The Alpha's Curse (Wolf Shifter Pregnancy Romance) by Scarlett Grove Page A

told me she’d stop by your place tomorrow on her way to Portland.
    Valerie added her friend’s phone number and name so Avery could get a hold of the healer if she wanted to cancel or arrange a time.
    She didn’t want to reject Valerie’s kindness, but the way things were going, Avery really didn’t know if she wanted to talk to anyone about it. Even a “healer” might think she was insane if she told her the truth. There was only so far that most people’s minds were willing to go before they thought something was just bonkers.
    Still, Avery knew she could use someone to talk to. Maybe it would be easier to talk to this woman. She’d known Valerie a long time. She looked up to her. She almost idolized her. That made it all the more difficult for Avery to open up to Valerie about this kind of thing.
    Maybe Margaret would be exactly the ear she needed to share her troubles with. She hoped so. So, using the Wi-Fi to connect her cell phone, she sent a text to the number Valerie had left for Margaret.
    I’m looking forward to seeing you tomorrow whenever you can make it.
    A few moments later, a message pinged back on her phone.
    Looking forward to meeting you too. Valerie has told me a lot about your situation. I hope I can help.
    One thing Valerie didn’t know was that Avery was pregnant and the father was a phantom, a phantom who she could swear was also a wolf.
    Avery had only seen the wolf a handful of times since Lucien was shot. Each time he would come to the edge of her land and watch her from afar, then disappear into the underbrush without a sound.
    Avery knew that Lucien was the wolf, but she could never tell anyone else about that. Not Valerie, not Margaret, and certainly not her family. But she’d let Margaret do whatever healing techniques she knew and then be on her merry way. It couldn’t hurt anything.
    The next morning, Avery waited for Margaret to arrive while harvesting her crop for the farmer’s market. As the sun reached its zenith, Avery heard a car rumble to a stop in her gravel driveway. She hurried around the house to see a short, plump, Hispanic looking woman emerge from a beat up old Honda.
    Margaret flashed with colorful fabrics and the light that reflected off the dangling silver jewelry she wore. The woman strode forward and swept Avery into a big hug before Avery knew what was happening. Margaret seemed ageless. From what Avery could tell from her embrace, she was surely quite strong.
    When Margaret let her go, her eyes glinted in the noonday sun. She squinted at Avery and smiled.
    “I can see why Valerie sent me to see you,” she said.
    “Why?”
    “These are things to discuss over tea and cookies. I brought the cookies.”
    Avery led Margaret into the house and made a pot of tea before sitting down with the older woman at the kitchen table. A plate of freshly baked lemon shortbread sat between them. Margaret took a sip of tea from her mug and squinted at Avery again.
    “I haven’t seen this kind of thing in a long time,” Margaret said.
    “What?”
    “You’ve got shadows around you but they aren’t dark.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “The baby is due in the fall. But will he be here then?” Margaret said.
    Avery hadn’t told anyone about the baby except her doctor. She stiffened, staring at Margaret’s cryptic expression. What else could this woman see?
    “When will he come?” Avery whispered.
    “The shadows are dark around him. Deep darkness. It keeps him hidden from view. Only the moonlight can chase away the shadows.”
    “That’s when he comes. During the full moon.”
    She might as well spill the beans now. Margaret was further out there than Avery even was. Margaret could see it all. Maybe she could make sense of it.
    “The wolf howls in the woods at night, but the shadows keep him.”
    “What shadows?”
    Margaret gripped Avery’s hand and her eyes went blank as she stared into space. Her fingers curled around Avery’s wrist, biting and cutting off