Page 18 of The Alpha's Bullied Mate

His gaze was so intense that a shiver ran down Mica’s spine. She opened her mouth, not knowing what she wanted to say.

A knock made her jump.

“Hayden, Monroe is here to see you and your mate,” Derek called through the door.

Every trace of emotion in Hayden’s face disappeared. He gestured for Mica to go with him as he headed for the door. She followed after him, her head whirling. Was that a show of concern? Or was she just determined to fool herself?

Monroe, Spencer, and several other wolves waited for them in the living room. Mica’s hands clenched when she noted Elin in the group. What was she doing here? Hadn’t she done enough to hurt her already?

Monroe puffed out his chest as he faced Hayden. “So, boy, are you mated now?”

Hayden smiled. “I am. My mate and I just finished our ceremony a few minutes ago.”

He tugged Mica to his side and casually slung an arm around her shoulder. Mica’s skin prickled. Unlike earlier, when they were heading upstairs, this was accompanied by a knot in her stomach. How could Hayden so quickly change who he was, depending on who he was talking to?

“Now that I’m mated, we’ll have to set the challenge day,” Hayden continued. “That is, unless you don’t qualify.”

Monroe narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

Mica shook her head, trying to get Hayden to stop.Don’t do it!

But he did.

“You don’t have a mate. And if an Alpha needs one…” Hayden laughed.

Monroe’s jaw clenched. A vein popped out in his forehead. Without looking, he seized Elin roughly by the shoulder and yanked her to him. “I was going to offer you a worthy mate and a position in my ranks. But since you’re determined to die, boy, I’ll simply take the girl as my mate and see you on the challenge grounds.”

All the air disappeared from Mica’s lungs. Elin’s eyes widened, and the color drained from her face. She yelped as Monroe dragged her away. Mica was left with a ringing in her ears as the weight of her former best friend’s terror crashed down on her.

Chapter 10 - Hayden

Kai pointed to a spot on the map. “We found a nest of beast-demons here. We killed all the adults and destroyed the eggs that we could find, but evidence points to the woods having far more of them than we first thought.”

“Mica said that Monroe was having the pack wipe out the animals in the forest. That’s a lot of sacrifices to create new demons,” Hayden replied. His eyebrows furrowed as he considered their conundrum. “We need to concentrate our efforts on taking out Monroe. His demon seems to be the most powerful. Once we have it taken care of, we can teach the pack how to hunt and take out the beasts.”

It was only a few hours since Monroe arrived at the house. It unsettled Hayden that the demon hadn’t taken his bait and agreed to the challenge right there. In the past, they were all blowhards whose arrogance had been their undoing.

Either this one was wise to them or was simply more cautious. Perhaps it was biding its time, spinning out the challenge to give itself more time to take a firm foothold in the area. In either case, now that Hayden issued the challenge, Monroe had to answer. Unfortunately, if he were to force Monroe to fight now, it would cause issues with the pack politics.

A knock came on the door. Hayden straightened, frowning. Only Finn, still keeping watch, was absent from this meeting of the special ops. The only reason he’d interrupt was if there was an emergency, and he wouldn’t knock.

“Enter,” Hayden said, unable to stop the annoyance from creeping into his voice.

Tess, her head bent timidly, opened the door. “Alpha, several wolves from the pack are asking for an audience.”

Hayden bit back an annoyed sigh. If this was Monroe coming back to make threats, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to play out the game without attacking. To his surprise, when he reached the front gate, it wasn’t Monroe at all. He recognized several of the thin, ragged wolves as ones on the outskirts of the pack even before he left.

“Alpha.” They all went to their knees as one.

The leader, thin with sunburned skin and thinning hair, prostrated himself on the ground. “We have come to swear our allegiance to you and beg your mercy.”

“What sort of mercy were you thinking?” Hayden asked.

Finn padded up beside him. When Hayden shot him a questioning look, Finn minutely shook his head. Good. There were no demons in this bunch.

“We wish to live here on your property. Alpha Monroe’s rents have driven us all to the brink, and we are willing to serve in payment for your hospitality. But we have no more money to give.”

It would be unseemly to turn away wolves swearing their allegiance to him. Yes, these were the dregs, but even they were important to the pack. Who would serve the powerful in the pack if all the servers left?

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