Page 32 of The Alpha's Bullied Mate

“But only in death,” Hayden murmured. He narrowed his eyes. “What does this archdemon want with the Bluebell Valley pack?”

“What makes you think that? Perhaps the pack is only ants in our path.” Echo grinned, baring teeth. Her canines lengthened. “Ants which are so delicious to torment and consume.”

Hayden folded his arms. “Then what do you want?”

“I want what my lord commands.”

“This archdemon. He has to have a name, doesn’t he?”

Echo rolled her eyes. “You will never know it if he does. Go prostrate yourself before Monroe, boy. Perhaps if you swear to obey my lord, Monroe will speak to him on your behalf… perhaps sweet Mica will even survive.”

She sat on the floor and turned her back to him.

Frustration welled up through Hayden, but he bit back on the automatic response to lunge at her. If he crossed the salt barrier, he could damage it and put everyone here in danger. Clearly, he wouldn’t be getting more information from the demon. She’d told him just enough to tantalize him, trying to provoke a reaction.

On the other hand, there was one answer clear here. She was stuck. If she could get free, she would have done so during the fight.

“You will tell me what I want to know,” he warned her. “Maybe not today, but—”

“But how will Mica feel when she learns you tortured her mother for information?”

Hayden stalked from the room, unwilling to be drawn into that conversation. He slammed the door behind him, and his wolf growled. Then it slumped down in his chest, head heavy. It whined. Hayden closed his eyes, gathering himself for his Alpha’s duties. Right now, all he wanted was to be with Mica, but he had responsibilities.

The grounds were subdued and quiet. There had been a great many injuries in the brief fight. Hayden sought Ryder out.

“How bad is it?”

Ryder shook his head. “No loss of limb or life. We’ve got a few that look pretty gnarly, though. Mica has ordered that we find room for them in the house.”

“Good.” Hayden quickly found Mica in the crowd; she directed the women as they tended to the injured people.

Her fire-red hair was pulled into a knot at the back of her head, and she moved through the space with a confidence that astounded him. Everyone took her instructions as she gavethem. Her shoulders were slumping with exhaustion, but her expression never wavered.

It was amazing. And it was also perfectly natural.

“She takes the leadership beautifully,” Hayden mentioned to Ryder. “Despite all the years of being shunted aside.”

“Mica has always had a stubborn streak,” Ryder allowed with a soft smile. “If she was a wolf instead of a human, she probably would have led everyone in our year.”

If she was a wolf… or if he had given her more support. Hayden watched her, his eyebrows furrowed.

After Echo put a stop to the bullying toward Mica when they were kids, things changed for a while. For a few glorious years, the pack had treated Mica well. The two of them had a small, tightly-knit friend group. The others in school took their cues from the group. And when he thought about it, they were rallied around him more than anything.

At that age, kids naturally have people they follow but it wasn’t as clear-cut as saying he led the group. But he and Mica were considered pretty much a couple. Even though they had never so much as kissed. That structure, their friend group, fell apart after he rejected her.

How different would their lives have turned out if…?

Hayden shook his head as he headed for the porch once more. There was no point in dwelling on the past.

Especially since he had work to be done. Explaining to all these confused, terrified wolves exactly what a demon was. And the stakes of this fight against Monroe.

Chapter 17 - Mica

The pack took the news of Monroe's possession by a demon reasonably well. At least, none of them went running around flailing their hands in the air, proclaiming they were all doomed. What they whispered to each other was another thing altogether, but Mica didn’t spare the worry about that possibility. For the time being, she focused on taking care of injuries.

Once she was done, Mica sought Hayden out. He was with his team, plotting out their next course of action. Mica found a spot at the side of the room to sit and wait until they were done.

Maverick shot her an uneasy glance but focused back on Hayden. It seemed to Mica he didn’t want her there, but until his Alpha was going to say something, he’d accept it. Hayden hadn’t paid much attention to her entrance into the room except to briefly glance at her.

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