Beloved Alpha Mated With My Best Friend, I Turned To Mate With His Rival Chapter 07
The ceremony wrapped at long last.
I’d just gathered my belongings and brushed my fingertips against the doorknob when a towering shadow blocked the exit entirely. Barnett’s hand snapped around my wrist in an iron grip.
“What the hell is going on between you and him, Eileen?”
Fury stripped all restraint from his hold, and sharp throbbing shot up my arm. I drew in a quiet breath from the pain but refused to pull away or flinch.
“What goes on between Dylan and me is none of your concern.”
“None of my concern?” A bitter, humorless laugh rumbled in his throat. “Have you forgotten what we share?”
I laughed right back, cold and mocking. “We share nothing beyond a childhood friendship.”
His features dropped into a menacing scowl. “Just friends, and nothing more?”
The final syllable barely left my mouth before his grip tightened further, hard enough to threaten crushing bone. “How could you erase five years of loving each other?”
I wrenched my arm free and stumbled back a pace. “When exactly were we lovers, Barnett? Bonnie is your girlfriend, your bonded mate, your Luna—she’s always been the one.”
“Eileen!” Rage consumed him, wiping every trace of his usual soft warmth from his grim face. “How many times must I explain? The ceremony was only repayment for her family’s sacrifice. I hold no romantic attachment to her whatsoever!”
“Is that so?” My voice sharpened. “You had endless chances to announce our bond openly over five years. Why wait until her father took a fatal blow shielding you? Why parade your supposed relationship with her for the entire pack to witness?”
I’d planned to leave the ugly truths buried, yet he forced every bitter detail into the open.
“You lied about leading border defenses against rogue wolves to spend her birthday at Bonnie’s side, acting as her devoted boyfriend. Did I ever cross your mind during any of those days?”
Barnett swallowed his anger and lowered his tone to plead his case. “Bonnie’s family hounded her to find a mate, and I’m the only eligible male she’s close to. I agreed to fake courtship solely as a favor to you! Then her father was gravely injured saving my life, and granting her Luna status was the only honorable way to reward her family with the pack’s top-tier resources.”
“Bonnie is our mutual friend—was I wrong to help her out?” He genuinely could not pinpoint his own mistakes or grasp the source of my anger.
His self-righteous complaining pulled a dry laugh out of me. “By that logic, can I pretend to date anyone I wish and seal a formal mating bond simply to do a friend a favor?”
Barnett’s expression hardened, snapping out a sharp rebuke. “Don’t spout nonsense! Mating bonds are sacred and never to be joked about lightly.”
“Then what about you?” I pinned him with a cutting stare dripping with sarcasm. “Did you treat your bond with Bonnie as genuine commitment, or nothing more than a meaningless prank? Before lecturing me on decency, ask yourself if you’re even in a position to preach.”
With that, I shoved him aside and stormed out of the lounge, only to spot Dylan waiting patiently at the far end of the hallway as if he’d stood there for years.