Page 9 of The Wolf's Bullied Mate
“Is there a chance of war?” Mother asked in a cheerful tone, as if she didn’t mind more fighting coming to our doorstep.
Jeffrey shook his head. “I wouldn’t say so. Midnight Glow is just trying out our defenses, but I hope we’ll prove to them we’re much stronger than their pack, so they’ll finally give up.”
“If it comes to war, we can defend the pack.” There was pride in my father’s voice.
All they cared for was combat. I swallowed the bile in my throat.
I sipped on my apple juice, hoping the time would come soon when I could excuse myself from the table.
Mother looked at Jeffrey and me and then said the words I least wanted to hear. “Have you thought about getting backtogether with Pauline, Jeffrey? We would love for you to be part of our family.”
His eyes widened, and for the first time since arriving for dinner, he looked at me and actually saw me. He frowned as if he were looking at something vile. I felt the contents of tonight’s dinner rise up inside of me.
“With all due respect, Mrs. Anderson, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Jeffrey said quite diplomatically.
I looked away from him and back at the door to the corridor, praying Mother would take his ‘no’ for an answer and drop the subject.
Getting back together with Jeffrey was the last thing I wanted, so a part of me was glad that he wouldn’t even consider that option for us. On the other hand, I could have done without being reminded that I was so very unwanted.
Of course, Mother ignored his refusal and kept pressing. “Pauline isn’t that bad. She’s pretty enough, and you already have a son together”.
I bit my lip. I looked back at Jeffrey. His frown deepened. He didn’t want to be reminded of Ray’s existence.
Anger rose up in my heart. I didn’t want to be reminded of the fact that Jeffrey didn’t respect Ray. From the look on his face, he’d rather our son was never mentioned, as if he didn’t exist in the first place.
I couldn’t stand it anymore. Even so, I couldn’t quite just get up and leave. I would have hell to pay later if I tried. My parents would consider such an action ‘disrespectful to our guest.’
“To be honest, Mrs. Anderson, I really like you and Emmett,” he addressed my father by his first name. He looked straight at me. “But Pauline? She’s weak and useless. I can do better for a mate. I’ll never get together with someone like her.”
I blinked once, then twice. Mortification filled my heart. He hadn’t really just announced that ‘he could do better than me’, had he? Yes, he had.
Tears welled up in my eyes. I wanted so badly to cry. It was one thing to know Jeffrey didn’t respect me, another to hear those words said straight to my face.
I felt sick. On weak legs, I got up from the table.
“Pauline, I didn’t say you could leave,” Father’s voice was full of warning.
I ignored him. I didn’t want to be in the same room any longer with those people whose words sliced into me like knives. I turned around and, without a word, walked out of the room.
When I was in the corridor, I started running, all the way up the stairs and then to my room.
My current room had once been a storage closet. I had given up my proper room to Ray so he could have his own space. The room I now occupied barely fit my small bed and the tiny white table bearing my old laptop. A single chair and a small wardrobe were squeezed in, which housed my not-very-sizable collection of clothes.
The walls and the furniture were white and in need of repainting. There was barely any personal touch to the space. I had one potted plant on the windowsill. Besides that item, I didn’t dare to decorate the space further. I couldn’t hang pictures up since I didn’t want to hear my parents’ complaints about me damaging the walls.
I laid down on the bed, curling into a ball. I wept deeply, in a way I had rarely let myself weep before.
Jeffrey’s words returned to me. ‘I can do better for a mate.’
Why had he even gotten together with me in the first place? Had I really just been a convenient fuck to him and nothing more? Not someone he’d ever seriously want as alifelong partner. Not someone he’d ever like to make a family with one day.
I remembered how Jeffrey acted when I told him I was pregnant. We were on a walk in the woods when I decided to tell him we would have a child, happiness, and pride filling my voice.
Jeffrey had been great at pretending he cared for me before finding out about the pregnancy. He was an arrogant asshole, but when he doted on me, it was easy to ignore how terribly he acted with everyone else. However, the day I told Jeffrey I was pregnant, he looked at me with such a cold expression. I felt like I was looking into the eyes of a rampaging snowstorm. The wonderful man I thought I knew was gone.
“I don’t want to have a child with you,” he said, gazing straight into my own eyes. “Either get rid of it or things are over between us.”
My mouth gaped open. Where was the man I had fallen in love with, I asked myself.
