Page 9 of The Wolf’s Bullied Mate (Moondust Hollow Wolves #2)

“Ray, we’ve arrived.” I touched my son’s hand gently.

Why did my fresh start have to be in this community? Seeing the familiar buildings made me feel uneasy. When I left Moondust Hollow with my parents, I prayed that I would never return here.

Hope was the beta of this pack. A part of me was curious if he had tried to work to prevent bullying since taking over the position.

He had told me he did everything in his power to maintain peace, but a part of me—the part that had lived through abuse for years—found his claim difficult to believe.

A pack without bullying and toxicity—was such a thing even possible?

Still, this is where Hope lived and where Ray and I would live if I decided to marry him. I would just have to be optimistic.

At least Hope seemed to be a good person, or so I had decided after talking to him via text messages for a month.

Finally, he agreed to consider an arranged marriage with me, and I agreed to meet him in person so we could come to a final decision together.

I had to seriously consider marrying him; I believed he was the best way out of a terrible situation for me and my son.

With Hope’s help, we would be able to get away from the abuse of my parents, from Jeffrey’s cruel words, from the bullying Ray suffered at kindergarten.

My child and I could start a new life with Hope to support us.

Yes, I had only decided to consider Hope’s offer because I wanted to save myself and Ray from abuse…

Of course, I knew I was only kidding myself with that idea.

Saying I only wanted to use Hope30 was a lie.

I had to admit, I was attracted to him. He had presented himself as a confident man who knew what he wanted.

I needed someone like that in my life—someone steady and sure, someone reliable and safe.

I had to say, his confidence was damn sexy too. He was so sure of himself and his actions without being overbearing or arrogant, a rare trait in men, at least from what I had observed at my old pack.

If Hope30 turned out to be my mate, if we could have something more than a contractual marriage, I wouldn’t mind…

I blushed. I wasn’t seriously considering mating with a man I’d never even met yet, was I? A man who I only knew through words—words which could have been sweet lies as easily as the truth.

I would figure out who Hope30 was now that we were finally meeting. It was the only way I could decide for certain whether or not I would really marry him.

“Ready to see your future husband?” The nice Twin Tails agent gave me an encouraging smile.

I bit my lip and then nodded. I was far from ready, but I had to take advantage of this opportunity to have a better life head-on. I wouldn’t cower. I wouldn’t back away. Hope might have been my ticket to happiness, after all.

“Let’s go then,” the agent chirped. She opened the driver's door, got out of the car.

Ellen Dixon was her name. She was older than me and had large glasses perched on her nose.

She had introduced herself to me back at Lone Bite, where she had picked up Ray and me from a private location I had designated.

Not my parents’ house—I hadn’t wanted them to know my son, and I were going on a trip to another pack. Instead, I had chosen the gas station at the outskirts of town. Nobody would ask questions there, even when they saw the bright yellow and red logo of the Twin Tails agency on the unfamiliar car.

Ellen had tried to chat me up on the way to Moondust Hollow, but my nerves had gotten the better of me. My stomach had twisted, and I had difficulty keeping the conversation going. After a while, she just gave me an understanding look before driving the rest of the way in silence.

Now I took a deep breath and left the car as well. I opened the back door and helped Ray out. His eyes were glossy—he had slept most of the journey, not used to spending a lot of time in a moving vehicle. As soon as he saw the house in front of us, though, curiosity blazed on his face.

I took his hand and turned to get a good look at the house. Hope’s home looked like the poster for an American Dream home. The place had a white picket fence, a huge and well-maintained lawn, white walls, and a gray roof above a two-story building. It almost looked too good to be true.

“You didn’t tell me your friend lived in a mansion, Mom!” Ray turned to me, eyes lit up.

I chuckled. I didn’t know what to say to him.

The house wasn’t a mansion—it was just a large house that Hope clearly maintained well.

Still, I had to agree with my son in a way; if I were to live in a house like this one, I would feel like a princess.

As far as I knew, Hope lived here alone.

The house was way too big for one person, though, so if we decided to become a family, at least there would be plenty of room for all of us.

With a smile, I took Ray’s hand and followed the agent to the entrance door.

We didn’t have to wait long for the door to open. However, the person I saw on the other side made me freeze with fear.

