The Alpha's Curse (Wolf Shifter Pregnancy Romance) by Scarlett Grove Read Free Book Online

she’d done.
    The next morning, she drove to the doctor. Waiting in the waiting room with all the women’s magazines and body charts, she felt a little nervous. She hoped her baby was healthy. Her child had become a part of her dream. Over the last few months, she’d started coming up with baby names.
    After her exam, her doctor sat down to talk with her.
    “Your baby’s heart is exceptionally strong,” the doctor told her.
    “What do you mean? Is it healthy?” she asked.
    “It sounds perfectly healthy. More than healthy.”
    Her child was Lucien’s baby. She had no idea what or who he was. Her experience told her he was more than a man. He was something larger than life that took courage and faith to believe in. She believed in him, and she believed in his child.
    Avery left the doctor’s office with an appointment to see her baby in a sonogram. She couldn’t wait. She wanted to know if it was a boy or a girl.
    Would it be Brandon or Lily?
    Terrance or Fiona?
    She wanted to start buying things for the nursery, but knew it was too soon.
    When she got home, she decided it was time to put her young chickens into their own coops. She’d gotten attached to them, and had let them stay inside the house for too long. Now that the coop was ready and the weather had warmed, they would be more than fine.
    She thought of the story the horse rancher had told her about his chickens. He’d said the wolf had raided his chicken coop. Would the wolf do that to her chickens?
    Was the wolf really Lucien?
    She knew Lucien would never hurt her chickens.
    Nevertheless, it was time to let her babies out of the nest. She took them out to the newly constructed coop she’d made from a design she’d built before. She put a warming bulb in there just in case the chickens got cold the first few nights. The young chickens hopped onto the straw floor, looking quite happy to be in there.
    She watched them for a while then closed the door. It was a secure pen, not too far from the house. As she walked out to the fields to continue her work, she thought about what the future would be like if Lucien never came back. Could she really raise this baby alone and run her farm? She didn’t know if she could.
    Part of her was terrified she was going insane. Most people would not believe that any of this was true, but for Avery, it was the truest thing that had ever happened. She knew it in her heart or hearts.
    Maybe it was all the fairy tales or new age books she’d read, but she believed in the magic of true love. She believed in the soul and that there was one true mate for everybody out there. Lucien made her feel it all. With him, she knew it was true. Down to her core.
    That didn’t stop her from wondering if she was being reasonable, considering she couldn’t talk to anyone about it.

8
    T he weeks passed and Avery worked and missed her lover. She couldn’t stand waiting to see him again. Three months after the first time they’d first met, Avery swayed in front of a campfire, looking into the dark sky. Clouds unfurled around the moon, casting the world in a dusky gray glow.
    Avery wrapped herself in a long sweater. The warmth of the fire radiated over her bare legs. She sipped a cup of hot cocoa and watched the fire spark, melancholy for her lover. A twig snapped in the distance and Avery looked up. Out of the dim grayness walked Lucien, dressed in black.
    He came to her and cupped her face in his hands. His eyes caught the firelight when he leaned in to kiss her. Avery tilted her head back, ready to surrender to his touch. She’d missed him so much. The well of love overflowed and tears flooded down her face.
    “My dearest, don’t cry,” he soothed.
    “I’ve missed you so much,” she said, nearly sobbing.
    He kissed away her tears, one after the other, holding her face in his hands. He kissed her forehead. Avery grasped his wrists. She’d been feeling more and more aroused lately, despite her loneliness. With Lucien here,