Page 22 of Alpha's Bullied Mate
“You threw respect out the window when you punched me, Aidan,” Conall seethed. “Butfine. Dakota wants out? She can have it. But Fenrys won’t let her remain out. He’ll want an explanation. Nobody just absconds from a pack.”
“What, he wants to force her out as if it was his decision? You’re hurt that you couldn’t kick her out first? The Randonsloveto do that, don’t they?” I wiped my knuckles across my lip, wincing when I realized Conall must have hit me when I’d floored him. “Get off my property, Conall. It’s Fenrys or nobody.”
“Or what?” he asked.
“Or next time, when you come within sight of my house, it won’t be fists I’ll take you down with. It’ll be a gun, and you’ll be dead before you can leave the woods and get to where you’re standing now.”
My threat lingered in the air. A growl emanated from Conall’s chest, and I smiled smugly. “Go on, then. Run back to your alpha like a good dog.”
Conall bared his teeth at me and gestured for the rest of the pack to follow him when he retreated. He had to honor all potentially absconding pack members needed to be questioned by their alphas. That’s what I had been banking on. Fenrys would return, but I wouldn’t make it easy for him.
He’d had the warning.
Now, it was his turn to play his hand.
Chapter 12 - Dakota
Not every life is ruined by death.
Aidan’s words echoed in my head after he left. It sparked my frustration, questioningwhyhe harbored so much hatred for Fenrys’s pack. What was the full story? Why would he go far as to say that lives could be ruined by that pack?
Muffled voices pierced the silence. Aidan had shouted at his pack before, an alpha drawing them into line when they needed to be, and I could only assume it was about my escape. They were likely still getting the grilling from that.
Why was Aidan so angry? It was something I couldn’t figure out in high school, and I couldn’t now, either. Where did I fit into that anger or his feelings about Fenrys’s pack? That pack had saved me from myself, from a version of myself that had never felt honest. And while I had developed another quieter persona to suit whoever I was around, it had given me an escape from home. I loved my parents, but Oak Hill had started to become suffocating, and I had always idolized Silverlake Valley.
This small town's rich history and mayorship passes through one trustworthy family. In the end, that was the only reason I didn’t put too much stock into what Aidan said. I didn’t have to believe it if he couldn't explain his story. I believed facts and history and a happy town. I believed my own dreams of making a home here.
Until Aidan came into me less than half an hour later with a bleeding lip. Jason followed, a bruise cracked across his cheekbone. Even Declan was the same.
“What—”
“Don’t speak,” Aidan snapped. “Don’t say a damn word, Dakota.” He jerked his head at Jason. “Get her in the car, and don’t fuck it up this time.”
“No, you said we had more time,” I said, despite the warning. “Aidan, no, you said—”
“Ialsosaid I wasn’t always honest, didn’t I? Get in the car quietly and nicely. Now.”
Something had spooked him. My eyes cut to the backfield outside, thinking of the raised voices. “Who came to the house?”
Aidan went quiet. Jason said nothing, only began to untie my other wrist while Jason sliced through my ankle binds. As soon as they did, I launched myself at Aidan. Fatigue and a lack of food weakened me, as well as my burst of energy to fight him last time, had me flopping forward, crumpling against his chest. But I righted myself.
“Who was it?”
“Nobody.”
“Was it my pack?”
“No.”
But his eyes, normally so keen to disarm me with contact, avoided me. I thumped a fist against his chest. “Aidan,” I yelled. “Was it my pack?”
He sighed as if I exhausted him and scooped me up as I began to scratch and fight my way out of his hold. He tossed me over one shoulder and carried me out of the house, out the front, as I screamed to be put down. He only did to deposit me in the front seat of the car. I didn’t stop fighting, screaming, begging to know who he’d fought with. Had it been Conall? Theo? Lyna? Did they truly care about me after all? Aidan was happy for me to think they didn’t, but I had to find out.
Aidan seatbelted me in, and rather than go around the side and risk me bolting, he climbed over me, shut the door behind him, locked in, and got himself behind the wheel. Without waiting for the rest of his pack, he put the safety locks on the doors.
“You’re trash, Aidan,” I spat. “Do you know that?”
“Funny enough, yeah, I do. Tell me something new, Wolfie.”
