Married To My Husband’s Brother (The Alpha King)

Make it official

Ryker’s P.O.V

“The wedding with Lucinda wouldn’t hold—” the room dropped dead in silence. I sauntered towards dad, ignoring Lucinda’s slow panicked breathing as I set the marriage license with Ariella in front of him, casually flashing a smile at mum who touched my arm, her eyes pleading for clarity.

“—because I got married to the woman who stole my heart at first glance. My wife, Ariella, and she is pregnant with my child,”

The glass bowl of cantaloupe that Lucinda carried dropped from her hand with a sharp thud, the pieces scattering across the ground, at the same time a shocked gasp ripped from Mom’s mouth.

I didn’t look at Lucinda.

I didn’t want to see that pathetic look in her eyes as I turned to Ariella who fidgeted with her fingers, her muscles tensed and she looked like she was rethinking everything. Her decision. But it was too late. She was now mine.

“Oh goodness—” mum whispered.

“Is this a joke?” Lucinda blurted while I swung my head to her.

Her bottom lip wobbled, and her blue eyes glossed with tears. “Tell me it is one of those jokes,” she choked out a whisper. “You wouldn’t do this to me. Our engagement party is scheduled for next weekend, our wedding follows the other week, and—”

“Does this still look like one?” My hand circled Ariella’s small waist, a small gasp leaving her mouth, her eyes bulging wide with shock as I gripped her cheek and crushed my lips on hers.

Her hand flattened on my chest, slowly bunching it as I angled her head, and deepened the kiss.

I could feel dad’s burning gaze on my cheeks, could hear the tiny sobs that broke out of Luncinda’s mouth.

This was going exactly as planned.

I pulled away from the kiss, a deep growl rumbling from my chest. Ariella’s cheeks flushed red, her eyes fluttering to mine.

Lucinda’s voice broke through the tension brewing between us as she snagged her green coat draped over the chair and grabbed her purse. “I am sorry…” she sniffled, avoiding eye contact with me. “But I have to leave. I just remembered that I have an appointment with a client…” tears cascaded down her cheeks as she rushed out of the dining room.

Mum pushed her chair back. “Luncinda. Darling, please wait,” she shouted but not without casting a welcome look at Ariella.

She was easy.

The only problem was that Dad slammed his fist on the table, and Ariella almost flew from the thud. One look at him and his eyes had darkened with fury. “I am disappointed in you. Meet me in the home office…” he walked past me. “Now!”

The moment he left through the door, Ariella released a long breath, her chest rising and falling. “Do you think they believed us?”

I cupped her face, brushing the strands of hair that clung to her cheeks. “Not exactly but you did a good job in showing that we are married couples in love,”

Panic flared in her eyes. “Are you sure? What if they find out that…”

I latched my fingers around her arm, pulling her to my chest as I whispered. “Shh!”

“Don’t say a word. Dad planted a secret recorder under the table that picks up high-pitched voices. There is a camera seared into the artwork above the wall too…”

She tried to turn.

“Don’t look. Just keep up with the act,”

“Why does your dad have cameras and a secret recorder” Her head pressed to my chest as she looked up to me and the moment our eyes met, my heart slammed against my ribcage.

We were standing so close, so close that her t**s pushed up on my chest and heat rushed straight into my groin. “Because that gives him an advantage over his enemies…” I kissed her on the forehead. “Stay here, I will be right back,”

A haze of confusion clouded her eyes. I ignored it.

Dad sat behind the mahogany desk, the room was cold and thick with the anger radiating off him. His eyes snapped on mine. “Tell me,” he said, his voice low and dangerous, “that whatever happened back there wasn’t real.”

I rolled the black sleeves up to my shoulders, face devoid of emotions as I walked deeper into the room—picking up the marriage license he tossed to the ground. “Confirm with the courthouse. The drive is just two hours away,”

“Ryker!” He snarled.

“How could you do this to me?”

I tilted my head. “You,” I said calmly. “Why does it have to be about you? This is my life. My marriage,”

“Marriage is not something you walk into with just anyone,”

“Ariella is not just anyone. She is the woman I want,” The woman I have always wanted. “Lucinda isn’t for me…I don’t even like her,”

Lucinda’s father saved my father’s life during a hiking trip. Dad still hasn’t spoken about what exactly happened on that tragic evening. Because of that debt, my father took in Lucinda as his daughter.

At first, she was nothing more than a sister to me until dad said that if I ever got married, the woman would have to be Lucinda because he couldn’t think of a more befitting groom other than me!

And Lucinda?

A walking nightmare in red potent heels. I had expected her to stand against it but it was exactly what she wanted. Lucinda single-handedly ruined my relationship with my ex and still had the nerve to play the victim.

She harassed the girls I hooked up with. Stalked them and stalked me.

I had done so much to get rid of her but Lucinda was an annoying pest that wouldn’t just leave. I f****d other women right in front of her. They had me in their mouth while she watched. She never left. All she did was watch with tears in her eyes.

“I made a promise to my late friend that—”

Irritated, I removed the top button. “Russel is dead and wherever he is, this promise is the least of his problems!”

“Ryker!” He gritted out.

“What sort of leader doesn’t listen to his own father?”

“One who thinks for himself. If I had listened to half of your advice and those crooked men around me, we wouldn’t have the things we possess today,”

“I am not buying this…and why the hell does that woman look like your half-brother’s wife? Leroy”

A dark smile pulled at my mouth as I settled on the armrest, looking into his eyes. “She isn’t Leroy’s wife—”

“Good!” He said, relieved.

“She is his ex-wife and now she is mine,”

Dad froze for a beat, until shock twisted his face. “What! Have you gone insane? That is your brother's wife,”

“Ex-wife!” I corrected it. “They are divorced and if you need proof of that as well as the one that proves she is pregnant and carrying my child, I can give them to you now,”

Dad’s eyes narrowed on me, his gaze suspicious as he clicked his tongue.

“Son, you can’t fool me,” he said.“I’m your father. I know you better than anyone. You’re hiding something.”

He rose to his feet, frame intimidating as he reached for the glass of whiskey and swirled it, the ice-cubes clinking in it. “Fine. Let’s make this simple. If you had a real wedding, one recognized by the pack and the elders’ court, I might believe you. But whatever that is you’re holding?” His lip curled slightly. “It doesn’t prove a damn thing.”

A pack wedding wasn’t like the human kind. It was sealed in blood and vows. A union like that was meant to endure, at the very least for a year or two.

And I knew exactly what he was thinking. That I had married Ariella just to escape Lucinda.

The problem was… he wasn’t wrong.

I had already seen this coming. That was why I made sure to stay one step ahead.

That was why I added it to the contract. A marriage that should last for a year or two.

A smile crept at the corner of my mouth. “Perfect. When do you want the wedding to be held?”

“We could do that now too if you don't mind, Dad.”