Page 12 of Bullied Pretend Mate
“Oh,” he says, and I hear rather than see him nod. “I heard about Calantha. Should I say I’m sorry for your loss?”
That makes me snort. Felix knew my grandmother—or he did, until the Ranas stopped associating with the Villareals after the fire. Which means he knows just how little I cared for her, and how much less she cared for me.
“No,” I say, and maybe it’s because I’m exhausted, or that this situation is honestly too funny to even feel real, but I go on, “You shouldn’t because she’s still fucking with me, even in the afterlife.”
“What do you mean?” I can’t see him that well, but I know he’s tilting his head like he always does when he doesn’t understand something. I would saylike a dog, but we all have our wolves, and he’s the only one who does it.
“She left everything to me in her will.”
“Oh, that’s sick—”
“Butonlyif I play along with her stupid games.”
He’s silent for a moment. “Games?”
“I have to…”
I pause and swallow hard, not sure why this part suddenly makes my entire body feel like it’s on fire. It doesn’t matter. I’m leaving tonight. We’ll never see each other again. I’m going to run away like a green Cinderella the moment this fucking elevator opens.
“I have to mate with an alpha. And that isnothappening.”
“Oh,” Felix says, something a little rough in his voice. When he moves, he knocks his shoe against mine again.
I go on, “And it has to be acknowledged by the supreme, which I heard is Xeran now?”
“Yeah,” Felix moves again, knocking his foot against mine again, and this time, it sends a shiver up the full length of my spine. “Yeah, he took over as the supreme when Declan died. It was rough for a little while, and people weren’t too happy about Phina, but I think she’s doing such a good job that—”
“Wait,” I say. “What do you mean, people weren’t happy about Phina?”
Felix pauses. “You didn’t know? She’s the pack luna, Maeve.”
My whole world tilts for a second, and I wonder if I drove off the side of the mountain on the way here and am really in hell. Or some version of the afterlife we never learned about in school, where everything you thought was impossible finally happens.
How in the world does a girl from our group go on to be with the alpha supreme? Especially when Xeran rejected her so publicly back then. How could she come back from that?
The questions flood my mind, and as though he can hear them, Felix answers, “They actually…Well, I guess Phina was pregnant back then. People are pretty understanding of them being together with Nora around.”
The teenager I saw walking with her.
“Andespeciallywith the new baby. And like I said, she’s been doing a great job. It’s like most people were willing to look past what happened. Also, not sure you know this, but it’s scary as fuck to be on Xeran’s bad side.”
I snort. I don’t know about Xeran, but I remember his father admonishing Phina and me in front of what felt like the entire pack. And that was enough Sorel punishment for me for an entire lifetime.
“I can imagine,” I mutter, looking up at the blinking red light at the top of the door, wishing I could say something like,So what do you have planned this summerorHow are things going with you, but to say those things would feel wrong. Like an insult to the way Felix and I know one another.
“How is your mom doing?” I settled on it instead, because last I knew, Felix’s mother was having surgery.
“Great,” Felix says, nodding. “We found a really good shifter surgeon who was able to get her paw back into shape. Like it never happened. She’s right back to normal.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“I almost wish she wasn’t, then she wouldn’t be on my ass about—”
He pauses, his eyes going wide, and he stares at me a little too intensely for my liking.
“What?” I ask, uncrossing and recrossing my feet at the ankles, trying to ignore the urge to knock my foot against his again. “About what? And why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s perfect!” he exclaims, a grin spreading across his face. When he leans forward, looking eager, I’m reminded of a million times in our childhood that he had aperfectidea. Usually, that led right into me cleaning up the mess afterward.
