Page 16 of The Alpha's Reclaimed Mate

Nursing and cooking were two of my interests I thought I could pursue. Maybe my parents would take mercy on me and pay for me to go to college. Or the pack could fund my tuition with a loan. At this point, I was grasping at straws, but if there was anything I could do to prove my usefulness, I had to try even if my heart wasn’t entirely in it.

Eventually, I tuned out the mutterings of my nearby packmates enough to read a few chapters, but my focus ruptured when the air suddenly changed. It seemed to get colder, stinging my nose with an unpleasant smell. Or maybe that was just the memory attached to the smell. I looked up, and there was the silver-haired beauty, Mara, speaking sweetly with a packmate near the door.

I averted my eyes, but it was too late. She caught my glance and walked over.

“Aria, what a lovely surprise. I haven’t seen you around lately,” Mara crooned, standing across the table from me. “What are you reading?”

None of your business, I wanted to snap. Instead, I tensed my jaw and looked up at her, forcing my tone into politeness. “The Science of Cooking.”

“Oh. What for?”

“It might be something I want to pursue in the future.”

“You want to become a chef?” Mara remarked with the faintest undertone of condescension that only I seemed to detect. “Your training didn’t cover any of that, did it?”

“No.”

“No, I suppose an Alpha Female would be too busy for homemaking,” she said on the heels of my answer. “It’s kept me busy lately, that’s for sure.”

Resisting the urge to sigh loudly, I only hummed and turned my eyes down to the book, wishing Mara would evaporate.

She lingered, leaning over the table. “You haven’t once congratulated me.”

“What would I congratulate you for?”

“Arising to the role of Alpha Female of the Grey Creek Pack,” Mara said with a blink of surprise, “especially after its intended recipient fell short.”

The shame of my inadequacy threatened to devour me. I kept my eyes downcast and calculated exactly what I should say in response to her. The wisest choice would just be to congratulate her and hope that she walked away, but my tongue wouldn’t move. I couldn’t bring myself to stifle my pride. Pain and embarrassment turned my blood to magma inside my veins.

When the doors to the common room opened again, another new scent twisted my stomach. “Mara. We have to get ready to meet with the Moonstone Betas,” said Oswald before his voice dwindled at the sight of me at the table. He snarled in disgust. “What are you wasting your breath on her for?”

Mara gasped and straightened up, arching her body away from me like I’d just spat poison, “Why would you say something like that, Aria?!”

Her voice, which had previously been whisper soft, suddenly raised, and I blinked in shock at the tears forming on her face.

“W-What?” I gaped at her.

“I know what happened hurt you, but to say something so cruel?” Mara’s voice shook with a precision that would have any producer weeping tears of joy. “I’ve never wished you harm in any way!”

“What’s going on?!” Oswald was already by his mate’s side, his arm around her protectively.

Mara buried her face in his shoulder, “N-Nothing, let’s go. Please.”

As her voice cracked, I got to my feet. “I didn’t say anything! Why are you lying?”

The rage in Oswald’s eyes had me wilting.

“Tell me the truth, Mara!” Oswald snarled. “What did that bitch say to you?!

Bitch?

Before I could even absorb his harsh words, Mara lifted her head, tears streaming down her face. “She wished—oh, Oswald, she told me she hoped you and I could never have children! That I would be barren! You know how much I love children!”

“What?!” Oswald roared.

I prickled at the blatant lie, leaping to my feet and looking around at our packmates in the common room. “Are you serious? I didn’t say any of that!”

But I was a fool to think Oswald would listen to me. He stormed around the table, grabbed the collar of my shirt, and without even thinking, slapped me.

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