Chapter 6

**** Alyssa ****

It is now the next day, and I’m still furious. Suddenly I feel like if grudge-holding was an Olympic sport, I’d be a gold medal winner. I’m a firm believer in forgiveness and second chances, everyone has a bad day, everyone gets overwhelmed, and often people have struggles they are hiding. I get that. But if you burn me twice, or you hurt me for fun, then that’s it. I’ll never trust you again. My dear husband is definitely on that list already. Grudge-holding has never before been a fault of mine; I hate who I am becoming here.

I see the dickwad having brunch with his mother at the outdoor dining area, right beside the pool. She's beautifully dressed in a light and bright summer dress while he’s in shorts and a bright T-shirt that perfectly compliments his dark skin. From the outside, he looks like the perfect, dutiful son. I wonder if his mother even knows he got married or about the supposed treaty. 

On impulse, I dash upstairs and decide to screw with him.

Ok, so maybe this isn’t the smartest plan since last night he told me that when I’m of age — in only three months — he wants to make babies with me, but right now, I’m too irritated at his treatment of me to care. I feel like showing him what he’s missing, and I feel like showing others too. Boys and men alike always seemed captivated by my curves — time to put them to work. 

I packed two swimsuits. I chose the tiny red bikini, with gold rings on the side of my hips and between the boobs at the front. I’ve never had a boyfriend but I’ve always turned heads. My boobs first came when I was quite young. At the age of 12, I already had a sizable chest, and by 13, I had a full woman’s figure. I was blessed with the perfect hourglass shape, or so I was told.  Of course it didn’t feel like that when eyes ogled me on a daily basis as a kid. Now at nearly18, my boobs were like extra-large round grapefruits, or small melons. 

Since I developed so young and garnered a lot of unwanted male attention, I learned early to hide my assets. That, with the added attention of being the Alpha’s only daughter, and then the poor, sad only child after my parents died, people’s eyes were always on me. Usually, unless I needed to dress up for an event or for training where I needed to move freely, I hid my body in practical clothing and dressed to stay unnoticed, hiding behind demure clothing or casual layers that smothered my curves. Not today, fellas.

I quickly dress in the way-too-revealing bikini and walk straight back downstairs. I pause briefly before exiting through the French doors to gather my courage and confidence. If I were going to do this, I needed to own my shape, love my shape, like I never had before.

I saunter slowly, adding a little sway to my hips. I feel like an idiot, but I quickly tamp that down and muster my confidence. 

Please don’t trip. 

I had no intention of acknowledging his presence. He probably wouldn’t even notice me anyway since his girlfriend is attractive and also my age. He’ll probably think I’m fat compared to Mistress Merideth — yes, that is today’s nickname. 

Shutting down my negative thoughts once again, I walk around the pool and slink down the diving board. Before diving in, I look up just long enough to see that he’s staring at me, literally slack-jawed. Yay, me. Resisting the urge to show him my middle finger, I dive in. When I pop up I swim to the end of the pool,  I look up to touch the end, and there he is standing, glaring at me. 

“What do you think you're doing?” he hisses. Ignoring him, I push off the wall and swim to the other end, touch the wall and continue swimming laps. When I reach his end again, he’s furious. I had interrupted his date with his mommy, embarrassed him, and ignored him. When I touch the wall to turn he snags my hand and yanks me from the pool with one strong arm, dropping me, dripping and fuming, at his feet.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I yell as I spring to my feet.

I am not a flipping doll. 

“Me!? What is wrong with you? You’re dressing like a… whore… in front of my men,” he stammers. He whispered the word “whore,” but that didn't make it hurt any less.

I adopt a sweet fake smile, “I’m swimming, and if anyone is a whore around here, it’s you!” I stalk away, deliberately adding a little sway to my hips as I act a big FU to my husband. Apparently, he did not appreciate that. He snagged my arm as I tried to shove him. 

“What!? I didn’t… you don‘t..not everything is as it seems,” he stammers out. 

That nonsense again?

“Put some fucking clothes on,” he spits when I don’t respond to his ambiguous crap.

“Stop being an ignorant jerk,” I sneer back, yanking my arm free. 

