Page 48 of The Wolf's Bullied Mate
They gave me pause. “Why?” I needed to entertain his demands to find out what was happening here.
“There will be consequences if you don’t return,” Father said.
I still didn’t understand what he meant. “I’m legally part of the Moondust Hollow pack now, Dad. What do you mean I must return?”
“We don’t respect the agreement made between the alpha of Moondust Hollow and the whole Twin Tails Agency, or whatever it’s called,” Father said. “To me, it seems like Moondust Hollow has stolen a member of Lone Bite. That kind of act can’t stand.”
His voice was frosty. A chill went down my spine.
“It can’t stand—what does that mean? What will happen?” I had to ask.
“Should you not return, you will soon find out,” was all he replied.
I waited for him to say more. When he didn’t, I chuckled. “All my life, you’ve told me I’ve amounted to nothing, and now, when I decided to leave, you suddenly care about my whereabouts and my pack? Lone Bite never wanted me as a member of the community.”
“Moondust Hollow will find out what kind of person you are, too, and the same rejection will happen to you,” he said.
I laughed. “Heck no, that’s not going to happen.”
With those final words, I decided it was time to end the call. I took the phone away from my ear, hearing Father still speaking but not caring to listen anymore. I hung up and found their number in my contacts. I tapped the screen.
Blocked.
Finally, preventing them from contacting me was freeing. I had officially cut them off. I’d done it.
I was free of my parents' influence. They would never abuse me ever again.
Chapter 16 - Oliver
Two days after Caden’s enforcers had reported strange movements at the border of our pack’s territory instigated by the neighboring community of Lone Bite, I found myself standing alongside Ryder and Caden with our forces at the edge of Fairlake. We had gathered every able-bodied member of the community together to investigate. Everyone but us had shifted into wolf form—they were all eager to fight to protect our town from Lone Bite’s potential attack.
We hadn’t been able to determine yet why the neighboring pack was breaking the peace treaty we shared. However, I suspected their actions might have something to do with Pauline. I shifted from foot to foot, thinking about my wife and her son—I had left them back at our house. Our home was in the middle of town, so the likelihood of them ending up in danger was low. Still, the protective alpha part of myself urged me to run to Pauline’s and Ray’s sides to ensure no harm came to them.
“You’re useless,” Caden huffed at me. “Your mind is elsewhere, and I think I know where.”
I glared at him, but I had to admit he was right. My mind wasn’t focused on the fight about to happen here; a fight that was imminent and unavoidable, judging by Lone Bite’s forces being only ten minutes away from where we stood.
“You think Pauline may somehow be involved in this mess?” Ryder arched his eyebrows.
I nodded. “I don’t have proof, though—just a hunch.”
Ryder thought for a moment. “Your intuition has always been on point. Caden and I can handle things here. Go to your wife’s side.”
“Are you sure?” I gave him a surprised look.
“Yes, I want you to focus on fully protecting at least one person. If you stay here, your heart won’t be in the battle. Might as well make yourself useful at Pauline’s side,” Ryder nodded.
“Alright,” I said.
I took off running towards our house. I contemplated shifting into wolf form, but I had no reason to rush to my destination except for a nagging feeling that made me ache to be at Pauline’s side as soon as possible.
I soon found out my hunch was correct.
When I arrived at the house, I saw five people, naked—they must have recently changed from wolf to human form and hadn’t bothered dressing. They were chopping at the front door with an ax. The door to the small shed where I stored the gardening tools was open—they must have gone in there and taken the ax I used to cut lumber for the fireplace. There went my front door.
I watched the tallest, most burly man bash the ax even harder against the entrance to my home. They hadn’t noticed me yet, so I used that fact to gather as much intel as possible. I didn’t recognize the man at the front. One of the people was a woman in her 50s who looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place her. Another man, though, I would have recognized even in my sleep. He hadn’t changed much in the last ten years.
He was Emmett Anderson, Pauline’s father.
