Page 5 of The Wolf’s Bullied Mate (Moondust Hollow Wolves #2)

A modern clock with a numberless face ticked as the minutes passed by in deafening silence. Only the clicking of utensils interrupted the quiet.

I pushed the broccoli on my plate to the left, then to the right.

No matter how often I told my mother I hated the taste of this forsaken vegetable, she still put it on my plate.

Sometimes, I wondered if she did so on purpose.

Considering all the other abuses I had suffered from her in my life, the inclusion of broccoli in my meals against my wishes made sense, even if it wasn’t the worst thing she had ever done.

I shouldn’t complain, since she made and served the meals. She never let me cook, always saying I would destroy her brand-new designer kitchen.

Funny how my parents had enough money to afford luxuries like cutting-edge appliances or the latest phone while I barely scraped by.

Even despite their obviously better financial situation, I still had to submit half of my income into the family fund to be able to live here.

As a result, I barely had any savings, so moving out was not an option and probably would never be.

I only cared that Ray was provided for and happy, though.

I glanced at the door to the corridor. Ray was in his room upstairs. Thankfully, Mother hadn’t wanted him around for this particular dinner.

There was a reason for my son's absence at the table—and the reason sat opposite me, avoiding my gaze each time I looked at him. Jeffrey. The father of my son. The man I had once loved.

He was a handsome bastard; I had to give him that much.

With a well-defined jaw and shiny black hair, he always had many women from the pack looking at him.

Now that I could see things clearly, though—no longer blinded by the rose-colored glasses of love—I realized that his nose was a bit too pointy, his cheekbones too sharp, and his lips crooked at one corner, which made him look like he was constantly smirking, and one of his eyelids drooped.

He was not the god of beauty he made himself out to be.

Jeffrey was the most arrogant asshole I had ever had the ‘pleasure’ of interacting with.

My own father was an ass as well, but he paled in comparison to Jeffrey.

At least Father listened to one person’s opinion—mother’s.

Jeffrey was his own island. He ruled over his own little world, and everyone else had to bow to him.

I’d had to listen and submit to him during our relationship together, but back then, I had thought such obedience was normal. The fact that he had not mated with me was a good thing, although it pained me that Ray didn’t have a father around.

I pushed the broccoli to the left again, then to the right, the plate the sole focus of my attention.

As to why the man who had abandoned me and my son and clearly thought I was worthless was at our family table tonight, Jeffrey was part of the same enforcer unit as my father. They were friends from work.

Yes, my father was also an enforcer—a strong wolf great at fighting. His abilities were why he had been invited to join the Lone Bite pack and why my parents received such a good income. Enforcers were very respected in this pack where strength was what mattered the most.

Lone Bite was very different from my old pack, Moondust Hollow.

My current pack didn’t feel like a community.

Everyone cared about themselves first and foremost. Abuse was commonplace.

Conflicts were solved by fights in wolf form.

It was a bleak and unsafe place to live, especially for someone like me, whose wolf was small and weak in combat.

Speaking of my wolf, she was deeply unsettled by seeing Jeffrey again.

She growled and pounced around in my soul, well aware that he was the man who had abandoned us and our child.

I had to try to keep my animal side from overtaking my emotions.

I didn’t want to get into an argument with Jeffrey. I didn’t want another fight.

We finished eating, and Mom brought beer and three cans to the table: one for Jeffrey, one for Father, and one for herself.

“How’s work treating you?” she asked Jeffrey in a sweet voice.

“The Midnight Glow has been attacking our borders lately. We’re busy enough,” he smiled at Father.

Father smiled back at him. “Yes, Jeffrey has been doing a great job defending the pack.”

“Oh please, you’re on par with me when it comes to kill count,” Jeffrey replied.

They both laughed, and Mother joined them.

I felt myself getting sick. They talked about taking lives so easily. Disgusting.

“Is there a chance of war?” Mother asked in a cheerful tone, as if she didn’t mind more fighting coming to our doorstep.

Jeffrey shook his head. “I wouldn’t say so. Midnight Glow is just trying out our defenses, but I hope we’ll prove to them we’re much stronger than their pack, so they’ll finally give up.”

“If it comes to war, we can defend the pack.” There was pride in my father’s voice.

