Chapter 51: Ayla
Surprised didn’t begin to cover what I was feeling. How did she know about Theo? Had he told Kylee? Goddess, please don’t let him have told Kylee. I worked to push my anxiety down. I just needed to give her a chance to explain.
“How?” I managed to choke out.
She squeezed my hand. “Ayla, I met my mate when I went to the Greytooth pack to see Kylee. She wanted my help with the mating ceremony. My mate is Briggs, Theo’s Beta.”
Tsmiled. “I’m happy for you, Mina. I only meet him once, but
Beta Briggs seems like a good man.”
“He is,” she said with a bright smile, but it faded quickly. “What about Alpha Kingston? Is he good to you?”
“He is,” I replied. “He has really been there for me since… since I left the pack.”
“You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that, Ayla,” Mina stated. “I’ve been worried sick ever since I found out what Theo did to you. And everything Kylee did.”
Anger rolled off of her at the mention of my sister.
“Mina, Kylee doesn’t know about me and Theo, does she?”
“No,” she confirmed, shaking her head. “Briggs insisted you didn’t want her to know. So, none of us have told her.”
“Thank you. I just don’t want to put that on her.”
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Chapter 51: Ayla
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“Ayla,” Mina scolded. “She a liar. You have no reason to keep protecting her.”
“Mina, it doesn’t matter what she’s done to me,” I insisted. “I just want both of us to move on from all of this. As long as she doesn’t know, she and Theo will be happy. Then I can move on with Kingston.”
Her expression changed. She almost looked pained.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Theo and Kylee broke up. They’re not going to be mated.”
My heart fell to my stomach. This couldn’t be happening. I needed him to mark Kylee. He was supposed to be taking care of her and Ma. He was supposed to free me from our bond. How would I be able to truly be with Kingston if he didn’t mark
her?
“No, that can’t be true,” I said. “He wouldn’t… Why?”
“Theo found out about everything. He found out that Kylee had been lying about you and about their relationship.”
“What do you mean she lied about their relationship?” I asked.
“She told you she and Theo were fated mates, didn’t she?” Mina inquired.
“Yeah,” I verified. “I wasn’t sure if she lied or if we were both somehow his mate.”
“She lied, Ayla. But she also lied about when they actually got together. She may have met or at least saw Theo when she visited the campus her senior year, but they didn’t start seeing each other until last year,” Mina told me.
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Chapter 51: Ayla
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This was too much. Why would she do something like that? I pinched the bridge of my nose. I didn’t know how to feel about this. Kylee wasn’t the person I thought she was. I don’t know when she turned into someone who could do those things. Maybe I hadn’t really been there enough to see it.
“I think she planned it all,” Mina said, interrupting my thoughts. “I think she saw him, found out who he was, and was determined to be with him. She planned it all. She didn’t care if he had a mate out there or not.”
I wanted to be mad at Kylee, but mostly, I was just ashamed. She put herself before Theo and the pack. She didn’t care if she was robbing him of the person the goddess wanted him to be with. She didn’t care if that would weaken the whole pack.
“What about Ma? Is she okay?”
“Kylee was pretty pissed when they were leaving the
packhouse. But Aunt Marie just seemed anxious and pretty sad, actually. But she got the letter you wrote. Theo’s keeping the deed to the house locked up at the packhouse, though. That way, she can’t gamble it away.”
At least I won’t have to stress about that.
“Ayla,” Mina said tentatively, “Theo wants…”
“So, tell me about Briggs,” I interrupted her. I didn’t want to know. I couldn’t go down that road now.
Mina seemed to understand and was obliged to start telling me about her and Briggs. I was glad to hear that my first impression of him was correct. It sounded like he was good to her. He made her happy. I wouldn’t accept anything less. Our
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Chapter 51: Ayla
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conversation shifted to Kingston and then to us reminiscing about when we were kids together.
“There’s something you should know about Kingston, Mina,” I said. I looked around to see if there was anyone close enough to overhear. “He knew Dad and your mom. He told me they were from the Greytooth Pack originally.”
“What?” Mina said, her eyes widening. “How did he know them?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” I said. “This isn’t really the place for it, but want to tell you everything I know. Maybe you can come to our suite later on.”
“Yeah, I can probably make that happen,” she said with a smile.
“You ladies seem to be having a good time.”
I looked over to see Kingston coming to sit next to me on the couch. I was surprised to see Briggs in tow. He took the spot on the other side of Mina, putting his arm around her and pulling her against him. I smiled at seeing him be so affectionate with her and her enjoying every second of it. Kingston put on his own shameless display, grabbing my hand as he put his arm around my shoulders and k*ssed my hair. I fought the urge to roll my eyes, but I also liked it. I smiled up at him.
“You two
teased.
find something interesting to talk about,” Kingston.
“Just catching up,” I said. “Reminiscing.”
“I was reminding Ayla about the time she received a love letter
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Chapter 51: Ayla
in fifth grade,” Mina said. “She corrected his spelling and grammar and returned it.”
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“I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise you grew up to be a writer,” Kingston said with a chuckle.
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