Page 15 of The Alpha's Bullied Mate

“She acted as though it didn’t make a difference to her.”

Ryder glanced at the door, exasperated, as though Mica was standing right there. “Yeah, that’s how she acted. But that’s not how she felt. She was always treated as lesser by the pack. Everyone talked about how you and she would end up together, which shielded her. Until you rejected her. She lost any chance she had at being accepted.”

“What do you mean?” Hayden’s wolf growled at these words. Mica was so resilient. “Being accepted never mattered to her.”

“Again, that’s what she said. She put on a brave face for our mother’s sake. She acted like she was made of steel, so the words flung at her wouldn’t hurt. But they did.” Ryder glared at the floor as he talked. “As kids, she was picked on. Called names on the playground. Once the other kids started shifting, they’d play hunting games where she was the prey. They’d make her run and hide and whoever found her first one. She ended up with scars on her legs.”

Hayden’s jaw worked. “I remember. But that stopped. Echo put an end to it.”

“They stopped marking her,” Ryder said. “And the games stopped when it seemed as though you were going to be her mate. But after you rejected her, they came back. Only, they didn’t include her anymore. The bullying got worse. It was so bad that she rarely left the house, except when necessary. I had to beat up several of the other boys to get them to leave her alone.”

Ryder had gotten quite a reputation for picking fights. It was one of the reasons Hayden had been initially reluctant to take him onto his team in the special ops. The fighting caused Monroe to send him away to join the special ops in the first place.

“Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if she had other friends. But she lost her best friend in the same blow, seeing as Elin was the one that set it all in motion by telling you about her feelings in the first place,” Ryder said, shaking his head.

Hayden rubbed his freshly shaven chin. All added up together, it painted a damning picture. He had just been so fucking annoyed that everyone assumed he and Mica would end up together! He’d wanted freedom to meet other women, to experience life rather than have that pimple-faced girl thrown at him. He hadn’t even had his first kiss until after he rejected her.

But it put his own actions in a whole new light. One that Hayden wasn’t sure he liked. Had Mica seen him as her savior? And now that he was back, of course, she wouldn’t trust he was genuine in his interest in her. No doubt she was afraid that he’d make her life even worse than it already was.

He couldn’t blame her; he hadn’t even realized how the others in the pack treated her after he rejected her. For so long, he thought that she was just angry at him for rejecting her, but that she still assumed one day he’d come back to her. It was infuriating, having that expectation thrust on him. He didn’t even want to have a mate at all.

Mica had always been tough. Even during those hunting games that left her with scars, she always gave as good as she got. More than one boy in school was chastised for letting a human girl give him a black eye. Now that he thought about it, though, he wondered why they weren’t chastised for picking on a human girl in the first place.

As wolf shifters, they were meant to be protectors. Yet who protected Mica?

He certainly hadn’t. He hadn’t even thought she needed protection. And yet, here they were. She would rather run awayfrom the pack than take him as a mate. It was no wonder she said the demons were his problem. If it weren’t for Echo, he felt she still wouldn’t want anything to do with him.

It was odd that it only now occurred to Hayden that Mica wasn’t being petty when she ran. She wasn’t playing games. She didn’t want him to track her down and convince her. Mica didn’t want to humiliate him.

It was real. She’d wanted to escape him. If she rejected him, the pack wouldn’t take it seriously. They rarely did when it came to women refusing to take a mate.

Which meant that she was only agreeing to this mating because of circumstances. And that included the consummation of their mating bond.

Ryder had been quiet, his gaze averted as Hayden processed his thoughts. Now, he cleared his throat.

“Would you like to choose someone else?” Ryder’s voice was flat.

Who else? Elin? He’d never felt any spark of attraction to her. And while Hayden didn’t want a mate, Mica was the sort of woman he did want. She was fiery, strong, and resilient. She had a determination about her that he’d always admired, even when they were children. It took a strong woman to be an alpha’s mate.

He needed someone who would call him out on his bullshit. In a pack where Alpha’s word is law, an Alpha needed someone to tell him when he was going too far. That was the role of his mate and the reason why a mateless Alpha was rarely accepted.

Someone like Elin would only fawn over him.

“No. Mica agreed to the ceremony, and I need this over with as quickly as possible,” Hayden said brusquely. “Once she’s my mate, then I will challenge Monroe, become Alpha, and all of this will be over. I don’t want to take the time to convince another woman.”

“I’ll go let her know you’re ready, then,” Ryder said.

“Go.”

Once Ryder was gone, Hayden picked up the red ribbon again. The fabric was soft and silky against his fingertips. Just as soft as he imagined Mica’s skin would be. She was beautiful; there was no denying it. His physical attraction to her was one reason he had picked her to be his mate over someone else.

As for the consummation… well, it had to happen for them to be fully mated. But since this was only so he could challenge Monroe, the details of their bond could be kept between them. One thing was certain, though. When Mica would allow him to bed her the first time, he’d make sure she felt so good that she’d change her mind about it being the only time.

Chapter 9 - Mica

Tess, Echo, and Ryder stood behind Mica while the rest of the team stood behind Hayden. It wasn’t strictly necessary to have a ceremony, certainly not a witnessed one. But it was tradition. Mica faced Hayden, watching as he cupped his hand in the bowl of water between them. He held it toward her, and she drank from his hand.

“The first of my vows, to provide you sustenance,” he rumbled.

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