Page 50 of Knocked Up By My Fated Alpha
“Matthew,” I said, corralling my sanity with difficulty. “You didn’t respond to my requests for a meeting.”
Alpha Matt let go of my arm, moving to stand next to me.
“I’ve been busy, as have you.” His gaze followed mine to Raven and Elias, his lips twisting into a dry, sardonic smile. “Your fiancée is stunning. Congratulations on finally having an heir.”
I didn’t respond, so naturally, he kept pushing.
“Rielle would have been happy for you.”
My hands twitched at my sides, and I took my gaze off Raven to meet his.
“No, she wouldn’t.”
Alpha Matt’s laughter was a dark, lonely sound.
“Rielle wouldn’t,” he agreed, his eyes holding a glint of an emotion that was as strong as it was bitter. “I wish you the best of luck in averting the war, old friend. Wouldn’t want to break up your perfect new family.”
My muscles tensed, my wolf rising to the surface.
“Is that a threat?”
The sides of Alpha Matt’s lips twitched, but he merely inclined his head in acknowledgement, his gaze focused somewhere behind me before walking off. I followed his gaze to where Raven stood a step behind me, an unreadable expression on her face.
Angry.Violent. Enraged.
Any of those words properly encapsulated how I felt any time Rielle’s name was mentioned.
“Sad,” Raven finished hesitantly, her eyes soft as she took my hand in hers.
“You don’t have to tell me anything, but I just wanted you to know I’m here for you.”
I ripped my hand out of her hold, enraged by how much I wanted to open up to her.
“I’ll say this just once, Raven. Mind your damn business. This relationship is just an act. You aren’t really my fiancée, so don’t you dare try to insert yourself into my personal affairs!”
My wolf howled at the hurt look on Raven’s face, but I pushed him down and away as I met her gaze dispassionately.
“Rielle is and will always remain none of your business.”
Chapter Sixteen
Raven
I moved out of his room that night.
Not Alpha Damien’s room exactly, but the connecting room joined to his that I’d stayed in during the last six weeks to keep up the pretense of sharing a bed with him in the eyes of his pack.
We are a team, Raven.
That was what he’d said that day he’d cuffed me to his bed, and like a fool, I’d believed it to be true. Like anyone would ever truly be on my team. It hurt a lot. More than I could have ever expected it to.
Maybe it was because I’d opened up to him more than I ever had to anyone else, because I thought we’d come to understand each other. Because in these past months, the lines between us had blurred to nothing, and I’d become so lost in the fantasy of what we could be that I’d forgotten the reality of us.
It hurt when I thought of him or stepped out of my new room and saw him walking down the hallway. It hurt when I saw him at work, where I’d stubbornly returned, and he made no comment.
But more than that, it hurt whenever I saw him as I did laps around the training court at his city house. Laps I couldn’t miss because I couldn’t afford to skip training, no matter how wrought myemotions were, because I just knew Ivy was eagerly counting down the days till she could kill me.
Feeling a twinge, I paused my jog, my hand going to my throbbing lower back, a small wince escaping my lips. My body thrummed with an undercurrent that halted the breath in my lungs, and even before he touched me, I felt his presence.
