The Alpha’s Bullied Mate (Bluebell Valley Wolves #1)

Chapter 20 - Hayden

“Stay here. I’ll be back shortly,” Hayden ordered as he stalked back to the bedroom. As he threw on his clothes, he frowned. Mica was dressing as well. “I said—”

“I’m your mate. I’ll stand with you,” she said shortly.

Hayden shook his head. “You’ll stay within the property bounds.”

Mica huffed at him but didn’t respond. The two of them were ready quickly. Mica swept her hair into a bun as they headed downstairs. Torches lit the night, dozens of Monroe’s pack carrying them as the flames flickered and glowed. Hayden’s wolf snarled at the sight of Monroe, standing with his toes against the PCP piping at the gate.

“Ah, decided to join us, did you?” Monroe drawled. “I was starting to think that your little challenge was all talk and no action.”

His people laughed. Hayden ignored the low-hanging fruit and stopped just inside the protective barrier. “Are you finally going to accept my challenge, or will you continue to be a coward?”

Monroe smirked. “What do you think I’m here for? It’s time for this to end. I’ve given you plenty of chances to withdraw, yet you’re still here. And you’re bringing more and more people into harm’s way with your devil-pacts.”

Spencer chuckled next to him, but his eye roved the crowd. Searching for his daughters, no doubt.

“Finally, we can get this over with,” Hayden said dryly. “Shall we set a time for the fight, then?”

Monroe’s grin was toothy. “Of course. I won’t leave you in too much agony. But I must say, I’m impressed, Mica.”

His gaze shifted to Mica, who shied into Hayden’s side. She lifted her chin and glared at him. “Impressed by what?”

“How well you’ve looked after my misguided pack,” Monroe said, his grin widening. “So I have decided that once I’ve killed this boy, I’ll keep you on as Alpha’s mate. With some rigorous training and some discipline, you might even lose enough weight to be worth fucking.”

Mica pressed more firmly into Hayden’s side.

Hayden nearly lunged for Monroe right there. His wolf howled, and rage swept through him. The threats were bad enough, but Mica’s apparent fear made him want to put down Monroe right here. He growled, the sound reverberating in the smoky night.

“It’s a good thing that I’m going to kill you, then,” Hayden said, his words slurred with his growing canines. “Mica will never be yours.”

Monroe laughed. He gave Spencer a knowing look. His eyes changed color in the torchlight, turning from deep black to blood-red. The change was only a flash in the pan, gone so quickly that someone who didn’t know what to look for would only think it was due to the torchlight. Hayden and Mica knew better.

Monroe was no longer being controlled or possessed. The body fully belonged to the demon now. Up to this point, Monroe might have been able to fight it—perhaps that was even why the challenge had gone unanswered for so long. Echo was in that state now, still conscious beneath the possession. When her body died, she would still have the chance to emerge for the last few moments of her life.

For Monroe, that time had passed. The old Alpha was well and truly dead. Maybe his soul was still in there somewhere, but he was never emerging again.[A1]

“Two days,” Hayden said. “The day before the full moon. At noon.”

“Noon? You like to sleep in, do you?”

Hayden kept his expression neutral. “It’s customary for challenges to be fulfilled at noon, is it not?”

Monroe nodded once. “Very well. Two days at noon. Prepare yourself—and your mate,” he added with a nasty look at Mica.

“You should prepare yourself,” Mica shot back. “There’s only one person who’s going to die. And it’s not Hayden. You won’t get what you want from the Bluebell Valley pack. We know what you are.”

Monroe laughed. “Spoken like a true female. Completely wrong.”

Spencer and the rest of his people burst into laughter as well. They all stalked away, taking their torches with them. A flash of lightning flickered soundlessly in the distance. Hayden turned to his pack. They watched with uncertain gazes.

“Two days,” he said loudly. “And then you will know you put your faith in the right Alpha. We will have Bluebell Valley, and things will get better.”

He smiled at them reassuringly. As they dispersed, Finn and Blayke sidled over to him. Finn spoke in a low voice.

“Spencer is the only one not showing signs of possession,” he said under his voice. “Everyone else is either claimed or at least influenced. It’s spreading.”

