Beloved Alpha Mated With My Best Friend, I Turned To Mate With His Rival Chapter 08
He hovered politely behind my mother, helping her greet departing pack members one by one.
“What took you so long grabbing your bag? I started worrying you’d gotten lost,” Mom chided me with a playful glare.
Dylan smoothly slipped my purse from my hand and slung it over his own arm. “Eileen takes her time touching up makeup after meals; a small delay is nothing to fuss over.”
Mom nodded in obvious satisfaction and teased me. “One tiny jab at you and your Alpha rushes to defend you—he certainly dotes on you.”
Her playful expression faded into sternness as she fixed her gaze back on me. “Whatever falling-out you two had is no excuse lying about his death. I spent two agonizing days convinced he’d perished, heartbroken on your behalf.”
Dylan watched me quietly with an amused smile and said nothing. All the recent chaos weighed heavy on my chest, and it took me a moment to reply flatly. “I understand.”
Bonnie had planned a honeymoon getaway to Stellaris Island and posted photos of the destination on her social pages the day before their bonding ritual. But Barnett had rejected her plans outright.
On the night set aside for their reciprocal mating marks, he skipped returning to the pack house entirely and instead banged on my front door.
Mom blinked in confused surprise upon spotting him. “Barnett? Aren’t you meant to exchange mating marks with your new Luna tonight? What brings you here?”
“Mrs. Sable, I need to speak with Eileen—might you fetch her for me?”
He’d dialed my number dozens of times en route, only to be met with cold automated rejection each call. It was then he realized I’d blacklisted his contact, and for the very first time, panic and helplessness gnawed at his core.
“What business do you have with Eileen?” Before Mom could answer, Dylan ambled into the entryway, watching Barnett with a lazy, knowing smirk.
“You’re here?” Barnett’s pupils blew wide, his unease spiking sharply.
Dylan chuckled softly. “I’d intended to head back to Shadowmaw Pack, but Mrs. Sable took pity on my long journey and invited me to stay overnight.”
“The hell did you just say?” Barnett’s eyes blazed crimson with rage. He lunged forward and fisted the front of Dylan’s jacket. “Repeat that if you dare!”
Dylan stood unfazed by his fury and kept his grin intact. “I said Mrs. Sable extended her hospitality and asked me to—”
A brutal fist slammed straight into his jaw mid-sentence.
Mom let out a shrill scream. “Barnett! What on earth are you doing?!”
I’d been drinking milk in the living room and sprinted out at the commotion to find Barnett gone feral, throwing relentless punches at Dylan’s face with bloodshot eyes. Fire surged through my veins, and I rushed forward to bodily heave Barnett away.
“Barnett Rook, have you lost your mind? Get out of my house right this instant!”
Barnett froze stock-still, shock melting into raw hurt and desolation. Never once in our lives had I spoken to him with such venom.
Before passing my pack aptitude test, I’d always addressed him respectfully as Alpha. After we fell in love, I’d dropped the honorific to call him Barnett alone—an exclusive nickname no other pack member dared use, my small way of marking him as mine.
Even when we fought bitterly, I’d only called him a reckless idiot, never screamed his full name and ordered him out.
“You’re kicking me out for his sake?” His voice cracked, eyes glistening with heartbreak.