He had matured a lot during the years I hadn’t seen him.

His light blonde hair still curled at the ends though—it would have given him an angelic look if not for the fact that his face looked like it had been chiseled from marble.

High cheekbones and a strong jaw broke the image of an angel, instead making me see a real man, a man hot beyond words.

My teenage crush had only become more handsome in adulthood. He clearly worked out too—his shirt clung to his chest, and his pants were molded to his athletic body.

Oliver Norton stood in front of me in the flesh; he was both my strongest desire and my most terrifying nightmare.

He looked at me with a hot gaze, as if he liked what he saw. He hadn’t recognized me—not yet.

I pulled at Ray’s hand, bringing him closer. I didn’t know what to expect from this man. The need to shield my child from harm rose up in my heart.

Confusion appeared at Oliver’s face. He must have noticed my fear.

The agent chose this moment to speak with a smile on her face, oblivious to what was going on between us. “May I introduce to you Pauline Anderson of the Lone Bite pack and her son, Roy Anderson.”

Oliver’s eyes widened, and his mouth opened as he finally realized who I was.

Silence fell between us.

My heart beat erratically. Blood shimmered in my ears. My wolf paced in my soul, agitated.

“Pauline, this is Oliver Norton, the Beta of the Moondust Hollow pack,” the agent introduced ‘Hope30’ to me. There was pride in her gaze as she looked at him. She was probably thinking the agency had made a good match.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I had no idea how to put my fear and confusion into words.

One thing was certain—I didn’t want anything to do with this man who had made me suffer a decade ago.

He had ruined my perfectly good high school life.

He had acted as my friend, made me fall in love with him, and then destroyed everything by making the whole school call me a freak.

Now he was supposed to be my husband and maybe even my mate? Ha, ridiculous.

I didn’t want to have anything to do with Oliver.

I didn’t want to be here—not in Moondust Hollow and certainly not in front of this house that looked like it was made of hopes and dreams but could end up being yet another prison.

Being shackled to someone who had instigated so much of my abuse was no better than continuing to suffer under the cruelty of my parents, Jeffrey or Lone Bite.

Panic rose in my heart. I was now so far away from home and in front of the man I least wanted to see.

When Oliver Norton gave me a warm smile, something snapped inside me. I took Ray into my arms, relying on my wolf-shifter strength. Before anybody could stop me, I turned around and ran.

Where I was running, I didn’t know.

I just wanted to get away; away from Oliver, the arranged marriage, my resurfacing memories of his cruel words, my wish for a better future with Hope, which was now shattered into pieces.

Why did life give me things only to ruin them and prove to me that they weren’t anything like they seemed? I had wanted to have a future with this man in this beautiful house, but reality had shown me my dreams were built on lies. Over and over again, life beat me down, leaving me sore and bruised.

When would my suffering end?

I squeezed Ray tightly. If not for my child, I would have stopped knowing how to go on long ago.

“Pauline!” A man’s low voice called after me. The sound was a pleasant rumble, bringing the image of water on the rocks to my mind. I knew who was calling: Oliver.

I turned my head to look behind me. Sure enough, he was running after me.

I put more strength into my legs, wishing to run faster. I didn’t want him to catch up to me. I didn’t want to explain why I had bolted. He didn’t deserve the truth from me.

Just as I turned the corner into another street, I felt something familiar coming; a flash of white, a pressure in my head, a ringing in my ears.

Not now.

A vision the sole reason why Oliver had called me a freak of nature back in high school.

I had to stop running. I couldn’t move forward if I couldn’t see anything in front of me. The sight of the vision in my mind overtook all my senses.

I had lost. Oliver would catch up to me. Even if I wanted to try and keep running, I couldn’t risk endangering Ray by doing so. I might trip and fall, injuring him.

I stopped running and let the whiteness and the shimmering take over.

In the vision, I heard howling in the distance, a short distance, too close for my comfort. Someone was chasing me as I held Ray in my arms, just like I had been doing while running from Oliver.

When I stole a glance behind me, I saw six giant wolves chasing me through the familiar town of Fairlake, where the Moondust Hollow pack resided. Why I was here, I didn’t know. Somehow, though, I did know that the wolves wanted my son and me.