Hayden nodded once. Finn would prefer they take more decisive, more immediate action. Hayden couldn’t blame him, knowing his history. He had a particular reason to hate demons, seeing how they robbed him of any chance he might have had to have a normal family, a normal life. In Hayden's opinion, He tended to be a bit too zealous when it came to demons.

“Are two days going to be quick enough?” Mica whispered. Her hands tightened on him, cold against his skin.

Hayden winced at the question. So she didn’t trust his judgment? When she spoke earlier about tensions rising in the pack, he thought it was because of others. Because all of this was so new and they had served Monroe for so long, they doubted their decision to trust him.

But what was this because she was doubting him, too?

He cleared his throat and led them to the house. His wolf growled when he let Finn and Blayke into his and Mica’s bedroom. This was meant to be a sacred place for him and his mate. No other male should step foot inside. But it was the only place for a private talk.

Once they were inside, Blayke turned to Mica. “What you should worry about is whether two days will be enough time to continue your research. If any of the possessed wolves are going to survive, we need a way to kill the aura-demons without killing their hosts.”

“You mean my mother,” Mica said. If she was a wolf, her hackles would be raised.

“That is, unfortunately, exactly what we have to consider,” Hayden said, intervening. “Do you have any news on that front?”

Mica glanced at the floor. “I might have a new avenue of research.”

Blayke and Finn both gave Hayden significant looks. He gave him black stares back. Yes, the situation with Echo was growing worse. They couldn’t keep the demon locked up forever. But right now, Mica wasn’t ready to accept the truth. The last thing he wanted to do was end this, only for Mica to find something she thought might help afterward.

“Once I’ve defeated Monroe, we’ll be able to find how the demons are leaking through to our world,” Hayden said. “Everything will move very swiftly after that. We must be prepared for what will happen next.”

Mica winced.

“Blayke, Finn, you two are on watch tonight.”

They both bowed their hands and left the room quietly. Mica’s shoulders slumped as she held her head in her hands. She let out a groan as she sagged toward the floor. Hayden wrapped his arms around her, pulling her toward the bathroom. A shower would do wonders to relax her.

“Now that the challenge is accepted, we’re not supposed to share a bed,” Mica said listlessly.

Hayden shook his head. “The actual language is that we aren’t allowed to have sex. Sleeping in the same bed is still well within our rights.”

Mica grabbed his arms suddenly, stopping him as he reached to start undressing her. “Hayden. What happens if you’re defeated?”

“You doubt me?” he asked, keeping his voice even.

“I doubt Monroe is going to fight by the rules,” she answered. Her fingers tightened on him. “So what happens if you’re defeated? And I don’t mean me, I mean… everything. What happens to the pack? What happens if we can’t stop the demons? How far will they spread?”

Hayden gently pulled away and resumed his efforts in undressing her. “You don’t have to worry about that. Monroe won’t beat me.”

“I just…” Tears slid down Mica’s cheeks. “I can’t bear the thought of him killing you. But that’s what has to happen. Either you kill him, or he kills you. Even if no demons were involved, it’s still what would happen.”

Hayden searched her gaze, startled by the force of her emotions. He cupped her face in his hands. “You can’t intervene. Even if it looks like he’s about to kill me. You can’t intervene. If you think, even for a moment, that I’m going to lose, you get in a car and run. Understand me?”

Mica’s eyes widened. “What?”

“But I’m not going to lose,” Hayden continued. He gave her his most cocky grin. “I’ve fought dozens of demons before. None of them can hold a candle to me. So don’t worry. You won’t have to do that.”

She nodded, trust filling her gaze. Mica turned on the shower and stepped, sighing as the steam rose to envelop her. Hayden watched her, standing beneath the spray. The curves of her body grew slick with water, her skin growing red with the heat. Even in such a simple act, she was the most sensual being he’d laid eyes on.

His wolf growled as he thought of Monroe’s threat. A well of protectiveness swept through him. He didn’t care if he had to die to do it, he was going to end Monroe. The demons would not get their hands on Mica.

He would make sure she was safe. No matter what the cost was.