Page 15 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

The person leading the group is a young woman with short red hair and pretty blue eyes. As soon as she reaches Alex, she jumps on him, wrapping her arms and legs around him in a hold so intimate that it makes my blood boil.

“Alex!” The girl hugs him even tighter, if that is possible. “You’re back!”

Anger bubbles within me, but my wolf is losing its mind. Why is my mate letting another female touch him so familiarly? How dare he let her embrace him? He should be ripping her arms off. And if he doesn’t want to, I’ll do it for him.

I take a step forward, but Patrick puts his hand on my shoulder, discreetly shaking his head.

“That’s quite enough, Hilda,” Patrick says severely, having sensed my discomfort. “We have company, if you haven’t noticed.”

As if on cue, Alex untangles himself from the woman. “It’s good to see you, too, Hilda, but you need to stop jumping on me like this. You’re not five years old anymore.”

Hilda giggles. “I can’t help it. Every time I see you, I want to climb you like a tree.”

I nearly forget to breathe at her words, and when Alex merely chuckles, I stare at him, wondering if he is hearing the same thing I am. This girl is interested in him, and she just admitted as much.

She now glances in our direction and doesn’t look very impressed. “Who are they?”

I’m about to step up next to Alex when he says, “This is Sophia, and this is Lily. They will be staying with us for a while.”

For a while?I glance at him, confused.He’s not going to introduce me as his mate?

“But who are they?” Hilda persists.

Alex smiles at her. “Nobody important.”

My wolf goes deathly still inside of me.What did he say? Did he just tell this girl…?

My whole body feels cold, and this time it is Lily who stops me, grabbing my hand. The warmth of her touch jerks me back to reality.

What’s going on? Isn’t Alex supposed to introduce me…? Why is he acting as if…?

I can’t even get my thoughts straight.

“I’ll show you two to the guest house. We don’t have a hotel here because not many people pass through this area, but we do have some rooms in a guest house.” Alex’s voice washes over me, and I feel like I’ve woken up from a beautiful dream into a nightmare.

Before he can take us anywhere, Hilda pulls him toward her and clings to his arm with her whole body. “Let Patrick or Nathan take care of them. I haven’t seen you in ages. You have to tell me how your trip was. Come on. I’ll make you something to eat.”

Say no.

I’m staring holes into the back of Alex’s head, and when he agrees to leave with Hilda, my heart sinks. I watch him walk away from me. It’s hard not to let the doubts seep in because my eyes aren’t deceiving me, right?

He just left with another woman.

He introduced me as “nobody important.”

Have I been deceived?

I try not to think so negatively, but I can’t help it. There has to be another explanation. As I watch his back getting smaller and smaller, though, I can’t think of one.

Chapter 4

Alex

I’m wasting my time here.

I should be with Sophia, getting her settled in. And I still have to talk to her.

It’s hard for me to deny Hilda anything. She is currently clamped to my right arm, chattering away, and I’m starting to get a headache. I’ve tried multiple times, unsuccessfully, to make my getaway, but she keeps finding excuses to hold me here.

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