Well, that was a success! I managed to piss him off, which had been my goal, but unfortunately, it wasn’t at all as satisfying as I had imagined. I thought he’d realize what a beautiful wife he was ignoring and maybe make an effort to get to know me, or at least act like a decent person. Instead, he insulted me, and I ended up feeling worse. Way worse. 

My parents made this marriage stuff look easy. I wish they were alive so I could call for advice. Though, if they were alive, they never would have sold me to some immature, ignorant, asshole for an unnecessary peace treaty. They would die before they let a dickwad such as this take me and treat me this way.

Now, I really did need to swim laps to burn off this energy, this anger. I need him to know that treating me like he does is not ok, and that I would not allow that to be the norm for the next however many years. 

Once, when Aunt Carin first met Simon she told me to never do too much for your mate in the beginning, to make sure your relationship is equal from the start; otherwise, they take you for granted forever. Granted, I’m not Carin’s biggest fan right now, but I think she was right about this. I needed to readjust this standard he set, and I couldn’t for the life of me find the right way to do it. 

Returning to the diving board, I dive back in and power furiously to the end of the pool, once again a strong hand grips my wrist and yanks me from the pool when I reach the end, and deposits me unceremoniously at my dickwad husband's feet. 

Around us now a small group is gathering. Pretending not to notice them, I stand up and glare at him.

“Seriously?! I’m not even allowed to swim!?” I hiss at him, eyes narrowed and teeth clenched.

“Get inside and get dressed.”

“No.” I try to walk past him, but as history repeats itself, he snags my hand and yanks me back once again. Only this time, he continues the motion and slings me onto his shoulder.

“Put me down!” I flail my arms and legs, he has me pinned by the thighs with my ass popped up in the air over his shoulder, and here I thought he didn’t want everyone to see me, this high-cut red bikini bottoms barely contain my cheeks. I hate that I can’t move my legs much. I can, however, thump his back with my fists. And thump I do!

He slaps my butt, and I go still in shock. I can't believe he just spanked me!

In silence, he stomps through the house until he kicks my door open and tosses me, not too gently, on the bed. I bounce and huff an annoyed growl.

“Well, if you have not insulted me enough for today, why don’t you go find one of your girlfriends and boss them around?”

“Don’t you ever dress like that again around my men,” he says, his brown eyes darkened to midnight pools of fury. 

“And why not?” I challenge, he closes his eyes and rubs his temples 

“Because you are my fucking wife, that’s why!” he yells.

“Am I? If I am your wife, why do you have a girlfriend? If I am your wife, why did you introduce me as your Beta’s visiting cousin? If I am your wife, why haven’t you introduced me to your pack as such? I’m not your wife! Therefore, you have no say over what I wear, and actually, even if we were acting like a proper married couple, I would still wear whatever the hell I want.”

“You’ll wear what I tell you to, you’ll go where I tell you to.”

“You’re dreaming, Enzi. Keep your controlling bullshit for your side sluts,” I shout back, deliberately dropping his title. 

He storms from my room without responding, slamming my door so hard it splinters and hangs at an odd angle. Flipping dickwad.

I felt a little satisfied though. How could he honestly expect to call me his wife when he treats me like this? What kind of hallucinogens was this idiot on?

I resolved to swim laps in that tiny red bikini every flipping day and when the pack house was at its busiest time. 

Dinner is the next time I’m allowed out of my room since his fit this morning, and I was walked to and from my room flanked by two warriors. Other than the door repairman, these two soldiers are the only people I’ve seen since this morning. I guess I should be happy he’s actually letting me leave my room for dinner. 

After dinner, I realize why. He wanted access to my room without me being in the way. Lying on my bed, meticulously shredded into several dozen tiny pieces and carefully laid out for me to see is what’s left of my red bikini.

Oh, it’s on.

****The Blond Bimbo Mistress Merideth ****

“I heard he carried Alyssa to her bedroom earlier; he seems very protective of her. What do you think, Merideth?” Lia loudly says as we walk into the pack house for dinner.

I think that ever since the Alpha asked me to come and stay at the pack house, my friends have been jealous snakes. 

“She disrespected our Alpha. He needed to punish her,” I reply. In truth, I have no idea what happened. I used to eat dinner at home, most people eat dinner with their families. Usually, breakfast after training or special events are the only times we eat as a pack like this. But since Alpha Enzi has been back from his trip, he’s been doing things very differently. He is very different. And this is all new to me.

