Page 51 of The Married Alpha And His Arrow: Vol 2

She groaned, “GOD it’s just so fucking annoying. She has these fucking moments of being a bad ass then she’s a bitch. Eric tried to help her, but she kept lying to him about where the rogues were coming from. He suspected it was Alpha Hammond. He knew three were from his pack, but Sophia said they weren’t.”

She gritted her teeth, “Because of how their system works he couldn’t take it to the council without her cooperation. My lion is ten different shades of fucking pissed off with her. If she’d have told them what Hammond was doing, he wouldn’t have attacked his pack multiple times. Or tried to take and hurt Emmaline. He said he would have focused on David instead of playing games with Hammond.”

I considered all of that. Finally, I admitted, “He’s not wrong, but that’s hindsight. Sophia didn’t know Hammond would be that big of a problem for someone else.” Haley sighed, “Logically, you’re right but she’s a bitch and right now I hate her.”

I laughed, “You hate her for what she did to me, Eric, and Emmaline.” Haley added, “And my lion. Even though it’s not totally her fault. The you thing though, that’s her fucking fault. She met with Eric yesterday and owned her shit though. She met her mentor and I think she can turn it around. I think she wants to. For the first time in a long time Eric said he actually had hope after talking to her.”

Ted complained, “How can we be nice to that bitch? She hurt my girl!” Haley sighed, “For Matt. You can do it for him. We don’t have to be her best friends. She went through some shit and I sympathize. Eric filled me in on the things I didn’t know. I might have killed Wallace, that piece of fucking shit is gone.” I asked, “Her old Gamma?” Haley nodded, “I was even nice and asked Sophia if I could kill him first. She actually seemed relieved she didn’t have to do it.”

I chuckled, “I hear a but coming. I literally hear it.” Haley huffed, “But everyone has bad shit that happens to them. She was taken advantage of, so was I. So were you. I will never fully understand because I’m not a fucking wolf. I do understand their backwards, behind ways are a damn problem.”

She scrunched up her face, “So, I don’t understand the pressure she faced to have a man at her side to rule. It makes no goddamn sense to me. Eric would’ve stood with her without a man beside her, and so would my lion. Chase would’ve too. So, I just don’t get it.”

She rubbed her temples, “Eric said she was young and impressionable. Her dad’s advice pushed her. Whatfuckingever. I will make sure no she wolf feels that way again and Sophia better fucking help me. To pressure someone into marrying when they aren’t ready is fucking sick. She didn’t deserve to have that put on her as a freshly turned eighteen year old and lost her father the night before becoming an Alpha.”

Haley continued, “She still made bad fucking choices. She even manipulated everyone around her to get what she wanted, so she knew it was wrong.” I agreed, “That’s all true.” I thought about everything Haley said. There was someone else here who didn’t understand the pressures she faced, or why Sophia got married and it wasn’t me.

Eric came to get Haley and Heath was with him. Haley smiled and popped into Eric’s arms. Ted cleared his throat, “I’ll just go then. TeleTed NEEDS the deets later though.” He flashed off as Heath laughed. Haley said, “Call if you need me. Either of you.” She squeezed Heath’s hand to everyone's surprise and then popped away with Eric.

Heath smiled and sat down, “I didn’t think we’d get to this conversation until next week at the earliest.” I shrugged, “It needs to be done. I won’t stand in the way of your happiness. Tell me what happened with Sophia from the start.”

Heath sighed, “A month after Dani died, I returned from a mission the day before your string ceremony. I felt the pull I knew all too well. I’d had a ring on that was temporarily concealing me. I was around werewolves, and I couldn’t let them sense me. I was excited to feel the pull, but I missed Dani so much.”

He hung his head, “I wasn’t ready, but I followed the pull anyway. I saw the most beautiful woman. I was about to put everything aside and introduce myself when I caught a glimmer off her finger. It felt like everything fell apart in that moment. My own saliva tasted like ash in my mouth. I was enraged.” What the fuck?! Chase said he didn’t give her a ring!

He cringed admitting, “I almost killed Beta Alfred Jr. when he was with her and hugged her. I thought he was her husband, but he didn’t have a wedding band. He even mentioned she should tell her husband she bought a ring to wear around her pack. I was confused and hurt. I went home and used my connections to find out who her husband was. I was so pissed he didn’t even buy her a ring. She deserved everything. He took her from me, and he didn’t even give her a ring.” Ok, I’d calm down now. He didn’t give her the ring. She was selling the lie to her pack. I could live with that.

He said, “I met the War Goddess and she told me to look into the reasons behind the marriage. I couldn’t kill him after I met her though. I knew it was you she meant when she told me Sophia’s husband was important to someone close to me. Noah broke your heart the next night. You left and I dug into everything involving Sophia and Chase. Their marriage had an end date. It was for convenience, but it still hurt me. I begged the War Goddess to come to me again and she did.”

