The Alpha King's Human Mate by HC Dolores

The Alpha King’s Human Mate

Chapter 71

Chapter 71

“Romantic love is an addiction. A perfectly wonderful addiction when

it’s going well, a perfectly horrible addiction when it’s going poorly.” )

Helen Fisher

The hollow feeling in my chest never dissipated.

If anything, it only seemed to get worse the farther Griffin got from me. Every time that I thought about him – which was

quite a lot – the claiming bite on my shoulder pulsed. Like it yearned for Griffin’s touch.

Deep down, I knew it was the mate bond making me feel this way. It had to be. As little attention as I paid in my werewolf

education classes, I’d remembered that. Once you completed the mate bond, it became stronger. It got harder to spend

time apart.

But hearing about in a classroom couldn’t compare to how it actually felt. As cheesy as it sounded, it felt like Griffin had

packed my heart into his suitcase. \”)

And even thinking that felt embarrassing.

Even with the mate bond, I’d hardly known Griffin more than a month. Amonth – that’s all the time it had taken for him

to burrow his way Chapter 71

into my soul like he’d always lived there.

You survived eighteen years without Griffin, surely you can stand another month.

So much for wanting to be independent.

The worst part was the nightmares that started a couple of days after Griffin left.

I dreamed of Alpha Liam and Griffin in a stand-off, like one of those old Western movies. Instead of guns, their claws were

unsheathed.

I always woke up at the same part ~ right when Liam sliced Griffin’s head clean off his body. I usually woke up gasping in

a cold sweat too, and it would take me a moment to realize that the dreams weren’t reality. That was Griffin was still alive,

and had he died, | would’ve known. Not only would the castle be in an uproar, but I was sure that I would’ve felt it

through the mate bond.

Suffice to say, I wasn’t sleeping that well these days. There wasn’t even a reliable way for me to contact Griffin either. He’d be traveling, meeting with Beta Williams, and possibly walking into a fight. That didn’t leave a lot of time for casual

texting, although it’s not as if I had a phone to text him on.

phone is still sitting cracked on the pavement of Yorba

anxiety of Griffin’s absence. I knew that moping around would only make the

I threw myself into one of the few distractions | had: training

criticism kept

you can’t seem to land a punch today?” Ivan asked,

even though my hits hardly seemed to move it anyway. “You look like you’re

too.”

him, Ivan’s comfort level with me seemed to dramatically

tattle to Griffin every time he offered a little

I feel like I’m half-asleep,” I

“Are the king’s quarters not

tone was sarcastic, but I’d learned that

I didn’t mind it these days. He was about the only person currently in

me, afraid they’d offend their

I rolled my eyes, “It’s

“What is ii

right?” Ivan’s

separated before?” I asked, “Like, for a week

I was going

prime, I occasionally went on missions to settle pack disputes. I had to

you

remembering something awful. “It is… not

the mate.

you ever have…nightmares?” I asked. I wasn’t sure

just felt like I was

it looked like pity. Or, at least, the

my mate dying in odd ways,” Ivan confessed, a pained look in his eye, “Sometimes

in Chapter

a mundane way, like of a heart

me. Is this just a mate

haunting nightmares being part

the mate bond.

long nights,” Ivan continued, “But eventually, I found the

“The source?”

explained, “It’s the bond’s way of trying to

won’t want to leave your mate’s

was silent for a moment and then he asked, “What is

but he’d been truthful to me. I

Alpha Liam and losing,” I said, “Getting killed.” When Ivan didn’t

talking. Every anxiety

spilled out of me. “I know that it probably wouldn’t happen. That

Alpha Chapter

victor. But it still keeps me up at night. The scene replays like a constant loop in

head.”

mate bond,” he said, “The moments together are

all the more

call that withdrawal, which isn’t usually a

love is heavily skewed,” Ivan sneered,

what you want, but I can tell you that most

a business trip. Human love is very different from the

most humans like being independent. They don’t feel the overwhelming need to be