Page 15 of Arranged Bullied Mate
Emily shakes her head so fiercely her hair falls forward in a shining sheet. “No, it’s not. I mean, I miss my dad every single day, and he wasn’t exactly, you know, soft. He was an alpha through and through. But I still miss him.” She looks at me, something bright and fierce in her gaze. “I think we’re supposed to want that. Family.”
I fight back the tears that spring to my eyes as Emily, probably quite unwittingly, speaks straight to my heart. I manage a nod and a smile as I continue to flip through the magazine, willing my tears to dry.
“I can’t stay long today,” she says suddenly, glancing at her watch with a sheepish cringe. “I have to cover at the library for a friend this afternoon. But if you want, I can come back tomorrow. We could, I don’t know, hang out, maybe watch something dumb, and eat all this chocolate?” She gives a hopeful, small smile, like she’s expecting me to say no.
It’s tempting to shut her out, to keep my walls up, but I find myself nodding. “I’d like that,” I say, and the words surprise me with their honesty.
Her smile widens, and she claps her hands together in a silent cheer. “Yesss. I’ll bring the good snacks and a movie, and we’ll make a whole thing of it.”
I try to actually read the magazine after Emily leaves, but my heat and thoughts of Sophie make it almost impossible to concentrate, so I decide to explore the yard and see where the perimeter ends. I’m not sure what my plan is or what I hope to achieve, but I need to know there’s at least a potential way out. Walking the boundary, I’m almost back at the house when I notice a figure moving around the side of the property. Assuming it’s Ronan, I don’t panic right away, but soon, the figure steps out into the sunlight, and I see it’s not Ronan at all. It’s Maddox—a wolf from my childhood I’d rather forget.
He’s even broader than I remember, with a square jaw and close-cut dark hair. His eyes are sharp, almost cruel, and his smile is the kind you wouldn’t turn your back on. He’s wearing a leather jacket over a shirt that probably cost more money than I’ve ever known, and he moves with the lazy confidence of an apex predator. I freeze, my first instinct to turn and run, but something in his gaze holds me there.
“Well, well,” he says, drawing out each syllable. “If it isn’t the prodigal omega.” He looks me up and down, his attention lingering a little too long on my chest, the curve of my hips. I can feel my skin flush as if I’m standing naked in front of him. “You’ve grown up, Ava. Didn’t think you’d have the guts to show your face around here again.”
I bristle, wrapping my arms around myself and taking a step back. “My parents were the traitors, not me.”
He grins, and it’s all teeth. “Sure thing,” he says, sauntering closer and lowering his voice. “Your heat really is quite intoxicating, isn’t it? That’s not why I’m here, though. You know, I hear things. Things I don’t like. Everyone’s got secrets, after all.”
I don’t like where this is going one bit, but I don’t say anything. I just stand there, stunned as he steps even closer. “Do you ever think, maybe, you’d be better off leaving? Now?”
Is he reading my mind, or is he threatening me? I can’t even tell. Something flashes in his eyes as he waits for my response. I don’t even have time to work out what he’s trying to say before I hear a male voice on the deck. “What the hell are you doing, Maddox?”
I spin around and see Ronan’s beta, Jacob, walking down the steps, looking enraged. “You know better than to be here,” he snaps as Maddox puts his hands up in mock surrender, smirking as he steps back.
Jacob’s voice is cold, and the lazy confidence of Maddox’s posture disappears. His smile tightens and then falls away entirely as Jacob approaches, all business, every inch the beta Ronan needs him to be. He plants himself between us so fast it's like a magic trick, and for a moment, I’m shielded from Maddox’s gaze by a wall of broad shoulders and barely suppressed rage.
“What are you thinking, Maddox?” Jacob says, his voice so low it’s almost a growl. “Alpha’s orders are clear. You don’t come near the house, and you don’t talk to Ava. If you have business, you go through me.”
Maddox shrugs, unbothered. “Didn’t realize Ronan’s perimeter extended to sunlight and open air. I was actually just looking for Emily.” He says her name with a smirk, letting it linger in the air like a bad taste. “She said she was coming by the house. Don’t jump to conclusions so quickly, Jacob.”
The mention of Emily’s name only seems to enrage Jacob even more, and he balls his fists as Maddox steps further back. Jacob doesn’t even blink. “Out. Now.”
Maddox grins, but the challenge is fleeting. “Don’t get your hackles up. I’ll be on my way. Tell Emily I’ll catch her later.” He gives me one last lingering look before turning and disappearing back into the shadows past the gate, shoulders loose but his pace just a bit too fast to be genuinely nonchalant.
The silence he leaves behind is brittle. Jacob stands there for a moment, hands clenched at his sides. When he finally turns to me, his expression is oddly gentle, at odds with the fury I just witnessed.
“You okay?” he asks, voice low.
I nod, but my pulse is still thrumming.
“Don’t talk to him,” Jacob says, and it doesn’t come out like an order, but more like a plea, or maybe a warning. “He’s trouble.”
I want to ask why, or what’s going on between them, but I don’t have the energy to play the pack politics game. Instead, I say, “He said he was looking for Emily.”
Jacob looks murderous for a moment before letting out a breath. “He’s definitely just looking for trouble there,” he mutters. “But that’s not why I came. Ronan asked me to give you this.”
He hands me a piece of paper with a message written on it. I scan it in dismay, seeing it’s a carefully worded message from my parents asking me to let them know I’m okay. I scoff lightly and notice Jacob raise his eyebrows. “Ronan said you can call them at that number and let them know.”
I try to school my features, knowing full well they don’t care how I’m doing. But at the same time, I’m instantly desperate to hear news of Sophie. I don’t want to look too keen infront of Jacob; I don’t want to draw attention to my relationship with my banished parents, after all.
I nod. “Thank you, I guess I should let them know,” I tell him, keeping my voice as even as possible.
Jacob leaves me with the slip of paper and a strange, searching look, like he wants to say more but doesn’t trust the air to keep it private. I stand there until the click of the gate signals he’s gone, then duck back inside, the note burning my palm.
It’s my mother who picks up. She doesn’t say hello, just breathes into the phone for a moment, as if she’s waiting for me to speak first. When I don’t, her voice comes sharp and thin, like wire. “We heard the news. Is it true? Are you really inside the alpha’s house?” She spits the word like it’s poison.
“Y-yes,” I say. “How’s Sophie? Let me talk to her?”