Page 38 of The Alpha's Bullied Mate

Mica groaned. “I stink, don’t I?”

“You smell like a beautiful, sweaty woman.” Hayden laughed as he picked her up and carried her toward the ensuite bathroom. “One who is under too much pressure. But you don’t have to fear, my little mate. Everything will come to a peak soon.”

He set her down and turned on the shower. Mica undressed, wrinkling her nose. The idea of the shower itself wasn’t so bad, but the thought of getting wet soundedexhausting. Although… Hayden removed his shorts. A different sort of wet made the whole shower thing more appealing.

“You and the pack will be safe soon,” Hayden told her. “We’re narrowing down on how the demons are getting here.”

Mica nodded slowly. But as she pushed her naked body against Hayden to kiss him—a knock came on the bedroom door.

“Alpha,” Finn shouted through the room. “Monroe is at the gate. He wants to see you and your mate.”

Chapter 20 - Hayden

“Stay here. I’ll be back shortly,” Hayden ordered as he stalked back to the bedroom. As he threw on his clothes, he frowned. Mica was dressing as well. “I said—”

“I’m your mate. I’ll stand with you,” she said shortly.

Hayden shook his head. “You’ll stay within the property bounds.”

Mica huffed at him but didn’t respond. The two of them were ready quickly. Mica swept her hair into a bun as they headed downstairs. Torches lit the night, dozens of Monroe’s pack carrying them as the flames flickered and glowed. Hayden’s wolf snarled at the sight of Monroe, standing with his toes against the PCP piping at the gate.

“Ah, decided to join us, did you?” Monroe drawled. “I was starting to think that your little challenge was all talk and no action.”

His people laughed. Hayden ignored the low-hanging fruit and stopped just inside the protective barrier. “Are you finally going to accept my challenge, or will you continue to be a coward?”

Monroe smirked. “What do you think I’m here for? It’s time for this to end. I’ve given you plenty of chances to withdraw, yet you’re still here. And you’re bringing more and more people into harm’s way with your devil-pacts.”

Spencer chuckled next to him, but his eye roved the crowd. Searching for his daughters, no doubt.

“Finally, we can get this over with,” Hayden said dryly. “Shall we set a time for the fight, then?”

Monroe’s grin was toothy. “Of course. I won’t leave you in too much agony. But I must say, I’m impressed, Mica.”

His gaze shifted to Mica, who shied into Hayden’s side. She lifted her chin and glared at him. “Impressed by what?”

“How well you’ve looked after my misguided pack,” Monroe said, his grin widening. “So I have decided that once I’ve killed this boy, I’ll keep you on as Alpha’s mate. With some rigorous training and some discipline, you might even lose enough weight to be worth fucking.”

Mica pressed more firmly into Hayden’s side.

Hayden nearly lunged for Monroe right there. His wolf howled, and rage swept through him. The threats were bad enough, but Mica’s apparent fear made him want to put down Monroe right here. He growled, the sound reverberating in the smoky night.

“It’s a good thing that I’m going to kill you, then,” Hayden said, his words slurred with his growing canines. “Mica will never be yours.”

Monroe laughed. He gave Spencer a knowing look. His eyes changed color in the torchlight, turning from deep black to blood-red. The change was only a flash in the pan, gone so quickly that someone who didn’t know what to look for would only think it was due to the torchlight. Hayden and Mica knew better.

Monroe was no longer being controlled or possessed. The body fully belonged to the demon now. Up to this point, Monroe might have been able to fight it—perhaps that was even why the challenge had gone unanswered for so long. Echo was in that state now, still conscious beneath the possession. When her body died, she would still have the chance to emerge for the last few moments of her life.

For Monroe, that time had passed. The old Alpha was well and truly dead. Maybe his soul was still in there somewhere, but he was never emerging again.[A1]

“Two days,” Hayden said. “The day before the full moon. At noon.”

“Noon? You like to sleep in, do you?”

Hayden kept his expression neutral. “It’s customary for challenges to be fulfilled at noon, is it not?”

Monroe nodded once. “Very well. Two days at noon. Prepare yourself—and your mate,” he added with a nasty look at Mica.

“You should prepare yourself,” Mica shot back. “There’s only one person who’s going to die. And it’s not Hayden. You won’t get what you want from the Bluebell Valley pack. We know what you are.”

---