Page 58 of The Alpha's Forced Bullied Mate

“I can tell that your energy isn't doing so well,” he added. “You are dowsed with a terrible sadness, something that you can't shake. Too many doubts to speak of.”

I closed my eyes.Fuck me.

“If you really want to be sure she’s your mate, you should perform the mating match ritual as soon as possible.”

My eyelids popped open as I turned to face him. “What’s that?”

“It’s really quite simple. Any hired witch can perform it.”

I arched my right brow in his direction. “Could Faye perform the ritual?”

He pursed his lower lip in deep thought as he looked up at the ceiling. And then he relaxed his features. “No, it needs to be a third party who’s never been part of this pack.”

“Alright. And then what?”

“Each eligible name is added to a stone pot and stirred with boiling water. Turmeric, rosemary, and lemon balm are then added. Two rose petals are added as well to the boiling concoction which must stay on high boil for two hours. After that, the two petals will surface with the names of the appropriate mates. Again, it's very simple.”

I clicked my tongue once. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.” He snapped his fingers. “If you can be patient enough to wait.”

If I had to reject Faye, then she would be left to a horrible fate while I was given a pampering. She would probably get eaten alive by those demons out there. My crushing grip almost broke my teacup. “I don't understand how this pack can treat women like they can just be replaced.”

Adrian didn't make a sound. I continued staring, trying to piece together the things I had learned ever since I was a child. I'd always been taught to put myself first. I never noticed that the girls and women were told to stand aside. I didn't like it.

It made me sick to my stomach to think of Faye getting treated so differently. I'd become so fond of her, so attached that I couldn't imagine a world where she and I didn't exist together. The thought of her loss made me ache in a way that was completely unfamiliar, a grief that I never ever wanted to know.

“There's so much darkness in our rituals,” I told him. “Why can't we do better?”

He gave me a soft smile. “That's why I'm confident in you being our alpha. You’ll make so many big changes. I believe in you, Hector.” He touched my shoulder in a fatherly way, bringing tears to my eyes instantly. “It's alright. You can cry.”

I let the tears fall freely. “Thank you for always being a father to me.”

Adrian smiled warmly. “And thank you for always being a good son.”

***

On my way home, the dreadful feeling got worse. It coiled in my gut like a serpent with poisonous skin. It rattled around in my solar plexus, slithering into my lower parts and then my legs, making them shaky. I didn't like thinking about it as a snake, but no other image came to mind except that, and it felt like I had been infected with something, a terrible fear that I'd never experienced in my life.

Loss.Grief. These were the things that I knew from my parents abandoning me. I didn't want to know that abandonment again, not with my mate, not with the woman who I knew to be my mate. I had done so much to keep her. I wasn't about to lose her now.

The feeling was so awful that I could feel it creeping into my chest, the anxiety of the entire situation. I could even hear myself crying about it, the tears staining my face and drying in the cool nightly breeze.

I wiped my cheeks.

They were already dry.

That wasn’t the sound of me crying. That was someone else.

The closer I got to the house, the louder the crying grew until there were heart-wrenching sobs coming from the backyard. I jogged up to the porch, where Faye was wrapped upin a fluffy pink blanket on the chair. Her face was shoved in her hands. I could tell that she had been crying for quite a while now.

I had been selfish to run off to Adrian's house to get advice but what other choice did I have? It wasn’t like I could wake her up and take her with me. I didn't want to disturb her sleep. She'd been so nauseous lately. She hadn't been feeling well, and she'd been throwing up every morning.

I darted up the steps and took her into my arms. She gasped from the shock, but when she realized who I was, she threw herself into my arms, clawing at my shirt, yanking at the fabric, trying to dig her way into my chest cavity. I'd never seen her so frantic.

“Hey, what's going on?” I rubbed her arms, trying to keep her warm. She was shivering so hard that it seemed like she was going to be sick again. Hot tears soaked my neck as she buried her face there. She stumbled over syllables and choked on sobs. It was hard to understand her.

A few minutes went by, and then she started to calm down, her sobs turning into shuttering hiccups that gave way to soft coos. Eventually, she was quiet, but every so often, she would sniffle. I could hear the sobs waiting to come back.

---