Page 77 of The Alpha's Bullied Rejected Mate

“No!” Riley stormed, not falling for it. He stretched the rod in a swift movement as the edge tipped below Marcus’s jaw.

Impressive, Marcus thought to himself.

“Everyone says you’re one of the strongest here. I need you to teach me how you fight, too,” Riley whined, letting his hands down.

Marcus picked Riley up in his arms. “I would teach you, and when you are big like me, you would be very good too. But only if you promise me to always listen to your mama.”

“No. The drinks she gives me are too bitter. I won’t take them,” Riley pouted.

“Fine,” Marcus set him down from his arms, “then I won’t teach you anything either.”

A sad look passed across the boy’s features, and Marcus counted the seconds till he said, “Deal.”

Marcus smiled and picked him up in his arms again, “Good boy.”

Riley whooped with laughter, wrapping his tiny arms around Marcus’s neck.

Just then, Athena approached them, her eyes fixated on the rod that rested on the ground now.

“Riley, what were you doing with that?” she questioned, concern etching onto her features.

“Uncle Marcus wants to teach me how to fight,” Riley beamed.

Athena exhaled in disbelief, and Marcus tried to suppress the smile that threatened to break on his face.

“Don’t break my kid,” she voiced at him with a slight frown.

Marcus winked at her, “he’s tougher than he looks.”

She rolled her eyes, but he caught the ghost of a smile that appeared on her face.

Their interactions had been small, like test steps across thin ice. But they were steps nonetheless. They talked sometimes after sunset, seated side by side beneath the trees. Their conversations had a quiet rhythm to them, careful and loaded. Never quite touching the topic that loomed between them.

But one night, she seemed lighter.

Like the weight on her shoulders had lifted, if only a little. They sat under a cedar tree as they stared out into the night.

“I feel more relaxed than I’ve felt in a while,” she admitted, a soft smile curving her lips.

He turned to her, his heart stuttering at the curve of her lips.

That smile… it would destroy him.

“How did you live after leaving the pack?” he asked, his voice low as he intended.

He had hesitated before asking that question. He hadn’t wanted to bring it up. But he needed to talk to her, and he needed her to talk to him as well; now seemed like the perfect time.

She shrugged, a little laugh escaping from her lungs as she reminisced about the days.

“It was rough,” she chuckled. “You don’t want the details.”

“It was a rough life. You don’t want the details. But those were my last real ‘adventures’ before Riley. I had to be more careful after that.”

The question.

“I do,” he said quietly.

“You were pregnant… how did you manage?”