Page 37 of Betrayed Bullied Mate

He boxes me in against the wall, putting his arms on either side of me. It’s hard for me to focus when his scent is all around me. He’s soft and warm, and I wonder how long ago he woke up.

“You went far,” he says, his voice still low and rough from sleep. His gaze is piercing, a mix of concern and anger. “I felt it. It woke me up. I thought the rogues had gotten you.”

“I didn’t go far. Besides, Eva was with me. To protect me.”

“Do not trust anyone but Bigby and me,” Aris says, his eyes darting back to the door, his voice dropping even lower. “Don’t go alone with anyone but the two of us.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask, thinking of the way Eva had grinned at me in the woods. “You don’t trust your team?”

Aris glances at the door again, drawing me further into the cabin.

“There’s a traitor in our team. I can feel it. I just don’t know who it is.”

I cover my mouth to keep from gasping. Remembering walking out of the cabin, meeting Ado’s eyes. I could have been alone with the traitor at any point.

“But you left me alone with Percy,” I point out, and Aris looks pained.

“I could see you the whole time,” Aris says, shaking his head, “and I can’t fathom it being him. It would be devastating.”

“It’s always the person that would hurt you the most,” I say, offhandedly, thinking of movies with betrayal. Aris gets a dark look in his eyes, glancing at the door again. I blink, realizing I’ve just suggested Bigby could be the traitor. He and Aris are closest. That would be the betrayal to hurt him the most.

“It’s not Bigby,” Aris says, shaking his head. “Besides you, Bigby is the only one I can be certain of. Our bond is too strong—I would sense the betrayal in him. I know him, inside and out.”

“Wow, kinky,” I say, unable to help myself. Aris raises his eyebrows, his eyes dropping to my lips.

“Very funny,” he says, tracking my tongue as I lick my lips.

“How do you know I’m not the traitor?” I ask, tipping my head up against the wall and gazing up at him. Even as exhausted as he clearly is, he’s unbearably handsome, his hair falling over his forehead, his dimples popping on either side of his grin, and his strong jaw with a trace of stubble. He must have shaved at some point, and I didn’t notice.

“I know,” he growls. “You—I actually do know you inside and out.”

“Aris!”

“You brought it up first,” he grins, leaning in closer to me. My body heats up immediately, my heart skipping in my chest. And then I remember him standing there, staring at me blankly after I told him I loved him.

“I’m going to make some venison,” I say hastily, ducking out from under his arms just before he could catch my lips with his. Aris stares at me, stunned, as I dash back outside. Eva is sitting by the fire and Percy is returning from the river with a large pot of water. When he sees me, he grins.

“Is this water enough for you? Do you know how to cook something edible?”

“I’m going to try,” I laugh, directing him to set the water on the fire and asking him to fetch another batch. After the water boils, I use it to clean the mushrooms, then I take them into our cabin to slice them. Luckily, Aris has disappeared somewhere.

It may be childish for me to hold his not loving me against him, but I don’t care. It hurt, and I can’t imagine being with someone who doesn’t love me back, mate or not.

I find a can of evaporated milk in the cabinet and return to the fire pit, placing a skillet on the grill and dumping in the mushrooms. An hour later, after fighting with Percy to keep him from continually stoking the flames, I’m serving up venison with a creamy mushroom sauce and fire-baked cornbread. My seasonings were limited to salt and pepper, but the team members moan into their bites like they’re at a five-star restaurant.

“This is amazing,” Percy moans. “This is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. And I’ve—”

“Very good,” Ado adds, cutting Percy off and earning a glance from the others. I get the feeling he doesn’t speak much, so I take the two words as the highest compliment.

“It’s good to have something other than tree bark,” Eva says, sending a pointed glare in Bigby’s direction.

“That is the safest preparation,” he defends. “Be glad nobody got sick. That meat was practically sterile due to my cooking.”

“I got sick, alright,” Byron mutters. “Sick of eating it.”

Aris laughs, and when I look over, I realize he’s practically cleared his plate of the food. So, he liked it. I ignore the warmth that spreads through my chest at the thought that he likes my food. Not like I’ll be cooking much for him if he decides to jet off to D.C. anyway.

“You know,” Percy says, taking another huge bite of cornbread, “This reminds me of—”

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