Page 17 of Fat Sold Mate
“Yes, to buy me.” She laughs, a bitter, broken sound that scrapes against my nerves. “My hero.”
I take a deep breath, forcing calm that I don't feel. “I'm trying to get us both out of here alive.”
“By treating me like property?” Her eyes flash. “By agreeing to some archaic, barbaric ritual that strips me of my autonomy? Forgive me if I don't fall at your feet in gratitude.”
“You think I want this?” I gesture sharply between us. “You think this is how I imagined—” I cut myself off, unwilling to finish that thought.
“Imagined what?” she challenges, her voice trembling with barely contained emotion. “Being stuck with me? The pack outcast? Your worst nightmare come true?”
“That's not fair,” I say, frustration mounting. “You have no idea what I think.”
“I don't need to know,” she snaps, hugging herself tighter. “Your actions speak for themselves. Standing there negotiating my price like I'm livestock at auction.”
I run a hand through my hair, struggling to maintain my composure. “What would you have me do, Ruby? Leave you here? Let them keep you as their prisoner—or worse?”
“Maybe I'd rather take my chances with them than be purchased by you,” she says, though the slight quaver in her voice betrays her fear.
“That's not a real option, and you know it.”
She turns away, staring out the cracked window at the pine forest beyond. Her shoulders tremble slightly, and I realize she's fighting tears.
“There has to be another way,” she says, her voice smaller now.
I step closer, careful to keep some distance between us. “If there was, don't you think I'd take it? I don't want this either. Not like this.”
She whirls back to face me, eyes blazing through unshed tears. “Then why did you agree to it so quickly? You didn't even hesitate!”
“Because they would have killed you!” My control slips, voice rising before I rein it back in. “What was I supposed to do? Haggle? Debate the ethics of the situation while they decided you weren't worth the trouble?”
Ruby flinches at my outburst, and I immediately regret my tone. This isn't her fault. None of this is her fault.
“What happened between us?” I ask, the question escaping before I can stop it. “Two months ago, we were... something. And then suddenly you couldn't even look at me. What did I do?”
She stiffens, turning away again. “This isn't the time for that conversation.”
“When is the time, then? You've been avoiding me for months, and now we're about to be—” I can't even say the word 'bonded' out loud. “Don't you think I deserve to know why?”
“No,” she says flatly. “I don't. And it doesn't matter now anyway.”
The dismissal stings more than it should. “It matters to me.”
“Well, it shouldn't,” she says, her voice tight. “None of this should matter to you. I shouldn't matter to you.”
“But you do,” I admit, the words hanging between us, dangerous and exposed.
Ruby shakes her head, refusing to engage with my confession. “This is humiliating enough without pretending there's something more here.”
“I'm not pretending anything,” I insist. “I'm trying to understand what's happening.”
“What's happening is I'm being sold,” she says, each word precise and cutting. “Purchased. Like property. By someone who—” She stops abruptly, swallowing whatever she was about to say.
“By someone who what?” I press.
“It doesn't matter,” she repeats, her go-to deflection.
I step closer, unable to maintain the distance any longer. “Ruby, look at me.”
She doesn't.
