Page 48 of The Alpha's Forced Bullied Mate

The silence grated my ears. Not even the bugs were chirping in the trees. There was nothing in the area. Just an empty coldness that made me feel like I was being watched. No magic came at me. My vision didn’t change. Perhaps these weren’t demons after all, but something far more relatable. I sniffed the air—it almost smelled like wet mutt.

A twig cracked to my right. I swung my dart gun in that direction only to be met by a strong slap on the back of my neck. The strike was supposed to put me out, but it only sent me to my knees, sending the dart gun flying from my hands. A black boot kicked away the dart gun.

As I started to recover my balance, I watched a fist coming toward me. I ducked out of the way in time, choosing to take the strike to my shoulder instead of my face. With a grunt, I lunged forward and knocked the figure back on the porch with a hefty slam from my forehead. He hit the ground with a groan and tried to stand as I cracked my knuckles.

“You don’t look like a demon. But I could use a rage distraction.” I popped my neck. “You chose the wrong house to break into.”

Another blow came to the back of my head, and then another. Stars danced in my eyes as I swung around, swelling with anger. Whoever it was couldn't take me down. Still, the hits filled me with rage, and my vision became red as I sought justice. I swung in a reckless haymaker style, trying to get the figures to stop attacking me. One of them landed on their backside, knocking the air out of them. I could see them better now that they were closer, wearing black ski masks and black outfits. One of them had hands as white as a ghost with fingers covered in some kind of Roman numeral tattoos. The other was just as pale, with long brown hair pulled back in a braid.

I should never have brought her into town, I thought.I put us both at risk. This is my fault.

The attacker with the Roman numeral tattoos swung again, causing me to raise my hands to block his punch. It left my belly exposed for him to slam several times. I felt it bruise my solar plexus and ribs and stumbled back to catch myself on the railing. Just as I went to grab him, the other attacker jumped on my back and put me in headlock. It only doubled my rage, sending me tumbling forward to grab the man.

“This ends now—” I growled as I yanked off his ski mask. “Show yourself, coward.”

The pale face beneath was matched with ghastly white hair and green eyes. Freckles of rusty orange decorated his pale skin. I saw hesitation in his face—and that made me freeze up.

“Stop it!” yelled a voice from the doorway. “Stop it right now, you pile of damn idiots!”

We all stuck together like we were in the middle of some kind of theatrical improv, staring at Faye, who was staring at the other two with a blistering look of disappointment. “Kylie, get off of him right now.”

The woman on my back dropped to her feet and pulled off her ski mask, revealing a rather innocent face with the perfect contour to match her hazel eyes. She had an autumn-brown tan now that I could see her neck properly. Her hands were white because of a pair of gloves she was wearing. What I thought was brown hair was actually a reddish-brown that glimmered under the light of the porch with blonde highlights.

She cast a suspicious squint at me before turning back to Faye with genuine concern. “Faye, aren’t you in trouble?”

I gaped at the invaders and then I stared at my mate. “What the hell is going on here? Why are you telling me to stop? These people areattackingme.”

“I'm telling you to stop because…” Faye trailed off, sniffling. “Because they're my family. And I’m sure they want to know what’s going on.”

Chapter 16 - Faye

So many feelings—there weretoomany feelings. I was relieved to see Kylie and Fred. I was ecstatic that they were here. I was thrilled that I could hug Kylie again. But I wasn't thrilled about seeing them wrestling around with Hector. A splash of anger came through my chest as I realized how long it had taken them to get here.

I grumbled, “Why didn’t they come sooner?”

I had onlyjuststarted feeling things for Hector. If they had appeared before the mating ritual, then I wouldn't be stuck here the way that I was. I wouldn’t be stuck with a horrible decision to make—them or Hector. Beaufort Creek or Silverfang.

Kylie gaped at me. “Excuse me, Miss Priss. You didn’t exactly leave a trail of cookies.”

Relief slid in again as I realized that she was okay. She had to be okay with her typical sarcastic humor directed at me. I spread my arms. “Shoot, it’s damn good to see you. Come here!”

She threw herself into me, wheezing as I squeezed her tight enough to crack a few ribs. Hector hadn't done much damage to her. They hadn't done much damage to Hector either. There was a little bit of a mess on the porch, but there was nothing else that worried me. I gave Kylie one last squeeze before releasing her to check on the other two idiots.

Hector's nose trickled with blood. I raced over to him and dabbed it with the edge of my sleep shirt. As soon as the blood was wiped away, I stood back to look at everyone. Kylie had her nose twisted like she had smelled something foul. Though, the expression on her face was one of confusion—I knew it because of the way her eyebrows stuck together—it was also a look of concern. The one that she would claim was just concern andnothing else. But I always knew it was more than that because she was my best friend.

Fred stood aside, awkwardly lanky in his movements as always. He looked a lot like a ghost with the backdrop of an impressive night sky with the way the flood lights illuminated his face. It gave him a spectral appearance that would have been haunting if I wasn't so used to it. His eyebrows contorted, making his expression more malicious than concerned.

I frowned. “What is it?”

Fred unwound his brows and pointed to his throat. “You got a little something—”

Kylie huffed. “Abigsomething.”

I bowed my head while touching my mark. “Oh, that.”

Fred pointed to Hector. “From him?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I sort of… ran away and eloped. Kinda of. Maybe?”

---