All they cared for was combat. I swallowed the bile in my throat.

I sipped on my apple juice, hoping the time would come soon when I could excuse myself from the table.

Mother looked at Jeffrey and me and then said the words I least wanted to hear. “Have you thought about getting back together with Pauline, Jeffrey? We would love for you to be part of our family.”

His eyes widened, and for the first time since arriving for dinner, he looked at me and actually saw me. He frowned as if he were looking at something vile. I felt the contents of tonight’s dinner rise up inside of me.

“With all due respect, Mrs. Anderson, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Jeffrey said quite diplomatically.

I looked away from him and back at the door to the corridor, praying Mother would take his ‘no’ for an answer and drop the subject.

Getting back together with Jeffrey was the last thing I wanted, so a part of me was glad that he wouldn’t even consider that option for us. On the other hand, I could have done without being reminded that I was so very unwanted.

Of course, Mother ignored his refusal and kept pressing. “Pauline isn’t that bad. She’s pretty enough, and you already have a son together”.

I bit my lip. I looked back at Jeffrey. His frown deepened. He didn’t want to be reminded of Ray’s existence.

Anger rose up in my heart. I didn’t want to be reminded of the fact that Jeffrey didn’t respect Ray. From the look on his face, he’d rather our son was never mentioned, as if he didn’t exist in the first place.

I couldn’t stand it anymore. Even so, I couldn’t quite just get up and leave. I would have hell to pay later if I tried. My parents would consider such an action ‘disrespectful to our guest.’

“To be honest, Mrs. Anderson, I really like you and Emmett,” he addressed my father by his first name. He looked straight at me. “But Pauline? She’s weak and useless. I can do better for a mate. I’ll never get together with someone like her.”

I blinked once, then twice. Mortification filled my heart. He hadn’t really just announced that ‘he could do better than me’, had he? Yes, he had.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I wanted so badly to cry. It was one thing to know Jeffrey didn’t respect me, another to hear those words said straight to my face.

I felt sick. On weak legs, I got up from the table.

“Pauline, I didn’t say you could leave,” Father’s voice was full of warning.

I ignored him. I didn’t want to be in the same room any longer with those people whose words sliced into me like knives. I turned around and, without a word, walked out of the room.

When I was in the corridor, I started running, all the way up the stairs and then to my room.

My current room had once been a storage closet.

I had given up my proper room to Ray so he could have his own space.

The room I now occupied barely fit my small bed and the tiny white table bearing my old laptop.

A single chair and a small wardrobe were squeezed in, which housed my not-very-sizable collection of clothes.

The walls and the furniture were white and in need of repainting.

There was barely any personal touch to the space.

I had one potted plant on the windowsill.

Besides that item, I didn’t dare to decorate the space further.

I couldn’t hang pictures up since I didn’t want to hear my parents’ complaints about me damaging the walls.

I laid down on the bed, curling into a ball. I wept deeply, in a way I had rarely let myself weep before.

Jeffrey’s words returned to me. ‘I can do better for a mate.’

Why had he even gotten together with me in the first place? Had I really just been a convenient fuck to him and nothing more? Not someone he’d ever seriously want as a lifelong partner. Not someone he’d ever like to make a family with one day.

I remembered how Jeffrey acted when I told him I was pregnant. We were on a walk in the woods when I decided to tell him we would have a child, happiness, and pride filling my voice.

Jeffrey had been great at pretending he cared for me before finding out about the pregnancy.

He was an arrogant asshole, but when he doted on me, it was easy to ignore how terribly he acted with everyone else.

However, the day I told Jeffrey I was pregnant, he looked at me with such a cold expression.

I felt like I was looking into the eyes of a rampaging snowstorm.

The wonderful man I thought I knew was gone.

“I don’t want to have a child with you,” he said, gazing straight into my own eyes. “Either get rid of it or things are over between us.”

My mouth gaped open. Where was the man I had fallen in love with, I asked myself.

“It’s our child,” I said then in a breaking voice. “How can you say such words about our child?”

Jeffrey shook his head. “I’m not interested in mating with you or having a family together.”

“Why?” I squeaked out. The world I thought I knew shattered in front of me. “I thought we loved each other.”