Page 2 of Alpha's Bullied Mate
I’d handpicked my pack, not out of friendly camaraderie but the same motives and wants out of life. A second chance pack, townies said. But everyone respected us because we’d earned it. While some feared us and stayed out of our way, they trusted us to keep the town safe.
I packed quickly. Most of my belongings fit in a duffel bag, and I’d taught my pack how to live like that, too, even if Oak Hillfeltpermanent. If my past had taught me anything, it was that security wasn’t in a place; it was who you were there with. My guys—that's where I belonged.
I walked out of the house, whistling through to the pack we were ready to set out.
Silverlake Valley would be under my authority soon. Fenrys’s pack, eliminated, and I would make roots in that tiny town where nothing ever happened.
***
There was a large house near the town entrance, belonging to my family and the once-respected Tyrones. It seemed nobody had inhabited it since my family’s banishment. I scoffed. They were likely scared the house was cursed for betrayers.
It was where I moved the pack to as soon as we entered Silverlake Valley. Even as a wash of memories drowned me as soon as I walked through the front door, grounding myselfin remembering I wasn’t that weak, pathetic kid anymore, I detached myself from this house, and how it was once a home. I shook it off.
“Ready?” I asked Jason, as the rest of the pack dumped duffels and backpacks across the floor and old furniture left behind.
He jerked a nod at me. “On your word, Aidan.”
“Let’s move out.”
Chapter 2 - Dakota
Moving from a tiny town to an equally small town where everybody got to know each others’ business had been something I’d prepared a long time for. When my parents had heard of Fenrys Randon’s Mating Games, they’d sent me to take my shot in the most hopeful and pressuring way.
While becoming Luna of the most powerful alphas outside of Atlanta would have been amazing, I still held the long straw. Fenrys hadn’t been someone I’d fallen in love with, but I had met Thalia during the Games and became fast friends with her. Watchingthemfall in love and become mates had been a joy.
Then, Thalia had asked me to officially join the pack, Fenrys had agreed, and I’d made a new home for myself, avoiding my parents’ disappointment in the process. A year ago, I had joined Silverlake Valley’s pack, watched my friend and leader come back from a kidnap attempt, having their lives risked, and I knew I would do anything to protect them.
But ever since, Fenrys and Thalia had holed up in their home, and Conall had been asked to step up in his place. I had been landed with the tasks nobody else particularly wanted. It was my duty to clear up the outdoor parties some of the omegas threw, and while generally, it was a whole pack duty, I offered to stay longer and let some of the other shifters go on. I wanted to prove myself.
In Oak Hill, I hadn’t found a pack to belong with, and I wanted to belong to Fenrys’s pack, even if Conall constantly tested me ruthlessly. I understood, I did. He had to make sure I was up to it. The rest of the pack had been tried and chosen and proved themselves fighters or resourceful. I had been invited inby the Luna from a competition; of course, Conall wanted to test me.
I proved to him why I had been a close second in the Mating Games each day. Not because Fenrys and I had felt for each other but because I could fight for myself.
Still, I was the smallest and physically weakest, which meant I got to scrap for food and went last in formation. I didn’t think it was nasty, but Conall took advantage of Fenrys being gone to pull rank over me. He was a hard leader, but I respected him.
“Did you grab the cake from the bakery that Thalia likes?” he asked me as we walked out of town, towards Fenrys’s house.
“I did,” I answered. “I already left it with Theo.”
“Nice. What about the banners?”
“That wasn’t my task. Lyna was assigned that.”
Conall stopped short and sighed. “Dakota. I specifically asked you to get the cake and banners.”
“No, you told me to sort the cake and balloons.”
“I have it written down—” Conall checked his notes app on his phone, and scowled. “Shit. You’re right.”
I knew that, but I shrugged. “You could stand to give me a break, you know?”
“Sorry, am I being too hard on you?” he asked sarcastically as we got closer to the house. “Can’t handle it?”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” I said tightly. “It’s been a year. What do I actually have to do to prove myself to you?”
“Too many of the pack have slacked as they got complacent with their places with us,” Conall muttered. “I love them, but—well, you’ve seen some of them. They do a lot for thetown but are lazy bastards sometimes.” He laughed, as if it was said affectionately. “I’m trying to start a new precedent.”
“By dunking on me every day?” I asked.
