Page 85 of The Alpha's Bullied Rejected Mate

Chapter 17 - Marcus

This was the longest Marcus had gone without being called into a mission or some hunting duty.

No urgent summons. No encrypted messages. No dispatch orders from the Council demanding his blade, skill, or duty.

And so, his unexpected vacation at the rescue camp stretched on with an unfamiliar kind of stillness that both eased and unsettled him. He wasn’t used to idle mornings.

The air in the pack was different—warmer and softer.

And for the first time in years, Marcus Vale wasn’t on a hunt.

And the strange part?

He didn’t hate it.

Initially, it had felt like his world was tiptoeing in between storms, holding its breath and waiting to collapse.

Like his fate had paused just long enough to make him feel the weight of the choices he had made now.

He had always believed that consequences came swiftly, with blood most of the time. But this... this was slower. More insidious. A long-held mirror reflecting the face he had hurt, every promise he had broken. And somehow, it felt worse than a battle.

Especially now, when the people he loved most were finally near, yet still not entirely his. Not yet.

Athena. Riley.

Some part of them felt just out of reach, even though they were both right here, laughing under the same stretch of stars,and breathing the same forest air as him. It seemed as though he was observing them through a glass, never getting too close to the important things.

But each passing hour without combat, without orders, without some deadly directive shouting him away from everything he wanted felt like a gift. And gods knew Marcus had never been good at accepting gifts. He had learned to suspect them. Question their sincerity.

But not this time.

Not with her.

He had lost too much already. Let too much slip through his fingers because he had thought he wasn’t supposed to want more.

But not anymore.

This time, he would fight for something different.

He would fight to stay.

To choose softness and peace. To make space for something gentle in a life that had been anything but that.

To choose her, even if she didn’t choose him back, not yet.

So, here he was planning a date.

A date.

The idea of it made him feel absurd. And hopeful. And young again. He hadn’t done anything like this since before everything had fallen apart.

But Athena had said yes.

One date.

Just one date.

And it was enough.