Page 47 of The Alpha's Forced Bullied Mate

She smiled faintly. “Yeah, sure. That’s all logic to me.”

Faye walked ahead of me, avoiding my hand when I tried to walk her to the bed. She crawled under the giant down comforter and scooted to the middle.

I sighed. “No, Cherry Pie. I don’t think so.”

She wiggled deeper into the pillows. “Somuch better than a futon.”

“I said,move over.” With a playful grunt, I scooped her up and shuffled her toward the right side of the bed so I could climb onto the right side. I wanted to face the door in case any of those demons got past the big sphere.

The thought of an attack made me itch with worry. I glance at my alarm clock that would signal me if anything got near the perimeter. “I hope you don’t snore.”

“I can say the same about you.”

I glanced at her, feeling an odd sense of connection in that moment. She was lounging in the down pillows like that had been her spot for many years. The natural way she draped her hand over my left elbow with her eyes closed made it seem like this was our regular nighttime routine.

I couldn't read her expression very well, but when she opened her eyes and looked at me, my heart swelled two sizes.

I stroked her cheek. “I'm not letting you get hurt. I promise.”

“What about my alphas?”

I growled. “They’re not your alphas anymore.”

She rolled her eyes, pulled away from my hand, and rested on her back. “Right. Almost forget.”

“And what about them, anyway?”

“What if they get sucked into my demon drama?”

I rested my hand in the space between us, the comforter cradling my palm with white fluff. “We’ll cross that bridge if we get to it.”

“You meanwhenwe get to it.”

I frowned. “Get some sleep, Cherry Pie. We’ll call your old pack tomorrow.”

My heart ached. I felt bad for offending another pack. At the same time, I knew what I’d done was the right thing. Not just for my pack, but for Faye. Adrian had assured me it was right.

And seeing as Adrian was the closest thing I had to a father, I had to believe him. I had to believe that I was doing the right thing.

There was no other alternative.

***

Darkness greeted me when I woke up. It was a stiff darkness, a cold darkness that wanted me to sit up and explore it. My ears prickled as if I'd heard something. That was impossible because I knew the alarms would go off if anyone was in the yard. Even if somebody approached the outer perimeter, I would know about it immediately. I had a seemingly innocuous alarm clock next to the bed that would signal me if any of the alarms were triggered.

I checked for Faye once my eyes adjusted to the dark, noticing that she was sprawled out next to me with her arms overher head and her legs spread wide. She seemed to be sleeping a lot more comfortably here than she did on the futon in the FROG. She tended to sleep curled up on her left side by herself. Next to me, she was limbs akimbo. She was practically taking up the whole bed.

The numbers on the alarm clock started to blink. Red into white, and white into green, and green into yellow. Something or somebody had tripped the outer perimeter. This silent alarm would give me time to inspect who exactly was invading my space. I had mere moments before the other alarms went off and woke everybody in the pack.

I left Faye sleeping comfortably in my bed and quietly went downstairs. In one of the living room drawers was a dart gun that I used to tranquilize predators in the area that got too riled up. I ensured that there was a dart inside of it and then went to the front window to check the yard. Nothing was there.

I went to the kitchen and opened the panel, checking the cameras for movement. I didn't see anyone specifically, but I could see something like a cloudy outline of two figures approaching the backyard. My senses spiked as I went to the rear door and noticed the two figures wandering in the moonlight toward the rear porch.

One more step triggered the rear floodlights that illuminated the entire rear yard. The two figures disappeared in an instant. It was like they had dissipated into thin air.Demons.With my breath caught in my throat, I yanked open the rear door and stepped out onto the porch with my dart gun extended.

I pointed it at the yard. “Show yourself.”

I scanned right to left, trying to find where the figures had gone. “You're trespassing on private property. You need to show yourself.”

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