Page 15 of The Wolf’s Bullied Mate (Moondust Hollow Wolves #2)

The day after Pauline walked away from me was Ray’s first day at the kindergarten.

We had agreed previously to pick him up together, so although Pauline hadn’t spoken to me since our ‘fight,’ we walked hand-in-hand into the building.

The kindergarten was within walking distance from home, just ten minutes away.

I glanced over at Pauline, trying to judge her mood. She seemed lost in her own world, not even sparing me a glance.

What had I done wrong?

I analyzed my behavior so far, but nothing problematic came to mind.

I had helped her get a job, and I had found Ray a place in the kindergarten—of course, I wasn’t demanding her gratitude for those favors; I had been happy to do them for her.

I had also extended my protection to her and Ray as my wife and her child.

It was my alpha nature to care for those I considered mine.

Despite being my wife, Pauline wasn't really mine, though, and neither was her child—at least not yet. I had spent a lot of time over the past few days getting to know Ray better. I really wanted to be a dad to him. The kid didn’t deserve to grow up without a father figure, and he was such a sweet child.

I would have had to be evil not to want to care for him like he was my own.

Pauline completely ignored me. There was no way to tell what she was thinking. Her face was blank, devoid of emotion. Was she still upset with me? Or was she now beyond caring about what I felt?

It stung to be treated this way. I wanted to do better for her. I wished she felt more comfortable with me so she could feel free to speak her mind.

Maybe one day she would. Until then, I would just have to keep trying to get her to open up to me.

After walking the full distance in silence, we arrived at the kindergarten.

Pauline’s face brightened like the sun when she saw her child.

Ray ran into her arms, and the two of them hugged.

I tried not to feel left out of their small world.

When Pauline let go of him, though, Ray turned to me and gave me the sweetest smile.

I smiled back at him, proud to be acknowledged.

“Let’s go home,” I extended my hand to him.

Ray took my hand in his own and grabbed Pauline’s hand as well. Walking between us, he chatted happily about his day. From what he said, I gathered that all the children had welcomed him with open arms, and he was happy with their company. The teacher had praised him for his coloring skills.

“Do you want to be an artist one day, Ray?” I asked him.

“I do!” Ray’s smile brightened.

“I haven’t shown you his drawings yet. I brought them with me from our old pack,” Pauline finally said to me. She had a soft smile and talked to me like she hadn’t just spent the day ignoring me.

I decided not to question this small mercy. “I’m very curious to see Ray’s drawings.”

“I’m going to be an amazing artist,” Ray exclaimed.

“Do you know that both luna Aria and alpha Ryder are artists? Alpha Ryder was a student at the same atelier as luna Aria when they were younger. They learned art together,” I said to Ray.

Ray watched me with curious eyes. “What’s an ‘atelier’?”

“A place where you learn art under the guidance of someone much more skilled at it,” I flashed a smile.

“Unfortunately, the atelier where luna Aria and alpha Ryder learned art closed because the Master of the Atelier grew old and retired. He didn’t accept people younger than sixteen, though, anyway,” I thought out loud.

“But I could ask the luna or the alpha to teach Ray if he’s interested in becoming an artist—what do you think, Pauline? ”

Pauline looked at me wide-eyed, as if the thought scared her. “I wouldn’t want to bother the luna or the alpha with Ray’s education.”

“Oh, it wouldn’t be a bother. Ryder and I have been close friends for years. Ray is my family now. I’m sure Ryder would be happy to help out,” I said as if the proposal was the most logical thing, the simplest action in the world.

Tears welled up in Pauline’s eyes.

My mouth fell open. I felt alarmed. What had I done to make her cry? I didn’t want Pauline to cry. Had I messed up again?

With her free hand, Pauline wiped at the corners of her eyes. “Thank you, Oliver. You’re really doing so much for us.”

“It’s nothing,” I mumbled, suddenly embarrassed.

It really was nothing, right? I was just doing what anyone would do for their family.

“Hey, Oliver!”

I turned around to see Bruce, one of my old high school friends, call out to me.

He walked in our direction with two more of our friends from adolescence, Rick and Andy.

They were all strong wolves—enforcers fighting under Caden’s leadership to protect Moondust Hollow.

Of course, their role didn’t involve much fighting now because now the pack was at peace with everyone.

