Page 45 of Her Bully Alpha

Henrik squeezed Sam's arms and chuckled. "Put on a good face, and smile. People are going to be congratulating you all day. You always said you wanted to be in my shoes. Well, here you are."

Sam grumbled, and Henrik smirked, clearly proud of himself.

We all turned and headed inside the event room, and we found the space decorated. There was a table of gifts and a couple of tables filled with food. Sam leaned towards me and whispered, "I'm pretty sure this is a bigger deal than our wedding."

I couldn't help the laugh that broke free; everyone seemed to turn to us. Sam tensed up, and I felt her nails dig into my arm.

"The guest star has arrived!" Henrik yelled, and Sam looked at me like she wanted to barf. I patted her hand, reassuring her.

We made our way around, accepting each person who stopped us. People asked how she figured it out, and instead of going with we were making out at her brother's house, we decided to go with another story.

"We were just chatting, and I felt it. We broke a glass on the counter," Sam said, putting on a smile.

"Wow," A group of people listening to the store looked amazed at her. "That must have been so cool to find out."

Sam smiled, and I could see it was genuine. She had felt something when she found out she had the ability to weld magic.

"It's been a hassle to figure it out, but I'm sure we will in no time. We've been doing a lot of research and practicing."

I held back a smirk. Practicing, sure, fucking was part of that.

The group nodded in agreement with her. I tightened my hold on Sam, knowing the groups weren't exactly her thing and certainly not one that revolved around her. I could feel her nervousness, and every once in a while, her nails would tighten on my shirt.

As close as I had her against me, she was leaning away from me, leaving a little gap between us. I disliked it. I felt she was pulling away from me, and she'd been doing it since she showed me the pregnancy test.

I understood why. The plan had been to only have Sam around until she got pregnant. Not that we had really spoken about what we all wanted. But from the Council's point of view, she was only needed until we had a child. And now that she was, she was free to do what she wanted. But why did it feel off? Why was I unsatisfied with everything?

This was exciting news for us, yet it felt off. I wanted to hold her tightly and look forward to each step this meant for us. But what did it mean?

"You must have been relieved," a gal said to Sam.

Sam raised her eyebrows slightly. "Relieved? I guess I don't understand why I would feel that."

The gal shrugged. "You're married to the Alpha. A human and an Alpha are just…well, they don't fit. But a magic welder and an Alpha. Well, that's a no-brainer. They would make it. They would be a couple to look up to, a couple you don't screw with."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement. "It changes things. I'm sure you guys planned to part ways once you finished having children. Is that still the case?"

Sam's smile slipped away, and her lips formed a straight line. "Oh," she said softly.

I curled my hands into fists, disgusted with them. Did they really think Sam was a different person because she had the ability to use magic? Like that minor difference changed her?

Sam was the same person. She was soft and sweet. She was caring and understanding. Yet she wasn't someone you wanna fuck with. She held her ground and knew what she wanted. They act like her having magic made her worthy of me, but she had always been worthy of me.

"If you don't mind me asking," Sam tilted her head at the girl who said the remark. "What do you do?"

"I'm a stay-at-home mom," the woman remarked, smiling and proud of the comment.

"And what does your husband do?"

She looked at Sam, confused by the question. "He's a business owner and runs a construction company."

Sam nodded her head. "So, he must have been relieved when you started bearing children? Otherwise, you were just a woman, right? Without children, you're not worthy?"

The woman's face froze, and Sam held a calm expression as she looked at another. "And what do you do?"

A man standing next to her stiffened before he answered. "I'm an accountant."

She nodded. "And I imagine you work closely with humans, correct? Would you rather work with a newly appointed accountant who was a shifter to look over your work, or would you rather have a human who's been working for twenty years look it over?"

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