All Chapters of Captured by the Alpha King : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Ready?”I glance up from the mirror. Staring at myself isn’t going to fix any of the myriad flaws I suddenly find with my appearance, which has been impeccably styled by a gaggle of strangers who brushed and blushed and zipped and tucked me into the regal woman in my reflection.Clare stands at the door, looking more like a queen than I ever will. She wears a gown with a similar cut to mine, a faux-Tudor look with heavy brocade trumpet sleeves and a tight bodice with a low, square neck. My skirt is a little fuller than hers, and mine is white and gold whereas hers is pale yellow; when we walk out of my sitting room—currently a staging area for all the preparation thawhereasas wemakesereaswe make a swishing sound.“I’m nervous,” I whisper as if it’s not a foregone conclusion.Clare, always the more practical of my two sisters, advises, “Don’t let them see it.”The lack of comfort is oddly comforting.In the entry hall of the residence, we’re joined by a retinue of thrall guards, and Ta

I don’t help Owen find out “if it still works” that night, but a nagging voice in my head tells me that if I don’t, Amber will.I’m not sure if I believe him when he says they don’t go all the way. His logic makes sense; birth control isn’t a guarantee with werewolves. Plus, as king, he definitely wouldn’t want to endanger the future claims of our heirs.And if he did, he got the former queen pregnant…As Henry VIII is, I have to get pregnant before she does.So, I send Owen a message the next morning stating that if he can walk from his bed to mine, we can find out “if it still works.”During the day, the only thing I’m focused on, though, is actual work. While Owen might believe he’s going to dive back into running both packs, there are too many things I’ve started that I need to finish. Namely, an integrated council between the packs. I know that people in Toronto, maybe even people in the Greater London pack won’t like it, but keeping the two packs operating separately won’t work

I don’t let myself malinger. As soon as I can convince the doctors to get the IVs out of me and the pain meds lowered enough to be that I can walk without swaying, I’m back in my office.Li Xiao doesn’t like my office. I can tell on the first day because she paces until it freaks me out.“I know this is a weird thing to say since I did just have my hand bitten off by a werewolf, but maybe you could dial the hypervigilance back a notch,” I say, frowning down at my handwriting. It’s horrible. The guy took off my right hand, also my dominant hand. I should have thought of that before firing on with the fork. Now, I have to try to learn how to write legibly with the left.There’s a knock on the door; it’s Hannah, we can both tell from the pattern. I nod, and Li Xiao unlocks the door, hand on the taser at her hip just in case.“What are you doing?” Hannah asks, nodding toward the paper on the desk.“Practicing.” I push the scribbles away and drop the pen.“You could always just type,” sh

Tara comes to see me while I’m still changing out of my gown. She bursts into my dressing room and virtually pushes Hannah down to get to me.I hold my injured arm out of the way, so she won’t accidentally bang into it when she collides with me and dresses me in a strong hug.“What happened to you?” she cries against my hair.How does she not know? It’s the whole reason she was—and Clare still is—under lock and key. “Nothing told you what was going on?”Tara steps back, shaking her head, eyes fixed on where my hand should be. “They said the king ordered a further examination of our husbands’ plot. What happened to your hand?”“An assassin bit it off,” I say, more concerned with what was going on while I regained. Especially since Tara goes pale, clearly receiving this information for the very first time. “You had no idea I was attacked?”“No! And I don’t understand…how did an assassin bite your hand off?” She still can’t take her eyes off my bandaged stump. “How could anyone possibly—

I laugh in Owen’s face.“I’m not joking.” He laughs, but not in disbelief. He’s overjoyed.“Right.” I’m not falling for it. “You can’t possibly tell that from some pussy juice.”He arches an eyebrow. “I’m more than willing to check again.”I smack his shoulder. “Be serious!”“I am being serious. Ella, I know you inside and out, physically. You smell different, you taste different,” he holds up his hands to demonstrate his helplessness. “I wouldn’t joke about something I want so badly.”That’s a good point. Owen does want an heir. It doesn’t seem like something he would joke about.But I can’t get my head around it. Not just the part where he can tell from the way I taste, but the fact that he noticed before I did. That he noticed something the thralls didn’t even notice.“They did surgery on me, though. They must have tested me.”“It would have been too soon to tell,” he reminds me. “You were fired on the morning after the last time we had sex.”He’s right. That would have been way to