Page 8 of The Alpha's Reclaimed Mate

“I heard he had a fight with Aria about her, and Aria didn’t want her to stay.”

I was sickened listening to the conversation. The nurse last night must have told everyone about our fight.

Then my sister Emma spoke up. “Aria was so upset. She spent all last night crying in her room,” she laughed with malicious delight.

To hear my own sister mock me made my throat swell with rage. I shut the water off and stepped out of the shower stall, wrapping a towel around myself. “I wasn’t crying,” I bit back at the girls, determined to keep my tone hard but steady. “There was just a misunderstanding. I’m happy Oswald brought her in to take care of her. None of you would understand.”

The girls stared back at me in surprise and amusement, feigning ignorance to knowing I had been there the entire time. They all murmured to one another, even Emma, as I dried off, got dressed, and walked out of the room. Only once I was out of sight did I pause to breathe in, gathering my mess of emotions.

It stung thinking about Oswald being close to Mara and taking care of her, holding her hand, doting on her all day while she healed. But envy wasn’t a good look for an Alpha Female.

Clutching my gym bag against my side, I power-walked across the courtyard, staring at my packmates while my mind raged with thoughts unseen. It didn’t even register to me what I was looking at until I stumbled, looked down at the cleft in the sidewalk, then looked back up and realized that there were two people directly ahead of me, and one of them I only recognized by scent. It was the sickly sweet scent of the rogue.

My heart hammered as I paused, watching until the person she was talking to walked away, and she turned her eyes onto me.

I hated to admit it, but she was… beautiful. Her hair hung over her narrow shoulders and held an unnatural sheen to its mystical silver hue. Her thin, attractive body was clad in an oversized t-shirt that obviously belonged to Oswald and blue jeans. And her eyes… There was no way I could compare to the ethereal glimmer of her oceanic gaze like she could heal anyone she set her eyes upon. Except for me, of course. My pain only escalated as I realized how utterly gorgeous she was. No wonder Oswald was so taken with her.

“Hi,” I said awkwardly.

The woman smiled and took a graceful stride toward me. “Hello. It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” This was my home; nowhere else would ever be as beautiful as this place. I felt she didn’t deserve its beauty, but that was just my bitterness showing its ugly face. I tried to swallow it down and smile back. “You’re Mara, right? Are you healing well?”

She lightly touched the bandages wrapped around her forehead. “I’m alright, thank you. If not for the attentive care of your Alpha, I’m not sure I would have made it.”

I simmered quietly, smiling still. “I’m glad to hear that. My name’s Aria Gunn,” I said, offering my hand.

Mara glanced down at my hand, then up at me. “Oh. You must be Oswald’s fated mate, then…?”

“I am.”

Her smile faltered. There was a crack in her façade that, for the briefest moment, shone a sinister light before Mara stuck out her bandaged hand and took mine. I expected a simple handshake. I did not expect her to squeeze my hand, grin, and then crumple over with a cry of pain. “Ah! My hand!”

Wide-eyed, I backed away and dumbly looked around for what I thought could have hurt her until I realized that what had hurt her was me. Or at least, that was how she made it look, clutching her hand as if I’d just broken all the bones in it. Everyone in the courtyard turned to look at us. I could already feel their accusatory heat on me.

“Mara!” shouted the familiar voice of my fated mate.

I jumped, seeing Oswald throw open the doors of the nearby office building and come bursting into the courtyard. His attention was razor-focused on me.

Within half a second, I suddenly felt like everyone’s enemy, and I barely even knew what happened. All I knew was that Mara was collapsed on the ground, and I was to blame for it. Everybody had just witnessed their future Alpha Female attack the wounded rogue.

Chapter 4: Aria

“Damnit, Aria! What the fuck did you do?” Oswald roared as he rushed toward Mara, his body hastened with an anger I’d never seen in him before.

My hand was still raised in the midst of the unfinished greeting. “I didn’t do anything…”

Confusion stalled my body until Oswald came between Mara and me, shoving me away by the chest. The instant his palm made contact with me, I recoiled and shrank away, alarmed that he would put his hands on me like that. Oswald knelt beside Mara and brought her into his arms. “Are you okay?”

The rogue sniffed and leaned against him. “Yes, I think I’m okay…”

“What happened?”

She looked up at Oswald with watery eyes, holding out her limp hand for him to inspect. “Miss Gunn grabbed my hand to shake it, but I’m afraid she gripped it too tight.”

My chest tightened indignantly at the woman’s feathery, pathetic voice as if the whole ordeal had sapped all the strength from her. I’d barely touched her, and here she was claiming that I basically crushed her hand!

Oswald pierced me with a venomous glare. “You idiot! Can’t you see her hand is injured? Why would you do that?”

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