Page 6 of The Alpha's Forced Pregnant Mate

"Whitney Gray," Faye said loudly, and the whole world stopped for a second. "And Julian Payne."

I blinked. My brain felt like it was short-circuiting. This couldn't be happening. There was no way I had heard right. But then Faye looked at me again, her face grim, and I knew. This was really happening.

There was a moment of silence and then everything exploded into noise. I could hear my name being called, and I turned to see Laura and Bruce pushing their way through the crowd. Keifer was right behind them, and when they reached me they pulled me into a group hug. I was surrounded on all sides by the scent of my packmates, and it should have comforted me, but it didn't. Nothing could help the panic rising in my chest.

"This can't be real," I said, pushing my way out of their embrace. "You know what kind of wolf Julian is. And you know that he's the enemy of two packs. How could we be mates?"

Keifer put his hands on my shoulders, steadying me. I hadn't realized until he touched me that I was shaking. I forced myself to look up at him, trying to take some sort of comfort in his steady presence.

"Just relax," he told me. "We'll figure this out."

Bruce shook his head. "No. There's nothing to figure out. Fuck Julian Payne “

Laura protested, "Faye said herself that even unlikely matches could work."

"If they wanted to." Bruce gave me a sympathetic look. "Whitney doesn't want a mate. You know that."

"This is different," Laura argued. "It's not like she's going to be forced to marry some guy who is creepy and old or something. She's going to be mated to Julian."

"Julian is a dick," Keifer said. I shot him a grateful look.

Laura threw her hands in the air. "Of course he's a dick! He's a villain, and everyone knows it. But Faye said the spell doesn't lie. They're mates. She has to accept that."

I shook my head slowly. I knew that Laura was right, but that didn't mean I had to like it. How could I be mated to a man who was the enemy of our pack?

"Accept it?" I parroted. "Are you forgetting that he poisoned Naomi? How can I just accept that he's my mate when he's so clearly a monster?"

Keifer nodded. "Yeah, Laura. I know you like Faye and want to believe that she's doing the right thing, but this isn't the right thing."

Laura turned to me, putting her hands on my shoulders. "Whitney, listen. I know you're mad. I get it. But there are ways to fix this. We can go talk to Faye. Explain what happened, and how you feel."

"I don't want to talk to Faye," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. I could feel a low-level growl beginning, and I forced myself to stop. Laura didn't deserve my anger. She was just trying to help. I took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then slowly let it out.

"Look, Laura. I know you mean well, but the truth is that this situation is fucked up. No, we don't have to accept the match."

"Uh, not to interrupt you two, but everyone is looking at us. Especially the Alphas." Keifer gave me a pointed look and I sighed, turning to see what he was talking about. Hector and Faye were indeed staring at our little group, and Faye looked worried. Hector, on the other hand, looked pissed. I winced, realizing that I might have made a big mistake in questioning Faye's matchmaking abilities.

But if Hector looked angry, Danny looked apoplectic. Naomi, on the other hand, had gone white, her hand resting at her throat in shock. I wondered what she was thinking. Everyone knew what Julian did to Naomi, and it must have shaken her to her core to hear his name read out loud just now.

I looked down, unable to face their accusing eyes any longer. Even though I was mad at Faye for putting me in this situation, I didn't want to make things worse.

Laura touched my arm. "You have to talk to them," she said gently. "I know you're mad, but they are going to be the ones to tell you what's going on. You might as well go get it over with."

I took a deep breath. Laura was right. The sooner I got this over with, the sooner I could start trying to figure out a way to get myself out of this mess. I nodded, but I still couldn't bring myself to look at anyone. I stared at the ground instead, and let Laura guide me through the crowd.

Faye and Hector stood together, talking to Naomi and Danny. They all looked up as we approached, and I stopped just short of reaching them. I swallowed hard, trying not to let my nerves show. I'd been in plenty of dangerous situations before, and I didn't know why this was any different. But I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, and I knew that nothing was going to be the same after today.

Naomi stepped forward, and I was surprised when she took my hands in hers. She gave me a weak smile, her eyes full of sadness.

"I'm so sorry about this," she said, looking over her shoulder at Faye. "I never meant for anything like this to happen. If we hadn't come up to see a mate match ceremony maybe—"

"It's not your fault," I told her, pulling my hands out of hers. "No one is to blame here except Julian. He's the one who has made himself an enemy."

"Enemy or no," Faye started, standing behind Naomi. “He's your mate."

"How can I be mated with someone I'm pretty sure all of you would kill on sight given the chance?" I asked. I knew that I was being rude, but I couldn't help it. This situation was messed up, and I didn't know what to do.

"He's not here," Hector growled, and when I looked at him, I realized that I read his expression wrong before. He wasn't mad that I had balked at Faye's spell. Instead, he was pissed for me, not at me. "And I have zero intention of putting one of my wolves in danger, Whitney. He's going to know you're his mate sooner than later, there's too many people here for it to be kept a secret. So let's go figure out a plan to keep you safe, and if we can't then we will get you out of here. You can go into hiding until this whole thing is sorted out.

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