Page 26 of The Alpha Wolf's Bullied Bride

Dorian growls. “You’ve been delaying this for too long,Alpha Flynn,”he snaps back. “I can’t help but wonder if it’s becauseyou”—he prods my chest with a pointed finger—“have something to do with the abduction of my wolves.”

I scoff in disbelief, glaring into the man’s gray eyes. “You think Blood Moon had something to do with the Nightclaw attack?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised!” he roars, glaring with equal ferocity at me. “You still think I had something to do with your brother’s death, don’t you?”

“Don’t you fucking dare!” I roar back, squaring up to him with my fists clenched, ready to throw punches. “You know what you did!”

“Get out of your fucking head, Flynn!” he yells back. “Finch begged me to leave him. He wanted to save my life. We were friends.”

“Until you became the enemy of this pack!”

Dorian shakes his head slowly. “It’s that mentality that’s gonna get you in trouble, Flynn.”

“And it’s yours that’s gonna getyouin trouble, Dorian,” I grate out through gritted teeth. “Just because I despise you, it doesn’t mean I’d harm your pack.”

“Well, sign the damn treaty so we can move forward.” He points in my face. “Perhaps then we can put all our differences to rest and work together.”

“I can assure you that we’re not the enemy, Dorian.”

“You haven’t given me much reason to believe otherwise, Flynn,” Dorian scoffs before turning his heel in the dirt and pausing. He glances over his shoulder and says, “See to it that the treaty is signed. Or next time, I’ll visit Zafra with my warriors and a warrant to search your town.”

He shifts and speeds over the border, out of our territory, allowing me to loosen the tension that had stiffened my body.

“Scan the perimeter,” I instruct my wolves, who look up at me, awaiting orders. “Ensure that the Nightclaw wolf has left the vicinity, and double-up on patrols.”

My nostrils flare with the anger pent up in my chest, along with the influx of other emotions that wash over me. I can barely think clearly, marching back toward the town without offering my Beta and Delta a word before I leave.

It’s almost as if my heart is guiding my every step forward, but this time, I don’t fight my instincts. I can’t fight them when they lead me toward the pack graveyard, where all the fallen Blood Moon wolves are buried.

My feet move of their own accord, carrying me to my brother’s grave, where I sink to my knees before his tombstone. The weight of emotions comes tumbling out, flowing from my eyes as I clutch the top of the marble with his name engraved on the front.

“Brother…I wish you were here,” I lament softly, stifling the sob lodged in my throat as I trace my eyes over the name “Finch Lycoan.” My big brother, who was the first werewolf to decide to befriend the other packs. A truce, he called it, believing that remaining enemies because of territorial wars was too “backward.”

His modern approach saw him frequenting parties with the likes of Dorian Walker, who he’d been with that night.According to Dorian, they’d been outnumbered by a group of rogue werewolves who attacked and led Finch off the cliff to his death.

Dorian had raced back to Zafra to inform us of the incident, but there was so much more he could have done—unless he didn’t care at all for the future Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack.

Perhaps I didn’t care much, either. I should have been there, with Finch, when he invited me out with his friends. Instead, I was a male werewolf on the brink of receiving his wolf, getting shitfaced with friends, and caring little about the condition of the pack.

I didn’t have to shoulder responsibilities before. Now that I have to live in Finch’s shadow, I realize how wrong I was for not joining him that day. I could have done something to save him before it was too late, had I been there. All he asked of me was to befriend the other packs like he did, to do away with ancient animosities so that we could live in peace.

I didn’t understand his vision back then. And I’ve had to live with the guilt of not being there to save him. Now, I’m supposed to protect the pack, and I’m not even sure if I’m capable of that.

With an Omega wolf as my mate, how am I supposed to lead? Mother and Father are convinced that it’s a strategic move, but the truth is, I have no idea what I’m doing. I should have a strong Luna by my side, but I’ve chosen a wolf-less Omega as my mate, thanks to my inner wolf not allowing me to make a logical decision.

Goddess help me.

With cloudy vision, I stare at the tombstone, feeling as if I do not deserve to take his place.

Finch would have known what to do if he were in my shoes—the shoes he was born to fill. He wouldn’t have allowed his inner wolf to take the command while making the biggest decision of his life, leaving him without a clue as to why he felt drawn to someone who didn’t properly fit the description of what it meant to be the Luna.

In hindsight, perhaps his soft, compassionate heart wouldn’t have allowed him to be as cruel as I’d been toward Lila, either. Frowning, I follow the gentle wind that breezes through the air as it leads my gaze toward the main house, where Lila and her friend leave from the front porch.

Overwhelmed by the weight of guilt, I freeze on the spot while my sense of smell is imprisoned by a faint sweetness in the air, almost as if the scent exudes from the flowers growing over the mound of Finch’s grave, my brother compelling me to watch Lila intently while guilt gnaws on my conscience.

I sniff back the weakness that threatens my image and rise to my feet—feet that again propel me forward, sticking to the shadows to follow Lila until she arrives at her cabin. A strong pull on my heartstrings has me wanting to go forward, to interrupt her hushed conversation with her friend and ask to speak to her before the marriage ceremony.

I take a deep breath, but it doesn’t calm my nerves the way I thought it would. Instead, I’m wrestling with the bitter conflict between my head and heart, the latter sinking when she and Valerie disappear inside the cabin and the door shuts behind them.

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