Page 115 of The Alpha's Bullied Rejected Mate

He reached out, brushing a stray strand of hair from her cheek.

She had nearly died.

His hand raked through his hair, still shaken from the thought.

Athena woke up nearly two hours later, but Marcus hadn’t moved from her side since.

The glow from the fireplace painted the room in soft golds and shadows.

She turned her head slowly to face him. “You have been quiet,” she noted.

Marcus gave her a faint smile.

“Well…watching the person you love almost get ripped apart does that to you,” he murmured, his eyes fixed on the blanket as the words slipped out before he could catch them.

A thick silence fell between them.

Their eyes met. And for a long, breathless moment, neither of them looked away.

“What… what did you say?” Athena pressed.

Marcus tore his gaze away from her to the blanket, like it could offer him answers he hadn’t dared to ask himself until now. But there was none; all that was left was to face the raw, unguarded truth.

Love.

The word stuck in his throat.

He had been in love with her longer than he had let himself admit.

“You know, I had not realized it myself until today. Until I watched you in pain helplessly and caught in the heart of danger itself,” he began.

The fear that gripped him then… it had cut deeper than anything he had ever felt.

“The thought of losing you terrified me more than death itself.”

“And now, sitting here with you, I can no longer pretend. Athena.” His voice faltered slightly at the end.

“I know I have made mistakes. I had pushed you away. I had betrayed your trust

but…” He paused as the emotions tugged at his heart.

“I love you. I’m sorry.”

His voice softened as the weight of those words settled between them.

Athena stared at him, her forest green eyes wide and unreadable.

Marcus reached out to hold her hands, when suddenly her fingers tightened around his wrist with sudden, unnatural strength as her head jerked backward.

The air around them shifted, and all the warmth of the room vanished in an instant, replaced by an eerie stillness as if something behind them was pulling them out of the present.

His vision burned with images that were not his.

And then it disappeared, reeling him back to the present in the same jolt. Marcus jerked back, his breath ragged as he stared down at their hands.

Athena slowly came back to herself, blinking away the lingering haze. She locked

eyes with him as she muttered, “You saw it.”

Yes, he did. He just got reeled into her vision. And he saw it all. Riley. In danger and

a looming, wary darkness that was coming after them.