Page 15 of The Alpha's Bullied Pregnant Mate

He called me petty! It had taken all of her will to control herself earlier. He treated his actions with an offhandedness that drove Isla nuts. She had a plethora of retorts to make at the time, but nothing scathing enough, disappointingly.

What was worse, she found herself checking him out, despite how angry she was. He was hot, there was no denying that. There was something about him, something compelling that she could not explain or rationalize. She didn’t have words for it, but it made her tingle.

That strange pull she’d felt for him when he’d been speaking during the meeting, the burning in her neck, the surge of satisfaction she felt when he kissed her. She couldn’t understand any of that. It was a day filled with weird events, and none weirder than this crazy notion that they could fake a relationship.

Isla remembered how Fannar’s mother’s eyes had glittered suspiciously when he’d introduced her as his girlfriend. The woman was not buying it, Isla was certain.

Fannar was right about one thing. If they were going to pull this off, they needed to get their stories straight. It seemed like a lot of work, and she didn’t want to go through the effort. Should have thought about that before you agreed, didn’t you?

Fannar’s presence receded in her mind suddenly, and it felt strange to not feel him close. She pushed her back off the door and strode into the empty house. She settled heavily into the couch, stretching her legs with a sigh.

The longing feeling was back, like an itch she couldn’t scratch, and with it came the burning sensation on the scar at the back of her neck. Isla winced as the sudden pain lanced through her and rubbed the wound.

The scar felt like a gentle ridge in her fingers, the skin soft and strangely cool to the touch. She didn’t understand why it had started hurting her all of a sudden after so long. So far, nothing good had come out of her attending the meeting. It was too late to regret things she couldn’t change, but she felt regret regardless.

The pain in her neck pulsated, radiating from the scar and spreading through the rest of her body, like hot liquid coursing through her veins. If this went on for much longer, she’d need to get a healer.

She had no idea what was happening to her, and she didn’t know how to describe the pain she felt. Only her parents and the janitor from high school even knew about the scar.

Maybe she could speak to her father and let him know about the pain. As comforting as that sounded, there was little he could do to help her. Plus, she’d have to finally admit that that it was his beloved Fannar that attacked her all those years ago, and that the pain only returned when she saw him again after so many years.

Fannar. The pain came when she saw him. But it also disappeared when he kissed her and when she was with him. That the longing and pain returned after he dropped her off only added to the mystery. Isla’s head banged from trying to connect all the weird dots together.

I need him. The thought hit her suddenly and caught her unawares. Even her wolf had been exultant when she was with Fannar. Now, the beast was quiet. Isla quested inwards and could feel it inside her, but it remained quiet, hidden in a corner.

“Can this day just be over already?” she muttered under her breath, pulling herself up from the couch and climbing up the stairs.

Her bedroom was just as she’d left it, clothes strewn about, hanging from the closet door, and piled in a corner. She kept saying she’d fix up her bedroom, but she never came around to it. She got out of her clothes and heaped them in a separate pile by the bed.

Isla wrinkled her nose at the sight and stepped into the bathroom. The pain in her neck had reduced to a dull throb, but it was still very uncomfortable. She stepped gingerly under the shower and turned on the water.

She hissed with relief as freezing cold water rained down her head and back. She bent her head forward so the water fell right on the scar on her neck. She needed to do something about the pain, before it drove her crazy.

She got out of the bathroom ten minutes later, and all the relief she felt earlier was gone. The pain returned, somewhat more intensely than before she’d even taken a cold shower.

This was all Fannar’s fault. He was the reason she was going through so much discomfort. It seemed like every time they crossed paths, he had a way of just hurting her and inflicting pain on her. It was a frustrating thing to consider.

It was clear that simply hiding from him wasn’t good enough. She had to leave town completely. But where would she go? She didn’t have nearly enough to skip town and restart her life somewhere else.

That was the only encouragement in the entire arrangement. Five thousand dollars a week was a lot of money. In just a few months, she would have raised enough money to hightail out of Frost Peak, and when she did, she didn’t plan to ever come back.

It felt strange to accept payment, but she needed it. Fannar had his plans, and she had hers. She hated that she was going to be helping him, but there was little she could do about that. If she wanted to chase her dreams and live the life she always dreamed of, she was not going to get a better chance than this. She certainly didn’t make nearly enough at the library to fund it.

It was still early but Isla settled into bed and pulled her covers around her. She could see Fannar again in her mind’s eye. His magnetic eyes, his snow white hair and brows, his smug face, his bulging muscles.

She felt her wolf stir inside her as she thought about him, accompanied by a strange sensation. She squeezed her eyes tight and looked for sleep unsuccessfully. When sleep finally came, her dreams were occupied by a massive white-furred wolf that followed her everywhere she went.

***

The library was quiet as usual. Isla sat at the desk, thumbing through a poorly written vampire-werewolf romance. Books about her people always left her feeling annoyed.

She couldn’t blame the authors of such books, though. It wasn’t like humans had much first hand knowledge about the mythical beings. A huge majority of them didn’t even believe that vampires and werewolves existed, a testimony to how hard both communities were working to protect themselves.

Still, she wished she could write the author of the book she was currently reading with some pointers on what to change. Which, if I’m being honest, would be the entire book.

Isla tossed the book across the desk just as a group of female wolves walked into the library. The group could have just walked into the wrong building for how much noise they were making. The few heads in the room turned to regard the group with irritation.

She was used to this, especially with the younger wolves. Isla got to her feet and laced her fingers together on the surface of the tall counter, her most sincere smile drawn on her face. The leader of the group, a young girl who looked older than the others stepped forward with a swagger, an impish smile on her lips.