Page 7 of The Alpha's Reclaimed Mate

“How did she get hurt?”

Oswald wrinkled his lip and looked away. “Some other rogue wolves attacked her.”

“When, where?” I stepped closer and lowered my voice in case somebody overheard us. “Are our packmates in danger?”

“No,” he said sharply, shaking his head as his annoyance intensified. “We’re fine, Aria. I found her outside of Hale Stone. Why don’t you just mind your own fucking business?”

When he swore at me, it was like a knife was plunged into my chest. I couldn’t understand why he was so resistant to me getting involved and knowing more about the wounded stranger. “I’m just trying to help!”

“Mara doesn’t need your help!” he snapped back.

“Her name’s Mara?” I echoed. “How long is she going to be staying here?”

“It’s none of your concern.”

“It is my concern,” I argued. “Next week is our mating ceremony. I’m going to be Grey Creek’s Alpha Female, and I need to know about the stranger staying in our territory!”

The moment I said the words,‘Alpha Female,’Oswald paled with disgust and tore away from me, turning his shoulder like he couldn’t even stomach looking at me. “Stop trying so hard and acting like you’re already the Alpha Female. Until our mating ceremony happens, you’re nothing, Aria.”

If swearing at me hadn’t injured me enough, then each subsequent word drove that knife a little deeper. Tears prickled in the corners of my eyes. I inched closer, trying to get Oswald to look at me, but I could sense the disdain oozing off of him by his posture and scent. It pushed me to raise my voice in desperation, “Why won’t you just let me—”

“Because I don’t want you to. Go home and let me deal with Mara,” Oswald said harshly. He didn’t look at me again before marching back down the hall. I could do nothing but watch him turn into the room, slamming the door behind himself, abandoned in the stunned silence between myself and the nurse at the reception desk. Fighting tears, I excused myself but only made it outside before blaring shame left me shaking against the wall. All those years of Alpha training were to prepare me for a situation like this. Yet no matter what I did, it wasn’t enough for him! What was I doing wrong…?

Crying quietly into my palm, I hid myself in the darkness and grappled with doubt about everything I’d believed about myself and Oswald. Over and over again, he shattered my dignity. I convinced myself that he didn’t mean it. He was just too busy to pay attention to me, he was just nervous about sharing his duties with me, and he was just… uncertain about the future, and that made him push me away, right? But how many times could he grind my confidence into the dirt and not realize what he was doing to me? Was he testing me by humiliating me in front of our packmates? To see if I could still hold my head high? An Alpha Female should be able to withstand such trials, and I wanted so badly to prove I was strong enough for him, but, I wasn’t sure I could.

Once I finally gathered my strength, I wandered back to the Lodge, to the suite shared by my parents, sisters, and me, and crawled into bed. But even there, I found no comfort. Tidal waves of grief kept me awake, trapping sobs in my throat and staring miserably into the darkness until I finally exhausted myself into sleep.

Nine hard punches against the punching bag left my knuckles throbbing. I was usually pretty resilient when it came to combat training, but today the pain was harder to bear than usual. I clenched my fists and sighed through my nose, biting back my frustrations.

“Keep going,” urged Mr. Ross, standing behind me with his arms folded across his chest.

“My hands hurt,” I muttered.

“I don’t care. Keep going.”

Aggravated, I threw another punch at the punching bag and then scowled at the pain, pulling my hand away.

The Lieutenant grabbed my wrist. “Your form is off. You’re striking with the knuckles of your pinky and ring finger instead of your index and middle finger,” he pointed out, then tossed my wrist aside. “Why are you so distracted today? Your final test is tomorrow. If you fight Preston like this, you’ll get your ass handed to you.”

“Sorry,” I said immediately. “Just give me a bit. I’ll try again.”

“You won’t get a second chance fighting Preston.”

It took all my strength not to let the growl bubbling up in my throat spill out. “I know.”

They had chosen one of Grey Creek Pack’s strongest soldiers to test me tomorrow. I’d met Preston a few times before—he was Cassie’s boyfriend—and I anticipated he wouldn’t go easy on me. Which meant I could not allow myself to be distracted.

Stepping back, I raised my fists and stared at the punching bag, slowly breathing through my nose until the pain receded in my knuckles. I tried to focus, but all I could think about was Oswald and how casually he spoke the rogue’s name, Mara like they might already be friends. A flare of anger ignited in me. I drove my fist at the punching bag, knocking it back, then punched it again as it came swinging toward me. I didn’t care if my form was correct or if I broke my damn knuckles taking my anger out. My hands were bruised by the time I’d finished training.

“Get your head on straight, or your test won’t be the only thing you fail tomorrow,” warned Mr. Ross as he dismissed me later than usual. The subtle warning was aimed at my Alpha training as a whole, and it only worsened my anger. I couldn’t let four years of training go to waste because I was upset about some girl I hadn’t even met.

In the shower, I closed my eyes and washed my hair, finding relief in the hot water before the girls’ soccer team barged into the changing room. They’d know it was me in the shower, but I kept to myself, hoping they would ignore me.

“Did you guys hear about the rogue Alpha Moore brought in last night?” one of the girls asked.

“Oh yeah,” said another girl. “He seems to like her. He spent all day in her room.”

“My friend is a nurse working in the medical center; she said she saw him holding her hand!”

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