Page 57 of Alpha's Bullied Mate
“Shut up,” I mumbled. The closer I got to Dakota the more I had to fight my instincts to hold her, to take her to the nearest private place, to kiss her, to touch her, to justhave her. I needed to apologize. I needed to tell her I’d lied today, a defense mechanism to get her to leave without a fight. My chest ached.
I walked up to Fenrys and Thalia. Together, they made a formidable couple. Thalia, dressed in a dark leather dress, her nails painted black, almost claws. Her eyes were a dark black, and her long hair hung straight, tucked behind one ear, pushed off one shoulder. With one leg crossed over the other, she looked like a dark queen next to her king, Fenrys. He was dressed in a sharp suit. Of course they would come like this: the put-together couple, the Alpha and Luna of Silverlake Valley.
Thalia smiled up at me tightly. “Aidan.” She inclined her head at me. “The next time you steal one of my friends away and keep her from me, I’ll cut off your favorite appendage.”
I gave her a wide grin. “The life of a Luna suits you, Thalia.”
Fenrys’s hand slid over hers. “‘Course it does. Sit down, Aidan.”
And I did, gesturing for Declan and Jason to stand behind me. Fenrys’s eyes ran over them. I cocked a brow, waiting. “They have my back, no matter what.”
“You need to talk about the past,” Fenrys said. “So I’m here to listen.”
“I think I got everything out earlier,” I said, shrugging, feigning nonchalance. The reality was that I wanted to know the Dakota-centered part of his plan. She wasallI cared about. My eyes kept finding her. I hated that he was the one keeping her from me. But I’d been the one to send her back to him, I had to remind myself of that.
“I always wanted to come back here,” I said, filling the silence. “But coming in now, seeing you two now, and your pack earlier, I know that there’s not enough room for two packs of our size in this town.”
“No, it’s not.” Fenrys had his business head on. This was the mayor’s son I was now speaking to. He’d planned and come back more prepared than earlier. I hated this veneered version of him, but it didn’t ignite my anger the way it had before. “But I do have a proposition for you.”
“I’m listening.”
“We’re both alphas with strong packs,” Fenrys said. “I’ve been told, anyway. I’d like to see that in action. But regardless, we carry a lot of strength between our packs. It’d be a shame to waste it. Last year, we had a run-in with a pack that was… Well, the alpha was trying to do what you wanted to do. Eliminate my pack, take over Silverlake Valley for himself.” I nodded, listening. “I killed him.”
The veiled threat hung in the eye.
“But he was the only one I killed. The rest of his pack dispersed, but we’ve been receiving activity reports in the next town over. We think they could be regrouping and want to have another shot. So here’s my proposal, Aidan. Let the past be the past. Look to the future with me. Allies. Protection for bothSilverlake Valley and Oak Hill. Eyes on all areas. And when the threat comes to fruition—ifit does—then we’ll band together. If you have trouble, we’ll come to your aid. If we have trouble, you agree to come to ours. Mutually beneficial.”
And then he said the thing I’d waited for. “And Dakota is free to choose which pack she wishes to give loyalty to, but she’ll be free to cross into Silverlake Valley if she chooses you. Likewise, we won’t keep her from Oak Hill if she chooses to stay with us but—but accepts you as her mate.”
From behind Fenrys, I heard Dakota’s sharp intake of breath. The word, so brazen, theconcept, thrown out there, had me stilling.
I forced myself not to look at her. I wouldn’t be able to bear it. I wasn’t ready to know what she thought about us being mates. She’d said it but I couldn’t trust a lot said in the height of passion as much as I wanted to.
“If she accepts to be my—” I couldn’t get the word out. I had never wanted a mate. Had hoped to never find her. A mate meant weakness. A mate meant she could reject me and I’d break harder than ever, and I didn’t know if I could endure that. I had already lost too much to ever consider losing a mate as well. “If Dakotaacceptsthen I would insist she join my pack. She would be my Luna, as Thalia is yours. There would be no going between packs. I would not keep her from her friends, but shewouldbelong in Oak Hill with me.”
“That would be her choice.”
“She knows what accepting entails.”
It was why I had made sure she left my house that morning. If she accepted me as her mate, then it meant she accepted Oak Hill as her home again. Silverlake Valley was my past now. I had a complicated relationship with it, but the life Ihad built with my own hands was there. My pack, my family… All of it was there and I’d never give that up for Silverlake Valley when the town couldn’t wait to get us out years ago.
“So, do you accept me as an ally, Aidan? What am I to be to you from here on out?” He cocked his head. Thalia’s eyes burned silent questions into me. “Enemy or ally?”
I hesitated. “My pack would not be under threat by yours?”
“No. Not if we are to work together.”
“And if there’s unrest between our packs?”
“You keep yours in line, and I’ll keep mine in, too.”
“You won’t need to,” Conall spoke up, then. His eyes weren’t on me but behind me. “We can work things out between ourselves, right, little brother?”
“Brother?” I repeated, following his gaze. I looked right to Jason but it was Declan who glared at Conall. “You’re from Silverlake Valley?”
“Surprise,” Declan answered, his voice tight. “Still only second, big brother?”
Conall laughed darkly. “At least I’m second. What are you?”
