Page 16 of The Alpha's Bullied Pregnant Mate

“Hello,” Isla said brightly. “Good morning. How can I help you today? What would you like to read?”

“Read?” the girl drawled, then turned back to her friends who were giggling behind her. She turned back to regard Isla, then squinted. She said to her friends over her shoulder, “I told you I recognized her.”

“You’re sure it’s her?” a second girl asked.

“’Oh, I’m positive.”

Isla did not know what was happening, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out either, but the situation was rapidly becoming uncomfortable for her. “I’m sorry, but can I help you?”

The first girl smirked. “Not really. We just wanted to see the woman who the alpha finally considered good enough. Nobody seemed to know who you were at the meeting, but I was certain I’d seen you before.”

Isla blinked and remembered her. It was the girl who had made fun of her on the cable car. A mean little thing. It seems she couldn’t go a day in her life without meeting people like this. “Fine. You found me. What do you want?”

“We just want to know how the kiss felt. It was Alpha Fannar, so I’m sure it must have been amazing. Still, I’d love to hear it from you.”

Isla swallowed her anger. “Shouldn’t you girls be in school?”

“Funny.” The first girl turned to her friends. “She thinks she has jokes now.” Turning back to Isla, she added. “You seem pretty ordinary to me. I wonder what he saw in you, that he didn’t see in the countless other women he avoids. It beats me.”

“I’m happy to disappoint,” Isla said. “Now, if you won’t be reading anything, I’d have to ask you to leave. All of you.”

The girl was about to make a wise crack but she must have seen the flames in Isla’s eyes because she bit back her words and stepped back from her. “Come on, let’s go. Our job here is done.” She backpedaled towards the door and waved at Isla. “See you around, weirdo.”

For a moment Isla considered going after her, if only just to teach her a lesson in respect. The moment passed and she sighed. She looked around the room and found eyes watching her, some with sympathy.

She couldn’t deal. She settled into her seat and hid her face in another book, a memoir. Just when she thought Fannar was done making her life miserable, something always came along to prove her wrong.

Some days, she wished she’d never met him. Today was one of those days, as she flipped through the memoir, burning with shame and embarrassment, and the incessant pain in the back of her neck.

***

“Hi.”

“You don’t sound very warm,” Fannar noted.

“What do you want? I’m not having the best day today,” Isla replied testily. She had only just returned home from work and was barely through the door when Fannar called her. The incident with the group of girls still burned hotly inside her and she was not far from exploding.

“I’m sorry,” Fannar said. “This call is probably going to make you feel worse. Would you like to tell me about your day? What has got you so worked up?”

“No, I don’t want to tell you how my day went. Why did you call?”

There was a pause on the other end. “I know we were supposed to meet and get our stories straight before you visited my family, but things… changed.”

Isla remained quiet, her thoughts a raging storm in her head. She was ready to walk away from everything in that moment. She didn’t care about the consequences. She had gotten to her breaking point and the littlest thing threatened to push her over the edge.

“Alright,” Fannar said when Isla remained quiet. “Here’s the thing. My mother is traveling out of town tomorrow, and she’d be gone for a while. She would like if you could come around today. I told her you could come around when she returned, but she insisted. I’m sorry—”

“Ten thousand weekly.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Isla replied in a cold voice. “Thought long and hard about this and decided at five grand, it wasn’t worth the bother. So. You want me to help you? These are the new terms. Ten grand every week and not a cent less. This is not a negotiation.”

Fannar swore under his breath. “How soon can you be ready? I’m coming to get you.”

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Isla said, hanging up the phone. She didn’t know where that had come from, but she certainly didn’t mind making more money from the arrangement.

She had not expected Fannar to agree as easily as he did. She underestimated how desperately he needed her help. A part of her did not agree with it and considered it extortionist. She didn’t care. She was going to get out of this town one way or the other.

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