I asked, “And what did she say?” Heath sighed, “I asked her if I went to Sophia, I wanted to know if she would move up the annulment. The War Goddess didn’t want to answer me, but I begged her to show me. She showed me two paths. One where I didn’t tell Sophia I held a position in the Hood. Sophia told me she wanted me, and she explained everything. It’s how I knew so much about her situation, but I didn’t know about Wallace using her like that.”

He clenched his hands, “I would’ve ripped him apart for that. But on that path, she didn’t get the annulment with Chase. At least not right away. The War Goddess changed the vision to the other path. In this path Sophia knew I had a position here. She annulled the marriage, but when I returned from a mission she’d been marked by Wallace.” That asshole! I was glad Haley killed him.

Heath continued, “Alpha Eric and Chase along with the rest of their allies had attacked Sophia’s pack. I didn’t know why. Obviously, now I know it was because Sophia was forcibly marked on that path. I thought she wanted Wallace and not me; even when she knew me. It killed me. I was wrecked, but I had to push that aside. I knew Sophia was already in a relationship with Wallace. I could see she was trying not to feel, but I thought she must love him. I wanted her to be happy.”

I had a lot of feelings. Just because that was a path that could happen the War Goddess shouldn’t have shown him. Sophia never got the change to react. She could’ve taken another route; nothing was set in stone. Even the future I saw, the War Goddess told me that. Why didn’t she tell Heath?

I rubbed his cheek asking, “What about you?” Heath shrugged, “I was busy, and I wasn’t over Dani. I needed to rule and be there for you. I thought she was ok. I thought she loved him and didn’t want me. I thought when he marked her, willingly and with her consent, I’d get another shot. I was watching out for her though; I didn’t understand why she wasn’t stepping up. She kept hiding, and it didn’t make sense to me. I was waiting for her to step up like I knew she could.”

I pointed out, “You found out that she didn’t want Wallace though.” Heath shrugged, “Sort of. When I heard that Wallace was involved in a coup, I sent Isaiah to her.” I raised an eyebrow, “Not the Troll?” Heath said, “No, Noah was stressed about Sally not getting pregnant. I didn’t want him to have one more thing on his plate. When Sophia took Wallace into custody, I thought it was our moment.”

He looked pissed, “She kept him alive though. Then she still didn’t give Chase his annulment! I was so angry. I thought she was still so in love with Wallace, she couldn't kill him.” I frowned, “Heath, you resent her.” He shrugged, “I’ll get over it.”

I questioned, “Will you? Can you two even be happy at this point? Haley told me about the meeting. If someone turned me green and gave me horns Chase would be irate. If someone was kicking my ass, he would walk through fire to stop them. You didn’t even try to get outside to help Sophia.”

Heath looked as if I’d slapped him. I put a hand on his leg, “I’m just asking you how you really feel here. Your reaction just seems more like someone whose friend was getting the ass kicking they deserved, well at first. Before the magic took over Haley and it morphed into magic lashing out.”

Heath stammered, “I…. I knew if Haley was that upset you were wrecked. I... I just was paralyzed with indecision.” I pointed out, “That’s not like you.” Heath said, “She just needs to find herself. Then we can talk about our relationship.”

I scoffed, “Who is that fair to? Not you and not her.” Heath questioned, “How is that not fair?” I sighed, “If she does all this and then comes thinking she’s getting her happily ever after and you guys can’t make it work that’s not fair. Don’t you both deserve someone who you’re crazy about? That’s crazy about you? That will be there for every single moment of your lives, and not just at the end.”

Heath looked away, “Evidently I don’t.” I was startled, “What?” Heath stood, tears falling from his eyes, “None of my strings want me right away! They have to be talked into it! Dani wanted to deny our connection at first. She was leery of me! When she finally accepted me, I only had her for one month. Then she died! She died two weeks pregnant with our child.”

I was shocked. I yelled, “WHAT?!” Heath cried, “I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t even talk about it. Her autopsy relieved it. Dani didn’t even know. I was so hurt. I read her autopsy report before going out on my mission. Then I returned and found Sophia and she was fucking married! Then she didn’t ever truly accept me in the paths I was shown.” Damn. The goddesses didn’t even give them a chance. It was all a slap in the face, but as much as I wanted them to be Heath’s hangups weren’t Sophia’s fault.

I wryly thought it might be a goddesses fault, but I pushed that thought away. Heath ran a hand through his hair, “Now, that’s still true in the first path. The second path I understand, but in the first path Sophia didn’t know I had power and she didn’t pick me. I’m not the guy who gets the girl who’s crazy in love with him. That would move mountains like you would, or even Haley would for their strings.” I took his hands, “I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

I held him as he cried. I gently asked, “Would you move mountains for Sophia?” Heath frowned saying, “I did move mountains to find her Beta. She called me for help. She doesn’t trust people, but she made a move there with us.” Sophia wasn’t the only one with trust issues here though.

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