Page 17 of Alpha’s Secret Baby Girl (Nightfall Island Alphas #1)

The man who approached her wasn’t anyone she recognized.

He was tall with dark hair, light eyes, and a charming smile.

His hands rested on her hips as they started to sway on the spot, awkwardly dancing.

Gwen smiled at him, pleased with the attention.

She was aware of Kira’s disapproving glance, but it was a common thing for the Alpha’s wife to dance with other people, so maybe there was a different reason.

“You said your name was Daniel?” Gwen prompted, making sure she remembered correctly.

Daniel’s grin widened. “Yes. I’m one of the special ops your Alpha called in to help deal with the problems you’ve been having. If you want, we can go back to my place and I can tell you more.”

As far as pickup lines went, that was very obvious.

But it did trigger understanding in Gwen’s mind.

Daniel didn’t ask her to dance because he wanted to build connections with Rafael—he didn’t realize who he was dancing with.

Should she tell him? It had been a while since she’d had true male attention, at least from someone who hadn’t ripped out her heart seven years ago.

Part of her didn’t want to say anything.

If she could start a relationship with someone else, it would give Rafael a reason to let her get an early divorce.

They didn’t have any sort of infidelity clause in their prenup, which meant that it shouldn’t affect the custody agreement.

But the truth of the matter was, starting a relationship to get her freedom from this marriage wasn’t the real reason.

No, it was because her feelings were getting far too strong for Rafael, and she wanted something to put distance between them.

Cheating on him, regardless of whether this was a legitimate marriage in her mind or not, was out of the question.

“I said something wrong, didn’t I?” Daniel asked, squinting at her.

Gwen sighed. “I’m actually married. To the Alpha.”

Daniel’s eyes widened.

“We, uh, married seven years ago,” she continued, sticking to the lie. “And we haven’t actually talked in those seven years. It’s complicated. But I’m not interested in going home with anyone. I thought when you asked me to dance, it was a pack politics dance.”

She tried to phrase it as diplomatically as possible. Daniel’s eyes flicked to the side, and he nodded once.

“I understand. I apologize for the misunderstanding.” His hands lifted slightly, not sitting quite so low on her hips.

Gwen searched his face. He didn’t seem to be offended at all.

Her tense shoulders relaxed, and she smiled.

So he wasn’t the sort of guy who would blame her for leading him on.

She was about to tell him it was fine when, all of a sudden, Rafael appeared.

He clapped a heavy hand on Daniel’s shoulder.

There was a smile on his face, but his eyes were dark and glittering.

“I’m going to have to cut in. I’ve been waiting all night to dance with my lovely wife,” he said, his voice bordering on dangerous.

Daniel stepped back. “Of course, Alpha.”

Rafael’s hands replaced Daniel’s on Gwen’s hips, then moved lower, cupping around her ass in a way that was entirely inappropriate for a public setting.

His gaze locked onto her as they started swaying.

Gwen suddenly found she didn’t know what to do with her hands.

Put them on his arms? His shoulders? Or, as her fingers itched to do, twine them into the little hairs at the back of his neck and scrape her nails along his scalp to make him shudder against her?

“You looked like you were having fun,” Rafael said, his voice laced with jealousy.

Gwen huffed in annoyance. And she was annoyed, no matter what her body was trying to tell her. “I was until you ruined it.”

Rafael’s grip tightened. “Gwen—”

The song ended, and she twisted out of his grasp. “I should go see Kira.”

His mouth pressed tightly together, but Gwen ignored him.

As she threaded through the crowd, the more her annoyance grew.

So all it took was one innocent dance for Rafael to start muscling his way in again, huh?

He’d been so calm and friendly lately that she had started to wonder if maybe the whole ‘we have to get married by the way I took your boat and I’m bringing all your stuff here without asking‘ thing could be an outlier.

She wanted it to be an outlier, wanted to see things through rose-colored glasses.

It was all too easy for her to forget the truth of everything here.

Even now, moments after she was trying to think of ways to get out of the marriage early, she was ready to fall right back into Rafael’s charms. If her wolf were stronger, she might think that this was some sort of mate-bond, but it had been made clear to her from her first shift that a wolf as weak as hers would never be worthy of a mate.

By the time she found Kira, her mood was well and truly dead. She made excuses about being tired to excuse herself from the party. Kira hesitantly decided to stay at the party, and Gwen saw her glancing in Joshua and Michael’s direction, though she wasn’t sure which one she was looking at.

Gwen slipped away and started walking home, turning her face to the dark sky. Before she could start calming her thrumming pulse, though, footsteps started behind her. She turned and glared at Rafael fell into step beside her.

“I don’t need an escort,” she said.

“After that display in the hall, I’m sure I’d disagree,” Rafael answered.

Gwen narrowed her eyes. “Possessiveness isn’t a good look on you.”

“Is it possessive not to want to watch my wife flirting with someone?”

“I wasn’t flirting.”

Rafael grunted. “His hands were all over you.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “So what? I owe you nothing. You’re forgetting that I never wanted to marry you in the first place, Rafael.

