Page 36 of Bullied Pregnant Mate

I’d never seen Gina fight, but I could now imagine she was quite good. To survive this long, you have to be smart enough to figure things out. But if Logan made Ayden and Owen uncomfortable, there was a reason for it.

I swallowed. "Gina, I'm trying to protect you."

"No, you're not," she snapped. "You have never protected me. You have always let me get eaten by the wolves. You stood at the sideline as they picked me apart and laughed. So don’t start acting like the savior now."

"I did…"

She didn't let me finish as she pulled a hand up, poking me hard in the chest. I could see raw emotion in her eyes, and she was fighting tears. "You did. You laughed. Countless times, you could have stepped up and done something, done anything, and you didn't. You let my family and the entire pack treat melike I was nothing better than the dirt they stood on. And you made it known."

I swallowed, unable to find my words. She wasn't wrong.

"You and everyone else in that pack were wrong." I could see tears grow in her eyes and the years of pain bleeding out of her.

I thought back to it all, and she had me. I had stood by the sideline and let it happen. I had joined in and agreed with them. Gina was small, and her chances of survival were slim. She shouldn't have, but she did.

I remembered how she walked skittishly and kept track of who was around her. Her brother always planned some way to humiliate her, and it worked. She would grow red, but there was nothing she could do but take it.

And I rejected her all those years ago. When we figured out she was my mate, I rejected her. I never wanted anyone to know who she was or what she was to me. A small wolf like her wasn’t someone you wanted to mate.

She wiped at her eyes. "Now, excuse me while I go check on my house." She turned, marching off, and I stood there, unsure of what to say. There wasn't anything I could say. She was right.

Chapter 15 - Gina

I dropped my bags onto the floor and sighed, exhausted. Anger was fueling me, and it was starting to dwindle as the sun set outside.

I stared at everything I brought into the house's living room. I couldn't stomach spending another night at Lucas's place, not after our big blowout. It was clear he would hold that over my head soon enough.

I grabbed my essentials, packed them all up, and dragged them over to the house. The house was nowhere near ready for someone to sleep here, but I decided the living room would have to do. I could spend however many nights here until one of the bedrooms was ready upstairs, and then I could start sleeping up there.

I grabbed the air mattress and started to rip it out of the box. I plugged it in, letting it fill up. I then turned to the TV I had purchased and ripped it out of its box. After my fight with Lucas, I bought several things to make myself comfortable in the house.

I had no Wi-Fi, so I bought a few movies to play on the TV and figured it would be fine. I set everything up, throwing some sheets and pillows onto the air mattress. After about forty minutes, everything looked decent. It was messy, but it would be fine for the time being.

I pushed the TV into the corner of the living room by the fireplace and set the air mattress a few feet from the middle of the room. I then pushed the couches against the wall and laid out my clothes.

I smiled, proud of myself.

"Lucas can kiss my ass," I said with a smirk. Who was he to tell me what I could and couldn't do? Even if there was someone watching me, I was more than able to take care of myself. I wasn't fifteen years old, unable to protect myself.

Sure, it had scared me a little bit, but the chances of it happening again were slim. Lucas had overreacted and overstepped.

I popped a movie into the VHS and sat down on the bed. I looked at the snacks I had bought, not having even thought about dinner. I was so used to Lucas doing dinner that it hadn't accorded to me.

My phone rang, and I looked down, seeing it was Lucas. It was almost like he knew. I was tempted to answer but decided against it. He was working, so it wasn't like he was going to come and see me. And by morning, I would have proven my point.

I felt smug as I ripped open a box of chocolate and took a bite. I threw myself onto the bed and watched the movie.

My phone rang again, and I glanced at it, seeing it was Lucas once more. I grabbed it and stared at it. I pulled my finger up to answer but hit ignore instead. Instantly, he started calling again.

I rolled my eyes and hit the mute button, tossing my phone aside and turning my attention back to the TV. Even with the movie, the house was quiet. I could hear the wind blowing and looked outside towards the woods. I felt my stomach dip thinking about Lucas's words. Someone was watching.

A shiver ran down me, hating the idea.

I quickly shook my head. "No. Don’t think about that."

I wasn't a small, fragile wolf who couldn't protect herself. I was a strong, powerful wolf that people shouldn't fuck with.The chance of someone coming up to the house was slim to none.

Even as I said those words, they tasted wrong. I could handle an intruder, but I could still see the concern on Lucas's face. Whoever he was thinking about was someone to be concerned about. And Lucas was no small wolf. If he was worried, it was someone I didn't want to cross my path.

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