bChapter /bb191 /b

    Alexander

    I couldn’t concentrate on a damn thing.

    My coronation was just days away, and there was so much to do. Event preparations, transition

    documents, letters and emails and meeting after meeting. I wasn’t going to be getting much sleep for the foreseeable future, and I knew I would have to buckle down and focus if I was going to be mentally

    present for any of it.

    But every time I tried to focus on anything of the smallest importance, my mind drifted back tost night.

    To E. To the feeling of her body beneath mine and her head thrown back and her hair cascading over

    this very desk that I was now sitting behind.

    We’d made love once. Twice. Three times. First here, right on this desk, then on the sofa across the room,

    and then in bed. I would have done it again had we not both passed out from exhaustionst night, tangled up together beneath the sheets.

    Fuck. I scrubbed my hands over my face and tried again to read the same paragraph I’d been staring at

    for the past ten minutes. Something about import tariffs on agricultural goods. Important stuff. Alpha

    King stuff.

    And yet my wolf stirred restlessly, wanting nothing more than to abandon this paperwork and go find

    our mate.

    But the coronation was in three days. I had just three days to prepare for the biggest responsibility I’d

    ever taken on, and I was sitting here like some lovesick teenager who couldn’t think past his cock.

    So I forced myself to pick up the next document, which was security protocols for the ceremony. This one I actually needed to pay attention to, considering how many important people would be in attendance.

    Any one of them could be a target, or worse, a threat.

    A knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Gabriel entering with that look on

    his face that told me everything I needed to know.

    I tried not to smirk at the thought of E’s pillow hitting him square in the face.

    When she’d done that this morning… I couldn’t help it. I’dughed so hard that my chest had nearly burst with it. I liked that fiery side of her, the way she always gave Gabriel a run for his money even though I knew he was mostly just trying to help me as my Beta.

    “We need to talk,” Gabriel said, closing the door behind him and taking a seat across from my desk.

    I set down the security briefing and leaned back in my chair. “Go ahead. Judge me all you want.”

    “dly. You spent the night fucking the woman we’re investigating for treason.” Gabriel’s lip curled,

    revealing a sneer that spoke volumes of his hatred for E. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that isb?/bb” /b

    My jaw clenched, but I didn’t answer.

    “You’re about to be Alpha King, and you’re letting sex get in the way of your goals,” Gabriel went on.” What if she’s using her body to manipte you? What if everything that happenedst night was just another part of her family’s n?”

    He was right, of course. I hated that he was.

    “I’ll give her credit where credit is due; she’s a smart woman who knows exactly how to use the mate

    bond to her advantage.” He stood with a huff and crossed over to the nearby window, looking out over the

    mansion grounds. “But Alexander, I know you’re smarter. I’m appalled that you’re letting her manipte

    you.”

    “The pregnancy changed things,” I muttered.

    “The pregnancy gave her leverage,i” /iGabriel corrected me. “She runs around iming to be dying, gets pregnant at just the right moment, and convinces you to mark her. And now, right when you win the election and gain ess to state secrets, she’s in your bed again.”

    The timing was suspicious. Even I had to admit that.

    “Alexander, as your Beta and friend, I implore you to maintain some emotional distance until we know for certain whose side she’s really on.” Gabriel’s expression softened slightly. “I’m not trying to judge you. Mate bonds are strong, especially when one’s mate is pregnant. I get it. But you have to be logical about

    this.b” /b