Liv thought the Beta was her fated mate. He didn't know. They were friends.
And he was in love with his ex-fiancée, who happened to be the Alpha he had pledged to protect with his life.
"I actually feel kind of bad for her," Larson said with a grimace, leaning back against the couch as he scanned a recent article.
"He's not her fated mate," I said. "He can't be. Not a fucking chance."
Lars flashed me a look. "She thinks he is, and she never askedyouto make a bargain with her, so..."
I gestured to a picture of the Alpha female. "Look at her. She looksnice. A man doesn't go from engaged to be mated toherto being Liv's soulmate, regardless of whatever happened when their engagement ended. Liv is all fire."
"You're just pissed that she thinks she's fated to a werewolf, and didn't think that about you."
Maybe a little.
"She's not fated to him, so there's nothing for me to be pissed about," I said bluntly.
Larson smacked me on the shoulder. "You'll get to meet him soon, since you're supposed to be making him jealous."
For once in my life, I'd be a perfect fucking gentleman, because I wasn't doing a damn thing to make that man wantmyfemale.
Larson and I both acted like we weren't reading news articles about Liv's so-called fated mate while she cleaned her feet in the sink again and put healing ointment on them. I itched to do it myself, but knew she'd smack me if I even tried. The last thing I wanted was to get thrown out again, so I didn't.
When Darius made himself another cup of coffee with the machine I'd left in the kitchen, she started cleaning so the house was ready for the Beta.
I got up and helped her, silently.
She flashed me a look that said she didn't know whether to thank me or tell me to fuck off. I sent her one that said she was welcome to do either, if it meant she was going to talk to me.
If her fated mate cared about whether or not she had dishes in the sink, he needed to take a hike.
I'd go with him.
He wouldn't make it back.
Every news article I saw talked about the Alpha and Beta's old engagement. There were recent pictures of them together, standing closer than they would've if they hadn't been interested in each other. Pictures of them posing at a dinner table, practically in each other's laps. Pictures at Cabinet events Liv would've also been attending.
They didn't look like they were necessarily back together, but they also didn't look like theyweren't.
There were so damn many articles about how in love they had been, were, or would be again, despite the Alpha's engagement to Grayson Darke being well known.If Darke didn't care about the articles, I doubted he actually planned on mating with her.
One from yesterday said:
Werewolf Alpha Gwen Davis seen wearing an old engagement ring from Beta Jonah Reeves.
I didn't need to wonder why Liv had been running so much.
She didn't read the news, but she undoubtedly knew the situation. And she was a confident woman, but thinking you were soulmates with a man who was in love with someone else would fuck with anyone.
We finished cleaning the kitchen and moved on to the living room, followed by the hallway. We weredusting, as if Liv didn't pay a cleaner to come by once a month to handle that shit.
The doorbell finally rang.
Liv had given me the code to her house the first night we met and told me to come in when I got there, since we'd driven separately. But herfated matewas ringing the doorbell.
Yeah.
Their connection was believable.