“Jamie said she looked hot in that bikini and he’d volunteer to punish her anytime,” Trudy emphasizes the word “punish” in a way that definitely implies something else. 

For the last few days, my so-called best friends have been telling me the Alpha is using me, he doesn’t actually love me, it’s all too sudden, he’s hiding something. What’s worse is that they actually are right. The bile they’ve been spewing lately, though, is making my head hurt. That’s the downside to my gift. Sometimes they don’t even have to say it, I can feel what they mean.  

Still, I know where they are coming from. Typically, Alpha Enzi doesn’t sleep with or even flirt with girls in his pack. It’s well-known that he has been waiting for his mate and the rumor is that the few times his needs have been met, they were met outside of our pack. Even I was surprised when he asked me to move in. I’ve always felt drawn to him and his brother, so I agreed to help with this because I care for him.

At dinner, my Alpha seems distant and cold. I constantly see him staring at Alyssa, she must have really pissed him off today. I’m glad I’m not in her shoes. 

After I see Jamie and Darryl return from walking her to her room, I decide to go ask her myself. It’s odd that he has our Delta and our Gamma on a menial task like guard duty. Maybe they are extra wary because she isn’t one of our pack members. Maybe they suspect her of something.

When I knock on her bedroom door, she doesn’t answer.  

“It’s me — Merideth — can I come in?” I call out.

The door opens quickly, “Of course, I’m sorry. I thought you might be him,” she says. I know immediately she means the Alpha.

“Oh my gosh, I heard he yelled at you? Confining you to your room in punishment? What happened?” I ask. I’m keen to hear her side of the story. 

“I’m not really sure. I was just swimming, and then, I guess I interrupted something important,” she says. The twinkle in her eye tells me she is playing it down. She wanders to her bed and flops on it, patting the spot beside her in invitation. 

“He’s been acting weird ever since he got back from that trip; it’s like he’s not himself. He’s more on edge, he’s cold. Did something happen at that ball? Do you know anything?” I ask as I prop a pillow on the headboard and lean back. If I get comfortable, maybe she’ll get comfortable too. 

“I don’t know anything. He doesn’t talk to me, except to yell at me. He’s with you all the time, perhaps you should ask him,” she suggests. I smile as she too nestles up against the headboard beside me. 

“It looks like that, doesn’t it? But he doesn’t really talk to me much. I try, but he just kind of grunts out these short responses.”

“He seems to talk to you all the time,” she comments. 

I take a deep breath and try to relax, this always works better if I’m focused on the other person, rather than me. 

“Sometimes,” I smile. I try to shift the conversation back to her, that’s who I came to talk about. 

“So, besides my Alpha’s hissy fit today, how are you settling in?”

“Well, I guess it’s only really been a couple of days, but I’m not really settling in. I miss home. I miss my friends. I don’t feel like I fit in here, and I’m definitely not welcome,” her eyes shimmer like she’s trying to hold back tears. Bringing people’s emotions to the surface and lowering their inhibitions is kind of my thing. I sense a deep sadness and unease from her, and I wonder why her parents sent her here.

“You are welcome here. Look, I know we have a reputation as a vicious pack, but most of that is deliberately exaggerated. We don’t wipe out people just for sport as other packs believe. We let them believe that because we want everyone to know that we will defend ourselves with everything we have. Our pack is a big family and we will do anything to keep each other safe. But that doesn’t mean we don’t welcome new people,” I reach over and grab her hand, but Alyssa looks even sadder now. In trying to reassure her, I think I made it worse. How? 

Suddenly, the door bangs open, and my Alpha stands in the doorway, looking beyond furious. Goddess, what did I do now?

“Out,” he barks at me, jerking his head at the door. 

I obey without question, and as I pass him, I note the angry glare he’s leveling at Alyssa. Maybe it’s not me he’s mad at. 

He immediately follows me to his room, my hopes that he will tell me what is going on are dashed in seconds. 

“I have work to do. I’m heading to my office. You’re welcome to stay here.” And that’s it as he turns and walks off.

“Wait! Enzi, please. What is going on here?” 

“You were told what you were wanted for, Merideth. If you have a problem with that, I can find someone to replace you.”

Then he’s gone and I’m standing in his room alone and confused. None of this makes sense. What did I get myself into?