Alpha's Strength (Fallen Alpha) Read Online Free

dizzy for a few hours, but other than that, nothing ever seemed to linger.
    A doctor had once called her an anomaly. Or maybe her father had made up that story. Not that she recalled seeing doctors during her childhood. Now, at least, she understood why.
    He turned on the sink. “Put your hand under the water.”
    She could have told him she wasn’t burned. She’d been bleeding, but she’d long since learned there was absolutely no point in disagreeing with Nathan on anything. She stuck her finger under the cold water and tried not to wince when Nathan moved close to her ear and whispered in it.
    “I think your attention is not where it is supposed to be today.”
    She swallowed. “You’re right.”
    “I think you were bothered by that stranger in the coffee shop. I think he made you feel things, inappropriate things that you shouldn’t be thinking about. I think that’s why you cut yourself.”
    His voice was no more than a hiss, but she shuddered from the sick, creepy, crawling feeling that travelled up her spine—everything inside of her rebelled against Nathan touching her. She wanted to pull free. Standing by the sink with Nathan pressed against her and her hand stuck under the water was the hardest it had ever been to endure his presence. What had changed? It had to be her encounter in Starbucks. What else could have suddenly made Nathan so repugnant?
    “It won’t happen again.” She fisted her hand under the water. It would be so easy to claw out his eyes. Betsy bit down on her lip. Where did those thoughts even come from?
    “That’s right, it won’t. Do I need to remind you what my daddy will do to your daddy if I don’t tell him each and every day that you are obeying my ever wish?” Nathan ran his hand down the side of her face. “Do I need to remind you what they did? How they were selling babies? Taking them from their mamas and selling them to God knows who? Do you even know how disgusting that is?”
    She did, actually. Her body shook like it always did when they had this discussion. She could still see the scene she’d encountered in the basement. The way the baby her mother had held had cried. Her mother’s stuttering response to where the child had come from…the guilt in the other woman’s eyes, and the ugly sound of Nathan’s father’s footsteps as he tore into the house. Why had she thought her parents needed a soundproof basement to make moonshine? All the lies, all the years.
    “Do you want them dead? Or in jail? They’re only being kept alive because of you.”
    She opened her eyes and relaxed her jaw. “No. Please don’t harm them.”
    Even though some days—when she felt disloyal—she did want them in jail. Her parents deserved to be put away. But how could she allow herself to feel that way? They’d raised her, and she hadn’t been easy with all the stuff she’d pulled. And when her sexual needs had started…
    Her parents had to find money some way to pay off the police from the time she’d broken into the mill, her father had explained. The whole thing was really her fault. Maybe if she had moved out when she’d turned eighteen? But then how could her mother have managed the house without her? And, besides, she had loved her parents. For their faults, they’d kept a roof over head and food in her stomach. Even when the incidents had happened, they hadn’t seemed particularly upset.
    “I have been patient waiting for the toxins of those other men to leave your system. Soon, after we say ‘I do,’ you’ll belong to me. And then vengeance is mine if you even think of another man.”
    “I…”
    The front door flew open. She heard the sound of it crashing into the table next to the door. Someone would really have to bang it hard to hit like that.
    “What the…?” Nathan let go of her and stepped back, his eyes getting huge. “There’s a wolf in the house.” He screamed like a woman, and she whirled around, the sharp, loud noise drowning all other sound