hapter 35
ALEXANDER
Faye’s chair scraped lightly against the floor as she rose. I didn’t miss the way she kept her posture perfect, her expression calm, as though Bella’s thinly veiled insults had slid right past
her
But I’d seen the flash in her eyes, the subtle tightening of her jaw before she smoothed it away. She wasn’t unaffected
…no one would be…but she’d handled it with more composure than I think Bella expected.
She left the table without another word, the faint scent of her lingering in the air long after she’d stepped out. My eyes followed her until the dining room doors closed behind her.
Only then did I turn to Bella. “What the hell is your problem?”
Bella’s eyes widened, all false innocence, as if she couldn’t possibly imagine what I meant. My problem?” she echoed, tilting her head like a confused child. “What did I do?”
”
I leaned back slightly, folding my arms. “Don’t play games with me, Bella. I saw exactly what you were doing. Every word out of your mouth was calculated to get under her skin. You were disrespectful.”
She blinked at me, feigning hurt. “I was just making conversation.”
“Conversation?” I let the word drip with disbelief. “You were baiting her. I don’t have patience for this, you should know that.”
Bella set down her fork delicately, then rested her chin in her hand like she was settling in for a discussion. “Alex, all I did was state the obvious. You know she isn’t your type, it’s not a
secret.”
I almost laughed. Not because she was right…she wasn’t…but because of the arrogance in assuming she knew me well enough to say that. “And what exactly makes you think you know my type?”
Her smile turned faintly smug. “Because I do know. I know the kind of woman you want… the kind of woman you need. Someone like me.”
There it was. She didn’t even bother dressing it up in subtlety anymore. I wished I was surprised.
She kept going, her tone dripping with certainty. “I understand you have to keep her as your
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Chemer 35
mate because of the alliance Blood Crescent made with Silver Hollow. That much makes
sense. Politics, obligations fine. But that doesn’t mean you have to pretend to actually want her.”
I stared at her for a long moment, letting the silence stretch. I wanted her to feel the weight of it. “You really think you know what I want, Bella?”
She smiled in that slow, deliberate way, like she was about to prove her point. Her hand lifted, fingers brushing against the edge of my sleeve before trailing upward in a way she must have thought was seductive.
I caught her wrist before she could get any closer. “Don’t.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “What? Since when are you so untouchable? You never had a problem with me touching you before.”
That made something in me tighten, not with longing, but with irritation. The past she was clinging to was one I’d long since left behind, and she knew it.
“That was a mistake,” I said flatly. “Whatever happened between us was a mistake, Bella. I was young and stupid. And I’m not interested in anything with you now.”
She tried to pull her hand free, but I didn’t let go until I’d made my point. “You’re going to respect my boundaries from here on out.”
Bella gave a little laugh, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Boundaries. Really, Alexander? You’re acting like you actually share some important bond with that girl. Everyone knows it’s just an arrangement.”
I wondered what made her feel that was a good excuse for her behavior.
Her voice sharpened then, the sweetness fading. “It’s not like she satisfies your needs in any way. We both know that.”
I let go of her wrist, my voice dropping low in a way I knew she’d recognize as a warning. “ You’re going to respect her. Regardless of what you think, regardless of what you believe about our bond, you will respect her. Because if you ever speak to her like that again, Bella…”
I leaned forward slightly, holding her gaze until she swallowed. “…you won’t like my reaction.”
For a moment, we just stared at each other. I could see the calculations running through her mind, the way she was trying to decide whether to push me or back down.
She chose to roll her eyes instead, leaning back in her chair like she was bored with the entire exchange. “Fine. If that’s how you want to play it, Alpha.”
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Her tone was mocking, but I didn’t give her the satisfaction of a response
I stood, pushing my chair back with a calmness I didn’t entirely feel. Without another word, I turned and walked away from the table.
The further I got from the dining room, the easier it was to breathe. But the conversation still lingered in my head, looping in fragments. Bella’s words didn’t sting in the way she intended they didn’t make me question the bond I had with Faye. If anything, they made me more certain of the line I needed to draw with Bella.
The truth was, I didn’t need anyone undermining Faye in this pack. Not when things were already tense enough. Not when there were bigger concerns on ground than Bella’s petty jealousy.
“I should put an end to this,” I said to myself.
As much as I told myself I was doing this out of principle, I couldn’t quite ignore the hint of something else in the back of my mind.
When Faye had sat across from Bella earlier, she hadn’t wilted under the pressure. She’d held her own, calm and controlled. She’d even turned Bella’s little game back on her without raising her voice once. I hadn’t expected that.
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