Page 15 of Alpha's Bullied Mate
Aidan rested his arm on the back of his chair. “Take your sweet time. I have nowhere to be.” Grease, oil, and dirt streaked over his skin. It must have annoyed him to not shower yet and I kept my silence stubbornly close, knowing I would prevent him from washing up.
“I’m not telling you anything about his pack,” I snapped. “I stay loyal, Aidan. Not that you’d know loyalty if it bit your ass.”
“You wound me!” he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he held a fist to his chest. “I know a fucking lot about loyalty, okay? You know who doesn’t, though? Fenrys goddamn Randon.”
“How would you know?” I hissed. “You don’t know him.”
“And you do? He brought you into his pack and then disappeared for a year, right? All you’ve known is that bastard, Conall. How well do you really know your pack’s alpha?”
I hissed at him. “I knowenough. More than you.”
Aidan let out a sharp bark of laughter. “Don’t make me laugh, Dakota. You don’t know shit. Not about me, about Fenrys, about any of our lives.”
“Thentell mewhat I’m oh so missing out on!”
“How about you tell me first, and then I’ll give you some answers in return…” He leaned close, grinning like a bastard. “As a treat.”
I snapped my teeth close to his face. “Poke a wolf too much, and you might just get bitten.”
“Come closer,” he purred. “Find out howthiswolf bites.”
And after our fight in the forest, Iwantedto, and then was horrified at my own desire and want. At the same time, I wanted nothing to do with Aidan Tyrone. So why had I let myself be brought back. I could have hunted for food, fuelled a shift, sniffed my way back to Fenrys’s pack. The question was small and quiet in the back of my mind: had I let myself be found? Maybe I wanted to destroy Aidan and his pack from the inside.
At least that's what I told myself for comfort. It wasn’t because some twisted part of me hadmissedhim. Had missed the way his taunts brought out my rough-and-ready feral side. I was good and soft until I faced him, and then he made me unrecognizable and angry, even to myself.
Maybe I was done being the good girl sweetheart who rolled over for everyone and did what she was told. Maybe I enjoyed being the fighter that Aidan brought out in me.
“I won’t say a word,” I told him. “Try what you want, but it won’t get me to talk.”
Aidan shrugged. “Fine. But there was a reason you went after Ryan. Did they go after you in the same way? Weedle you out as the weakest, the most naive? That sounds like Conall. What about Theo? Even Lyna has a nasty little streak, doesn’t she?”
“Why do you talk about them like you know them?”
“Like I said, you don’t know a lot about me, Dakota. You think you do but you don’t. Did they take advantage of your need to be accepted into the pack? I know I sure as fuck do with Ryan. I’m bold enough to admit that. Jasedefinitelydoes. He loves pushing him around. The difference between Fenrys and I was that if someone nabbed Ryan in the middle of a patrol, I would notice when he didn’t come home.” He put his chin on his closed fist. “Has anyonereallymissed you, Dakota? Why aren’t they batting down my door right now, demanding a negotiation to get you back? Are youreallyso important to them? They’d risk another pack’s wrath for Thalia or even Lyna. But what about you?”
He sounded so sardonic, but there was something disgustingly attractive about the way he riled me up. He was so confident in his own skin, in his anger and taunts, that I couldn’t look away from him.
“They would notice,” I said stubbornly. “Of course they would.”
“Sure.” He rolled his eyes.
“Don’t push me, Aidan. I’m not the same girl you knew in high school.”
“No, you’re not. You’re so much better than that now, aren’t you?” And he meant it, on a strange level. Better because I pushed my anger, because I tested how outspoken I could be without landing myself in too much trouble.
“Try me. You think you’re a tough alpha? How tough will your pack think you are when you have to hurt a woman to get what you want?”
“OhDakota,” he laughed. “I don’t have to hurt a woman to get my way. But if they want to hurt me that’s just an added bonus. I told you, I like you with a bite.” His tongue poked the corner of his mouth, all arrogance and self-assuredness.
“I despise you,” I spat.
“I’ve heard that before. Find new material.” I made an annoyed sound in my throat, aware that the hot flush in my cheeks wasn’t only from my frustration. Aidan stood up, swung his chair away, and walked towards his bedroom door. He was already pulling the drawstring of his sweats, intending to get comfortable in bed, no doubt, while I waited pathetically out here, tied up. “While you’re at it, Dakota, you’ll want to consider where your loyalty lies and whether it’s worth it. You’re on borrowed time before we leave for Oak Hill.”
He was gone before I could register the words.
He was taking me back to Oak Hill, away from my pack.
I couldn’t fall asleep once he closed the door to his bedroom. Instead, I stayed awake and formulated a new plan.
