Page 25 of Betrayed Alpha Bride

“Yeah, I’m hungry,” Nico chimes in. “I’ll come with you.”

“Okay, kiddo, let’s go,” Galen says, walking away with Nico slowly, throwing glances over his shoulder as if he’s afraid of what we might get up to without his supervision.

Winnie leads me over to some shaded picnic tables and sits across from me, reaching out to squeeze my hand as she grins at me.

“It’s so good you’re back,” she says. “I missed you.”

I chuckle. “I think you’re the only one who did.”

“Look, I’d like to argue with you,” she says sympathetically. “But sadly, I can’t.”

“I’m not exactly happy about this, Winnie. It’s no fun being back in a town where everyone hates me.”

Winnie sighs and looks away before bringing her eyes back to mine again. “I don’t know what it was that turned the town against you, but none of it matters now because you’re Galen’s wife. And you’re the mother of his child!”

Winnie’s eyes glitter with curiosity, and I suddenly understand the real reason for this conversation. Luckily, Galen and Nico return with milkshakes and fries, saving me from having to answer.

She wants to know how the match was made.

Quite frankly, so do I.

I don’t want to say anything in front of Nico, though, so I wait for him to go back to playing on the park equipment before I steer the conversation back around.

“So, Galen not having a mate has been a thing for a while now?” I ask.

Winnie nods, rolling her eyes. “Oh my God, yes. Mother and the other elders would not shut up about it.”

“It was that hard for Galen to find someone to date?” I reply with disbelief.

“I’m right here, you know,” Galen grumbles from beside me. “And the answer is, I didn’t have time. Dating is just so… and, well…”

“I signed him up,” Winnie reveals with a devilish grin. “I was just scrolling and saw the ad come up. I’m always teasing Galen with my little pranks, and this looked so perfect. I presented it as the solution to all his problems.”

“You’re the cause of all my problems,” Galen counters with a groan.

Winnie gives him a shove. “He only went to the first meeting because I totally dared him. He was so pissed about me filling out the forms, he wasn’t going to go. But I said he didn’t have what it takes to woo a woman anymore. It’s been so long since he went on a date!”

All of this is adding up in my mind to one conclusion. When I look up at Galen, his averted eyes seem to confirm it.

He hasn’t dated much since I left.

Maybe he hasn’t dated at all!

“Really?” I say. “How long, exactly?”

“I’m not sure,” Winnie answers thoughtfully. “But definitely no steady girlfriend.”

I can’t stop looking at Galen, and his face is open and calm.

“It’s true,” he says simply. “I haven’t dated anyone. Like I said, I’ve been too busy.”

The last sentence is hurriedly tacked on as if he’s proving a point. My mind starts bubbling with ideas—first unpleasant thoughts of him with other women, then the far more attractive prospect that he’s been completely alone and pining for me every moment we’ve been apart.

I don’t even care. He can do whatever he wants.

“How did you end up on that site?” Winnie asks me. “It’s still wild that it matched the two of you. I mean, of all the people who applied, they contracted two people who already knew each other. What are the odds?”

Winnie props her chin in her hands and stares at me with an eager grin. I realize that Galen is also watching me with great interest, but trying to hide it under a calm expression.

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