Page 39 of The Alpha Wolf's Bullied Bride

I shrug nonchalantly, an unsettling shiver running down my spine. Even I don’t know why I keep going back and forth between how I feel about him. With only a few glimpses into his softer side, it isn’t enough to justify being good to him.

He doesn’t deserve it. Not after taking my virtue and then seemingly condemning me for it.

“He is the Alpha,” I offer as the only explanation. It’s not that his dark, mysterious good looks are enough to compensate for his strange behavior. Perhaps his title is enough to serve as consolation. “It’s pack rules, right? We can’t badmouth our leader.”

Valerie shakes her head, seemingly unconvinced. “So you’ve just been walking on eggshells around him ever since that night?”

“We haven’t been treading the same ground since then,” I admit. The only reason I was able to leave the house today was because Flynn left early for a meeting with Miles. Before that, I’d kept myself locked in the bedroom, only stealing downstairs when I needed to eat.

Valerie raises a brow. “So, you're not planning on running away anymore?”

I shake my head. “I can't,” I gulp. “I mean, it's too late for that. Ugh…” I groan discontentedly. “I don't know what to do.”

“You need some fresh air, Lila,” Valerie suggests, taking my hands in hers with her bottom lip trembling remorsefully. “This place doesn't need you now that you're Luna. Why don't you visit your brother at the cabin?”

I muse over Valerie's suggestion with pursed lips, finally nodding slowly when I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Maybe I just need to go back to the cabin, spend some time with my brother, and clear my head. Maybe I'll gain a new perspective and figure out how to navigate my life as the Alpha's discarded mate.

***

“I don't understand why you're still determined to prove that it was Dorian's fault,” my brother's voice is faint inside the cabin from where I linger on the porch. I press my ear to the door, trying to hear more closely and figure out who's inside with him.

“I can't shake off the feeling that he betrayed my brother,” comes Flynn's voice. I hold my breath, wanting to leave without being heard. Instead, I freeze in place, listening to him speaking.

“Why didn't he stay and fight? Drag Finch back here instead of running away?”

“What if he's telling the truth, Flynn? What if it was your brother who saved him?”

“I…I can't live with that.”

“Why—”

I'm startled when I hear the slam of a palm on the table and the clatter of metal that follows.

“Because I wasn't there to save him! I wasn't there to stop it!” Flynn roars.

A moment of silence follows inside the cabin, giving me time to inhale slowly as I process what I just overheard. It's the first time I've ever heard Flynn speaking about his brother—and so passionately, at that. It's almost as if…he has feelings and demons that haunt him…

“It's not your fault, buddy,” Miles soothes.

Flynn grunts. “It's not my fault, but I've had to shoulder his responsibilities when I'm not fit to be the Alpha.”

“You're a great Alpha, Flynn,” Miles objects.

“I have to be better. I have to ensure that they see me as their leader. If I can bring justice for Finch's death, it will be good enough.”

Another pause stretches out before Miles sighs. “This is about my sister, isn't it?”

My breathing slows down while I listen more intently, wondering what he’s going to say about me. The pressure of my pent-up breath builds and weighs me down, and my heel sinks into a creaking floorboard on the porch.

“I—I don't know what—” Flynn pauses, and his sharp intake of breath is audible. “Someone’s outside.”

The shuffling of movement inside the cabin prompts me to hastily turn toward the wooden stairs. I’m about to rush down, my foot on the first step, when the hinges of the front door squeak and Miles calls out,

“Lila? What are you doing here?”

Turning timidly, I offer my brother a sheepish smile. “I—I just thought I’d stop by after center duties,” I grimace. “But you have company…”

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