights, the only person to keep her company was her grandmother, who would spend her time promising everything would be okay.

She speared her pasta and held it to her lips, biting on it. Flavors exploded on her tongue, but nothing came close to what Liam had done to her.

Wanting him was selfish. She shouldn’t marry him.

Her father was an awful man for even suggesting it, but if she got him to agree to the marriage with a few conditions, it might work.