I still don’t understand why you even wanted to marry me.

My wolf is weak, and nobody likes me. You should go back to your duties as leader of the pack and find someone who is good enough to be your mate. ”

“Unless she looks exactly like you, smells exactly like you, walks and talks and thinks and drives me crazy exactly like you, she’d never be good enough,” Rafael shot back.

Gwen’s hands clenched into fists. She wished she had worn flats instead of her kitten heels. She could walk faster that way. “That doesn’t even make any sense!”

“What doesn’t make sense?” Rafael shot back. “The fact that you are absolute the perfect woman for me? More than good enough?”

“Tell that to the pack,” Gwen spat, unwilling to respond to what he was really saying.

Her heartbeat increased again, traitorously yearning to get him to stay it again and again until she believed it.

How could he really think that she was good enough to stand at his side?

Sure, he lusted for her. Sure, he married her.

But that didn’t have anything to do with anything except for lust, and the marriage was purely because he didn’t want people insulting his daughter.

That didn’t mean that he wanted Gwen for the sake of her being… her.

“I will tell the pack,” Rafael countered, his tone growing more annoyed. “You think that I want them to talk behind your back like they do?”

“You care because them talking about your wife that way is a strike against your authority as Alpha.”

Rafael growled softly. “Are you being contrary on purpose? Are you trying to piss me off?”

Gwen clamped her jaw tight and refused to engage.

“Talk to me,” Rafael demanded. He reached for her arm, but she pulled herself free.

“You wanted me to be married to you to protect Lianne from people looking down at her for being born out of wedlock. But what you’re forgetting is that I’m me, Rafael.

” She didn’t look at him as the words tripped off her tongue.

“I’m the witch-girl with the weak wolf. I’m the freak nobody wanted anything to do with, who was looked down on all her life.

And now you’re asking the pack to accept me? ”

Rafael growled aloud. “They should accept you.”

“Why? Because I’m your wife?”

“Because you’re a member of this pack! And anyone who treats you differently for things you can’t even control is stuck in the toxic quagmire my father created in this pack.

You think that I’ve been working to change things around for the hell of it?

” He outpaced her to turn and walk backward, seeking her eye contact.

“I wanted to make this town better. It wasn’t about my ego.

I wanted to make sure that no other kid would go through the same thing you did.

I wanted to make it better for you if you ever came back. ”

Gwen’s heart stuttered. Her pace slowed as she searched Rafael’s face. He spoke so passionately, so genuinely. Did he really think that?

“I…” she started, faltering. What was she supposed to say?

Rafael reached out. He didn’t touch her, but the movement made her stop all the same.

His eyes remained on hers. The streetlight was behind his head, casting his face in shadow while lighting hers.

Gwen wished that it were the opposite. She felt utterly exposed here, all her thoughts and feelings clear for him to read and do with as he wanted, and yet she was getting nothing but his words in return.

Words lied. Words hurt. Words twisted everything into shapes she couldn’t recognize.

“Gwen,” he breathed, moving closer. “Don’t shut me out.”

Gwen pulled in a deep breath through her mouth to avoid bringing the scent of him into her lungs. She made herself look away, her shoulders tensing as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I can’t talk about this right now. I told you I don’t want to live here.”

“I’ve done so much work—”

“That doesn’t change how I feel about this place.

It doesn’t change everything I’ve gone through.

” She took another deep breath and lowered her voice.

“It doesn’t change that you still knew the pack would look down on Lianne because of how she was born.

You’ve made changes, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe for me or my daughter. ”

Rafael didn’t argue. Gwen started walking again, fighting herself.

They were quiet as they got back home. Chelsey was reading on the couch and looked up in surprise when they came in.

Gwen thanked her for looking after Lianne, and Rafael called a cab to drive her home.

The demon hadn’t been seen in town, but it was better not to take a chance.

Once she was gone, Gwen took a moment to calm herself, trying to ignore the way Rafael continued to stare at her.

He hadn’t taken his eyes off her, and she knew he had more he wanted to say.

She wanted to derail the conversation, to bring it back to Daniel, but Rafael’s reaction to him was only a symptom of the problem.

“I told you that we can’t do anything,” she said finally. “There’s a reason I’m putting these boundaries into place, Rafael. There’s a reason—”

“Yes. You have many reasons,” Rafael interrupted.

Gwen swallowed hard at his gravelly tone. It was the same tone he’d used seven years ago just before…

He stepped closer to her, lifting one hand to lightly brush his fingertips against her cheek. “Do you really want those boundaries tonight? We’ve both been under stress. I know that you want me. Can’t it just be sex?”

“No,” Gwen whispered. It would never be ‘just sex’ with Rafael.

He started to say something, but he stopped suddenly and turned. Moments later, Gwen heard the soft patter of feet. Lianne trotted into the living room, wearing her unicorn PJs.

Upon seeing them, she gave a sleepy smile. “Hi, Mommy. Can Raf-el read me a bedtime story?”