Come to think of it, these people weren’t just my friends. Pauline had known them, too. In high school, I sometimes pulled her nose out of a book long enough to hang out with them.

I looked over at Pauline to see her visibly pale and swaying on her feet. My wolf growled. We both recognized the fear in her scent.

Pauline was afraid of our three friends, and I had no idea why.

“Oh, isn’t that…?” Andy whistled. He looked Pauline up and down like a leering dog. “That’s Pauline Anderson, isn’t it?”

I wanted to smack that lustful look off of his face.

Rick checked Pauline out again. “That is her!”

“She’s not Anderson anymore,” I spat through gritted teeth. I let go of Ray’s hand so I wouldn’t accidentally hurt him as my own hand balled into a fist. “She’s Norton now.”

“Ah, yeah, you got hitched, didn’t ya?” Bruce boomed in his low voice. “Married to the freak—out of all the women ya could have had?”

“What did you call her?” I frowned.

The words rang a bell to me, though I didn’t know where I had heard them first. How could anyone call Pauline a freak? She was the sweetest girl there was—had always been.

The three enforcers gave me a confused look. “The freak? Cos she’s, like, weird and stuff?”

“Weird, how?” I couldn’t help but ask.

I got the feeling that I should just remove Ray and, Pauline, and myself from this unpleasant situation, but I suspected that if I stayed, I could learn something pivotal—maybe even the missing piece to explain the difficulties of my relationship with Pauline.

Somehow my intuition told me Bruce, Andy and Rick knew something about Pauline that I didn’t, something Pauline had avoided telling me.

“Cos she’s ahhh…” Rick trailed off. Smart, he was not. He never had been. “…She’s the school weirdo—you know.”

I arched my eyebrows. “We’re not in school anymore, though. Why are you picking on her? We’ve got an anti-bullying policy in the pack, and you as enforcers should know better.”

“But,” Andy protested, “you were the first one to call her a freak.”

I opened my mouth to call him out on that ridiculous accusation when suddenly a memory resurfaced.

Pauline, back in high school, was standing next to the giant oak tree, her hand on its bark. She clutched a book in her arms. I put my hand next to hers and leaned in closer.

“You can’t run from the company of others, Pauline,” I whispered in what I imagined back then was a flirty tone. “Come, let me whisk you away.”

She blushed a deep shade of red and bit her lip. Oh, how I had wanted to kiss her back then. I almost leaned in and did it that day. Suddenly, though, her eyes got this faraway look. She stared at me, not seeing me, her mouth gaping open like she was frozen in time.

I understood what was happening because my parents had once told me that rare wolf shifters exhibited psychic traits. They could see visions of the future. Still, knowing that Pauline was a psychic and witnessing her in a trance during a vision scared me more than I could admit.

When she came back to herself, she was out of breath as if she had run a marathon. She leaned more against the tree.

“Wow, you really are a freak,” I said. “You-”

I was interrupted by a girl’s voice. “There you are, Oliver,” the girl in question, Candice, leaned herself on my arm.

Despite the number of times I had told her to stop, she still kept touching me like this, even in front of Pauline.

I didn’t want Pauline to get the wrong impression by seeing me with ‘another woman’ just because Candice couldn’t take a hint.

“With her again?” Candice prolonged the ‘her,’ huffing at Pauline.

Pauline’s shoulders slumped. She looked defeated, as if something painful had struck her heart.

“Mr. Smith is looking for you, Oliver,” Candice said, pulling at my arm. “He said to come to talk to him right now.”

“Alright,” I said. “We’ll talk later,” I waved at Pauline.

From then on, I noticed a shift in my friends’ behavior toward Pauline.

Nobody said anything odd to her when I was around, but I felt they were avoiding or ignoring her more.

I had few chances to help Pauline socialize though because Mr. Smith entrusted me with an interesting project—helping him repair some old electronics.

He was the one who had first taught me how to tinker with old radios.

I became so engrossed in the exciting hobby that I ended up with little time for Pauline. When I did have time to see her, it became harder to find her. She was never at her usual spot during breaks, and she ignored my messages.

Finally, the day came when she moved to another pack. I ended up being the last to find out. By the time I knew, she was already gone.

Not talking more to Pauline before she left had always been my biggest regret. She was my wife now, though—she wouldn’t suddenly disappear from my life ever again.