Page 1 of The Alpha Wolf's Bullied Bride

Prologue - Lila

Two years ago

“I’m leaving for training tomorrow,” Miles, my older brother, informs me over a mouthful of porridge.

“Training?” I mull with a frown, tilting my head to one side as I regard my brother’s nonchalant shrug.

“Yeah…” he says, lifting his bowl and scrapes the sides with his spoon. He’s so focused on getting every last drop of his breakfast out that he doesn’t look up at me until he’s satisfied that his bowl is squeaky clean.

It’s his third bowl this morning.

“Ah.” He swallows contentedly, a smile spreading across his face as he sets his bowl down. He reaches over the antique kitchen table to warmly touch my shoulder. “Thanks, little sis,” he offers with a broad grin. “I’m sure gonna miss you spoiling me while I’m gone.”

The frown knotting my brows deepens. “Gone? What are you talking about?”

Miles draws back his hand and frowns back at me. “Did you not pay attention to the meeting this week?”

I can feel the heat crawl across my cheeks as I blush when reminded about the pack meeting this past Sunday.

It’s not that I hadn't been paying attention. I tried very hard to hear Alpha Silas Lycoan’s words as he addressed the Blood Moon Pack. But all his announcements were lost to my ears when all I could hear was the dissonant ringing that began the moment the Alpha’s son walked into the pack den.

Flynn Lycoan.

The thought of his name alone sends a surge of awareness from the base of my spine to my nape, where the fine hairs prickle with the attention I should have redirected at the meeting on Sunday. Shrugging to dismiss the thought of the Alpha’s son, I slap my forehead to feign ignorance while I devise a believable alibi.

It’s not like I can be honest with my brother and tell him that Flynn’s presence on Sunday unsettled me so much that I’ve had to hide behind the four walls of our cabin all week. I called in sick at the pack center, relinquishing my chores with a promise to work double shifts next week.

After all, it could only be a sort of sickness that has me swooning over Flynn Lycoan when I should hate his guts for all the suffering I’ve faced at his hands. Calling in sick has at least allowed me to steer clear of him and rearrange my thoughts so that I would stop imagining a reality in which the Alpha’s son saw me as more than just Blood Moon’s worthless Omega.

“Sunday’s meeting?” I click my tongue. “Of course! Val and I were—”

“Lost in a world of your own?” Miles chuckles lightly when he interjects, shaking his head. Luckily, my brother already knows that when my best friend and I are together, the world around us can easily fade into a blur. That’s why we’d been given different schedules to perform our pack chores at the center.

The pack center coordinator could never stand us being in the same room at any given moment.

“Yes,” I giggle. “I didn’t know about you leaving.”

Miles sighs, his blue, radiant eyes turning soft as he stares at me contemplatively. “I am leaving,” he concedes. “All the soldiers in our pack are leaving tomorrow evening.”

“What for?” I ask.

“Special ops,” Miles says sullenly with a dismissive shrug. “Pack rules, ya know?”

“Don’t act like you haven’t been dreaming of this!” I snort, playfully slapping Miles’s shoulder.

Ever since he connected with his inner wolf and received the ability to shift into wolf form, Miles has been voicing his excitement about the special ops training that takes a handful of male werewolf soldiers to the Ouachita Mountains. It’s a longstanding Blood Moon tradition, which takes place a few years before the current Alpha is set to retire. It’s meant to prepare the male who’s next in line for the Alpha title, along with the soldiers he chooses to help protect the pack during his leadership.

Miles relents with a terse smile. “My only concern is leaving you behind to fend for yourself.”

“Me? Pfft,” I blow a breath through puckered lips, rolling my eyes as I turn my face so my older brother won’t see the disappointment in my eyes. “I’ll be just fine.”

“Are you sure, Lila?”

Inwardly gathering my composure, I nod and offer Miles a reassuring smile as I reach for his hands. After my conflicted feelings on Sunday, I’ve been too focused on the Alpha’s son to realize that my brother would be leaving soon.

That only means that I’ll be on my own, and I haven’t had time to mentally prepare myself for the challenges that will pose.

“Don’t worry about me, Miles,” I encourage, giving his hands a gentle squeeze with my stout fingers. “I have Valerie to keep me company while you’re gone.”

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