Alpha Luke and His Unwilling Mate
Chapter 18

~Luke~

Training sucks today.

I didn’t sleep a wink after Nyla kicked me out of her room last night. It’s not like I expected her to run into my arms or cuddle with me, but a slap?? And the worst thing is, I wasn’t mad at her at all.

Rex had to rub some salt into the wound by telling me I deserved it. He was the a*****e who provoked me in the first place. The only person who felt bad in that room was Nyla’s baby. She came to my rescue by crying and drawing her mom’s attention; saved me from that sharp tongue dishing out more harsh words.

Sometimes I wonder if finding a mate for a second time was a curse in disguise. Rex wouldn’t agree, of course, and he lost his shit when he heard Nyla say the words, ‘Reject me.’

If I think about it hard enough, she has a good point.

“Our mate stays, and we aren’t rejecting her,” Rex said with a finality in his voice. “Pay attention to the kid in front of you. He’s going to land another blow.”

I should have completely canceled training today. My wolf is agitated too, but he’s at least trying to focus. I can’t think about anything else except Nyla’s words because she’s right, and I hate it.

We both are suffering because of this mate bond. It’s not like her husband is the first man I ever killed, and Wyatt is not a saint. He also has a lot of b***d on his hands. His dad didn’t become the Alpha King by turning the other cheek.

But it’s the first time I’m questioning my actions. Her words make me feel like I’m the worst person who walked this planet. I don’t need her constant reminders about what a terrible person I am. I don’t need her.

“F**k!”

That was the second time I let a seventeen-year-old land a blow on me by being too distracted. He is small and fast, but even some of the best fighters have to work very hard to succeed in landing their blows on me.

I feel so off-guard about everything. Adalyn is gone without a trace. And I’m relieved instead of terrorizing all the neighbor packs and finding her by now.

Here comes Tiana in her most revealing tank top to the training grounds, almost two hours late so that I get mad at her. I don’t care about her existence, don’t know since how long… maybe only for two weeks but feels like I have been faithful and s*x deprived forever. Faithful to someone who doesn’t want me, or more like wants me dead.

“Being mad only makes you hotter, Alpha. But your indifference is sexy too.” Rex growled at me for even looking at Tiana for just a second.

Right! Doesn’t matter, my mate doesn’t want me, and that makes me feel like a loser. I need to get over this feeling of worthlessness as fast as possible, even if that means I have to reject her.

After some ten hours of thinking about it, I thought I came to a good, solid decision. My resolve lasted only for maybe two minutes before I heard her laughter. It was the same way she laughs when her baby burps and smiles at her.

Hearing her voice sent a wave of excitement down my spine. Her sweet scent wafted around me at the same time. I ran out of excuses to knock at her door, but here she was, eating breakfast burritos with Rachel and laughing about something.

I stepped back to not ruin her mood and stop her from eating. It was the first time she came down for food. And she actually cared enough about my instructions to not bring Ari along.

She looked breathtakingly gorgeous even in a simple pale purple dress. Rachel was yapping nonstop while she paid attention to every word she said. It was only then that I heard they were talking about me. My sister seems to have grown too close already to be sharing too much with an almost stranger.

“I didn’t shift until last year. He was the only one who accepted me for who I was, wolf or human. Everyone around me, even my dad, tried to hurt me with their rudeness or ill treatment because I was a human and belonged with the omegas. My cousins bullied me so bad at school and told everyone to shame me. Ryder’s brother was at first into me and waited for a few months to see if I was a late bloomer. One day, he said he’d rather die than have me as his mate. But my brother found out and you can imagine what happened next to all such bullies.”

“No… what happened?” Nyla was listening without blinking and looked so cute when she adjusted her interest levels and feigned indifference.

“I mean, I can imagine.” She cleared her throat and poured some coffee into her cup.

“His demeanor changed for the rest of the world, but he’s still my protective brother. Have you seen him really smile? He gets these two adorable dimples, but he doesn’t smile much.”

I think I heard too much. Nyla was struggling to maintain a straight face. If I looked at her face any longer, I will probably change my mind again, only to get another slap in no time.

I linked my Gamma Finn about the change of plans. I needed some time away from her to clear my mind. With the bodyguards around and Rachel finding her first friend after a while, Nyla was quite safe without me around.

“Rachy, my drink?” I barged in to avoid listening to their conversation.

Nyla’s eyes widened in surprise… those beautiful eyes and the way they looked up at me. For a second, I thought she looked happy to see me. She started eating faster to leave. When Rachel was telling her stories, she was too engrossed and didn’t touch her food.

“Here.” Rachel gave me my usual smoothie.

My mom used to make a disgusting drink with whey and kale for me and my brother when we were young and in training. She did that until two years ago when she got killed. Rachel hated it and always poured it down the sink but now makes it everyday and gives me a big glass full.

“Oh, you are full already?” She asked Nyla who was preparing to leave.

“Ari needs to be fed. Her stomach is getting upset if the wet nurse and I are switching.” She was gulping down her coffee quickly.

“Ari… what is it for? Aria?”

“Ariyana.” Nyla looked at me for a second before replying to Rachel.

Wow! I didn’t know she would name her baby something like that. She really hates me.

“Ariyana has such a nice ring. What does it mean?” Rachel asked her innocently, but Nyla didn’t reply.

“It means silver,” I told her and walked out of the kitchen after dropping the tall blender cup in the sink. I wanted to leave before Nyla did. She was probably enjoying Rachel’s company. One of the bodyguards told me she wanted to stay longer at Ren’s place to talk last night.

“Wait a second!” Rachel got up from the chair and ran to catch up with me.

“What happened? How long will you be gone for?” Looks like Finn already told his sister and now Rachel found out.

“I should be back by Thursday.”

Nyla dropped her plate when carrying it to the sink. I wanted to k**s her before leaving. But that would be too much after how last night went down.

“But you promised to be there when I buy the car!”

When was that again? I vaguely remember agreeing to something like that. Rachel has been test driving a dozen cars a week and not liking any. She’s so tiny but wants a muscle car.

“You don’t remember at all! It was this coming Tuesday…!” She threw her hands in the air just like mom used to.

“We can go on Friday, I promise.”

“That’s almost a week away!”

Nyla stood by the kitchen door and stared at me. I avoided her and focused my attention on Rachel.

“I’ll bring you a present. Whatever you want.”

“All right! I want the most expensive gaming headset.”

“Okay, done.”

It looked like Nyla wanted to say something to me. I will change my mind and stay back even if she says one word to me. Any word.

I needed to get out of here quick. I will miss her like hell of course. But that’s better than this daily torture.

Once I really know for sure if this is what I want, I will reject her.