Page 70 of Sold to Three Alpha Kings

I like the progress we’re all making, and personally, I think I’m starting to fall in love with her. Okay, scratch that part. I have fallen deeply in love with this woman, and I’m over the moon.

I think about her all the time. The way her eyes crinkle at the corners when she smiles. The way she tucks her hair back when she’s thinking. The sound she makes when something surprises her into real laughter. Everything about her is just amazing.

We’ve been intimate with her twice now, and thankfully, she didn’t pull away after the second time. It was more intense, and the scene is still fresh in my mind like it happened last night.

It’s clear to me that I don’t want any other woman. She has everything I’ve ever wanted in a mate. Beauty. Brians. Charisma. Charms. A warm personality. And a body I’ll spend the rest of my days adoring, worshipping.

She’s a goddess made flesh, and I’m head over heels in love with her.

Weeks pass since the resthouse. Easy weeks, mostly. Charlize laughs more now. She seeks us out instead of waiting to be sought. Small things, but they matter more than anything the elders could demand of us.

A few moons ago she was a stranger pulled off a trader’s cart, drugged and terrified and furious at a world that had never once been kind to her.

Today, she’s the center of everything the three of us orbit around. And I don’t know how to explain that shift except to say it happened slowly, then all at once.

I find her in the garden most afternoons, sometimes reading, sometimes just sitting with her face turned toward the sun, basking in its warm glow.

I sit with her when I can. She leans into me now without hesitation, and every time it happens I feel something settle further into place.

“You’re staring again,” she tells me one such afternoon, not looking up from her book.

“I like looking at you.” My voice is smooth.

She looks up at me. “Why?”

“Because you’re beautiful.”

Her cheeks flush, and a radiant smile plays on her lips. She lowers her head, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Okay, you need to stop making me blush all the time.”

“I hear it’s good for your health,” I tease, smiling.

“Really?” Her eyebrows rise. “I didn’t know you were such an expert in health issues now, Sinth.”

We both chuckle quietly, either of us looking away.

My heart swells with affection just by holding her gaze.

***

One random morning, while the other two Kings and I are addressing some land disputes between two farmers, one of our most trusted guards walks into the throne room.

“My lords.” His voice is loud, drawing our attention. “Pardon the interruption.” He halts before the throne, a hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

The farmers step aside in silence. This is obviously more important than their little quarrel.

“Speak, Hansel,” Chris says to him.

“There’s a family of three at the palace gate. They say they’re Lady Charlize’s family.”

Something cold settles in my stomach.

“Her family?” Wayne asks. “You’re certain?”

“It’s what they claim to be, my lord,” Hansel answers. “They say they’re her father, mother, and brother.”

My fingers clench into fists as I recall the stories Charlize has told us about how they’ve treated her her whole life.

They must have heard the news that she’s our fated mate and are here to introduce themselves and claim what they clearly don’t deserve.