Page 18 of Alpha's Bullied Mate
“What’s my next freedom checkpoint? Getting to shower, maybe? Or would you chaperone me personally?” I only wanted to get under his skin, but with the way a muscle in his cheek twitched, I realized I’d struck a nerve. “Oh, you would?”
Aidan leaned in. “Tell me something good, and I’ll consider it.” He said his usual teasing words, but they lacked the rigor with which he usually said them. He relaxed his crouch and, even like that, we were on eye-level. It sent a shiver of attraction through me that I fought to suppress. Aidan’s nostrils flared, like he was scenting the air, and I hoped he didn’t actually smell anything that gave me away.
“How about a little truth or dare?” he asked. “I’ll ask first.”
“I’ll pick dare, every time,” I told him.
“Okay. I hope you’ll like the challenges.”
I shrugged.
“Truth or dare?” he asked.
“Truth,” I said, catching him off guard. I liked to do that. Say one thing, do another, see how people’s trust in me changed. I had done it in college, lying my way to top of the class even though I could do the work in my sleep. But the lying and cheating had let me feel something in a time of awful, horrible confusion and a sense of loss in my life. Now, it would make Aidan doubt anything I told him about Fenrys if that truly was my only path to freedom.
“Why were you recruited into Fenrys’s pack?” he asked. It hadn’t been a question I was expecting.
“I befriended his Luna. She offered me a place alongside her.” It wasn’t the whole story but Aidan didn’t need to know that last year I’d been fresh-faced, softer, and excited for the Mating Games.
“Then how come you ended up at the bottom of the heap if you were Luna-favored?”
I snarled at him. I couldn’t tell him it was because Thalia had invited me in, but then I’d barely gotten to see her, very understandably, so she hadn’t known I’d been treated neutrally, without a whole lot of niceties except from Lyna and Theo.
“I’m not at the bottom of the heap,” I answered. “And that’s another question. It’s my turn.”
“I think you are,” Aidan countered. “You’re a Ryan. We snagged you because you were on patrol. I send the rookies to do that job. They don’t fight. They’re just there to watch and alertuntil we arrive andthenthey fight. They’re not enough without backup.”
I seethed. When I spoke, my voice was tight, restrained. “Truth or dare, Aidan.”
“Dare,” he said.
“Stab yourself with that knife and be useful,” I snapped.
Aidan laughed—actually laughed, a deep rumble from his chest as he flashed a stupidly handsome yet sarcastic grin at me. “How aboutyoudo it? I think you’d like that. What, good girl with a knife kink?” He cocked his head.
“No.” I met his gaze. “Okay, I pick truth.”
“Good choice,” he said. “How did you befriend Thalia?”
“A mutual acquaintance,” I answered quickly, and should have known he wouldn’t have appreciated the short answer. I sighed. “We met Fenrys at the same time. We… Bonded over a short period.”
“You liked him?”
“Fenrys?”
He nodded.
“At one point, maybe,” I answered, surprising myself with my own truth. Aidan’s brow twitched. “But I don’t know if it was duty or actual feelings. Truth or dare?”
“Truth,” he said.
“Why did you hate me in high school?” I asked. The vulnerability in my voice made me wince but I kept my gaze on him.
“Dare,” he tried to amend, but I shook my head. Aidan stood up. “We’re done.”
“No, we’re not.”
“Yes, we are.”
