Page 31 of Alpha's Bullied Mate
I shook my head. “I can tell when people lie pretty well. Thalia wasn’t the best liar. I think it had something to do with the pack that took her. At first, Conall wasn’t keen on Thalia when she became the pack Luna.”
“Why?”
I went to answer and then stopped short. I was giving away the very information I had sworn to myself not to give. I bit my tongue.
“No,” Aidan said slowly. “No, no, don’t close up on me now, Wolfie. Keep going. Why does Fenrys’s beta hate his Luna?”
“I don’t know,” I lied.
“Yes, you do, you fuckin’ liar,” Aidan said but it was without malice or hatred behind it. If anything, he looked amused. “You’re not the only one who can spot a liar.”
“I’m not…” Then I trailed off, realizing it was pointless to try to deny it. I switched topics slightly. “We often paired together for the trials, Thalia and I. She sort of had this rivalry thing going on with one of the other she-wolves. I tried to stay out of that wolf’s way.”
“Not a fighter back then, huh?”
“No, only with you.”
Aidan laughed softly in the darkness of the evening, pressing down on us. “Good. I like that.”
“The second trial, we were told to survive for twenty-four hours, half of it as a wolf, the other half as a human. Fenrys helped me get settled and I actually thought I’d had a shot. Then he shook off before nightfall. The next day, he and Thalia came back reeking of each other, and something had changed between them.”
“Changed how?”
“Their mating bond,” I said quietly. “They were just… Different. Like everything felt intense for them. The way they looked at each other was terrifying. It was beautiful. It was everything every female wolf gets raised to want. For her mate to look at her like that.”
“That’s what you all get told?”
I nodded. “At least that’s what my mom told me. I thought Fenrys might do that. But after that second trial, I knew that even if I won, he would never look at me that way.” My brows furrowed as I stared down at the pond, avoiding his gaze.“Their story is crazy. Up and down, finding each other, parting, coming back together. Their baby brought them together in the end. Completely.”
Aidan’s eyes twitched as I talked, his shoulders rigid, as if he was closing up on me again. “We don’t get told any of that. We’re primed to be alphas. To take a mate but not always hope for one.”
“You never hoped to find your mate?”
“I neverwantedone.”
“Oh.” The word escaped me in a soft voice, and I didn’t know why I suddenly felt disappointed in what he said. “Why?”
Aidan shook his head. “Doesn’t matter.”
“If it helps, I always wanted one but knew it was a bit of a dream. I was never the boldest or strongest in the room. I could be the smartest, but no man wants the smart girl. Thalia seemed to have everything. It was what drew Fenrys to her during the trials, even without their mating bond. She outsmarted the contestants. She was fast and could hold her own.”
“And you don’t think you can? You have with me. And trust me, I could pound Fenrys in a fight.”
I shrugged. “I’m just resigned to the knowledge that I won’t get what Thalia has.”
Chapter 17 - Aidan
Of all the topics in the world, Dakota had to be focused on mates. She had this pathetic look in her eyes, and I despised it. She looked… Lost. Hopeful. Resigned, as she’d even said.
“Stop it,” I snapped.
“Stop what?”
“Looking the way you did in high school. You’re fantasizing about a life you don’t have. It’s what you always did back then.” I shook my head. “It’s pathetic.”
“Oh, I’m pathetic now?” She asked angrily. “Fuck you, Aidan.”
“No, fuckyou, Dakota. You entered the Games, and you lost. So what? Fenrys wasn’t your mate? So what? But don’t sit there and look like your mate isn’t out there. Like that is the end of the world because it’s not.”
