Page 52 of The Alpha's Bullied Rejected Mate

As she turned to leave, a shadow in the doorway stopped her movements.

She could already sense who it was.

Marcus.

He stood sideways, as he leaned against the wall that held the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were stormy with something too sharp to be called anger as he sent a piercing gaze toward Athena.

Her breath caught in her throat as she could already guess why he was here.

He stepped forward. “He’s mine,” he said. “Isn’t he?”

Athena froze as the question echoed in her mind.

She had dreaded this moment, and even though it was finally here, the fear still crept up her throat. Fragments of her vision of Riley dazzled through her mind as she struggled to find the answers to those words.

Her lips parted, but no sound came. She couldn’t even deny it now. The truth hung between them like an unspoken spell.

“Why—” he stuttered like he was struggling to believe it. His voice was low and raw.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he added slowly, counting the words with his voice.

Athena closed the door behind her. She turned away and brushed past him in a bid to ignore him.

She couldn’t face him. She didn’t want to.

She turned to the corner without a word and began to descend the stairs.

But he was following her as the sound of his boots padded on the stone floor like thunder.

“We need to talk,” he voiced from behind her.

She finally stopped in her tracks with fury crawling up her skin as she turned on one foot to face him.

“Talk?” She let out a dry laugh.

“You want to talk now?” she scoffed.

“About what?”

“What could the great Marcus Vale possibly want to discuss with a witch like me?” she huffed and continued her steps.

“About the fact that you’ve been lying to me since the start!” he screamed, hurrying behind her.

“You don’t wield dark magic. You’re a white witch. That’s how you sustained the demon attack.”

He caught up with her just as she descended the last step and grabbed her arm to turn her around to face him.

“Your face,” he pressed.

“You used a glamor spell, didn’t you? That’s an old, powerful magic that can’t be accessed by witches with dark magic.”

“That’s how you fooled everyone,” he continued, his voice dropping into a lower pitch. “Even me.”

“That’s how you fooled everyone,” he continued, his voice rising.

“Even me.”

She turned at the base of the stairs and locked her eyes onto his. “I had to.”