Page 61 of Alpha's Bullied Mate

“Fenrys and Thalia are coming down now,” he said.

“Hey, don’t forget me,” Sasha said, coming in from another room. She hugged me in greeting before nodding to Aidan. She sat back on the couch. Immediately, Conall gravitated towards her, slinging an arm around her shoulders. I lifted a brow.Thatwas the first I knew of anything happening there.

When Thalia came down with Fenrys, they truly looked like a golden, radiant couple. Thalia smiled brightly at me.

“Dakota!” She hugged me as well, pulling me down to sit with her. I made a noise at being pulled away from Aidan, but she waved me off. “Let the men do their alpha thing. It makes them feel important.”

I snorted. Aidan discreetly flipped me the finger, smirking.

Then, the two of them stood in front of the TV, facing two packs. The room suddenly felt very, very full.

“We know you’re all still getting to know one another,” Fenrys said, his voice level, never needing to be raised. It was the man who had addressed several she-wolves in a competition to be his Luna. The man who had announced his mate to a room full of people. The man who led his pack solidly and confidently. He knew what he was doing, and the difference in the packs always left me in awe. I loved the two different dynamics. And yet, they all had more similarities than they realized. “We acknowledge that a lot is happening in this room. New mates—” I cleared my throat, and Aidan gave me the biggest shit-eating grin. “Brother reunited—” There was an awkward shift as Conall tried to look at his brother but Declan ignored him. “We have friendships forming, old friends making up, and new alliances forming each day.

“Right now, that’s more important than ever. Last year, we finally came head-to-head with Kato’s pack. While that ended in him being killed, his pack dispersed, and we’ve been tracking the rumors through the surrounding towns. It looks like they’ve scattered around and have started targeting more small towns. Oak Hill and Silverlake Valley are furthest from Atlanta, so we’re both preparing for any targeted attacks. We’re guessing that whoever Kato’s replacement is will bring the pack together in either town.

“Both Aidan and myself have plans in place for either town. We’re asking of you to be on your guard and start looking to fight our common enemy rather than each other. Yeah, including you, Con. I’m looking right at you.”

“Damn right I am too,” Aidan warned.

Conall flipped him off with a sarcastic smile.

“We’re allies now, so start acting like it,” Aidan said, eyeing Declan. “Have your fuckin’ girly slumber parties, make your own strategy plans, but most importantly, keep an eye out and tell us about anything that looks or feels long.”

Thalia stood up and stood on Fenrys’s other side. “Sasha has history with one of Kato’s ex pack members. She’s going to try to get in touch with him and see if she can get any information out of him—”

“I’ll be going with her,” Conall said immediately.

“I can protect myself,wolf,” Sasha said, pulling away from him. “You think I can’t handle a man who I already know? I’ve walked away from him before. I can do it a million times. Don’t treat me like a damsel in distress.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Fine. It’s your funeral.”

“Asshole,” she muttered. Thalia snorted.

“Glad to see you’re getting on well,” she said. “Because you’ll be getting together a lot more. Conall and Sasha, work together to build a background picture of Kato’s pack. No detail is too small. We need to know their past targets, past pack members, any strategies they do. Every contracted killer, worker, tracker.Everyone. Every hideout. You’ll both work on that.”

As they talked and finalized a plan going forward, I thought of the pregnancy tests I had lined up in the bathroom. Aidan’s eyes met mine, as if he knew my thoughts, and he gave me a small smile.

While falling pregnant might not be ideal at this time, I refused to put my life and future on hold for a possible threat that might not exist. I didn’t want to hide away like Fenrys and Thalia had.

I wanted a future with my mate. We’d gone through too much with each other to only deny ourselves of what we could have: a future. A cub. A home and a pack to call our own.

I returned a smile, biting my lip.

The threat was present, but I could see my future.

And I could see it with Aidan.

*****

THE END