Chapter 24

#Chapter 24: Outcast

Nathan quickly took my arm and led me over to the picnic area.

Instantly, I felt eyes on me. I blushed and pulled Nathan’s jacket closer around my shoulders, averting my gaze to the ground.

Hold your head high,” Nathan said. “It’s just a picnic. Come with me; I have to mingle for appearances.”

I felt like a statue as I followed Nathan around. He was so outgoing and polite, and so many people seemed to want to talk to him. But I just felt like an outcast who was only following him around like a lost puppy.

No one wanted to talk to the traitor’s daughter, either. Especially not when I had a ruined dress and an oversized men’s jacket on.

Suddenly, while Nathan was talking to another man who I didn’t immediately

recognize, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Jenifer standing there,

and my face turned red.

“I-I’m so sorry about the dress,” I stammered. “I fell during the hunt and I think I

ruined it.”

Jenifer’s bulging eyes slowly looked me up and down. There was a long silence

between us, during which I felt incredibly uncomfortable. My heart practically

pounded out of my chest as I wondered if she would humiliate me even more for

ruining her dress.

But surprisingly, she just shrugged. “It’s only a dress,” she said. “Besides, I said you

could have it anyway. Walk with me?”

“Oh,” I said, feeling my face get hot. “Um… Okay.”

Jenifer shot me another one of her strange smiles. We started to walk away from

the group a bit, and walked a circle around the sprawling picnic area.

“So,” I said, trying to strike up a conversation, “Nathan mentioned that you were

from another pack. Do you like it here?”

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“I do.” Jenifer smiled. For an instant, I saw her eyes flicker over to Colin, who was standing with a glass of champagne in his hand and talking to one of the elders. There was almost something strange about the way that she looked at Nathan’s father.

The two of them seemed very close. Maybe she was enamored with him as he did, after all, take her in as his daughter.

“What do you like about it?” I asked, clearing my throat.

Jenifer shrugged. “Nathan and his family took me in when no one else would. They’re very nice people.”

In my head, I wanted to disagree with Jenifer. I had never experienced Nathan’s mother and father as being particularly nice. I supposed that Nathan’s mother was alright, but Colin never seemed to like me.

“How long have you known Nathan?” Jenifer asked suddenly.

“We’ve known each other since we were kids,” I replied, unable to contain my smile as I reminisced on our childhood. “We basically grew up together, before…”

“Before your dad betrayed the pack?”

Jenifer’s tone took me off guard. I swallowed, and felt my heart sink a little. “Yeah… Something like that,” I muttered.

Someday, I thought to myself, they’ll all know the truth: that my father didn’t do anything wrong.

Jenifer and I walked in silence for a little longer. We started to walk a little further away from the group, which I didn’t particularly mind. Jenifer’s company was awkward, but it was better than the nasty stares and whispers from the other girls at the picnic.

“So, at what point did Nathan and you decide to take your friendship a step further?” Jenifer asked. “Since you were evicted, I’m sure he was taking trips to visit you in secret. Although I must say, I never noticed that he was gone.”

Suddenly, I felt even more uncomfortable. I tried to hide the fact that my face was

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turning red by staring down at the ground while we walked, and scrambled in my

mind to come up withra good lie..

“Um… I haven’t been counting the time, really,” I said.

Jenifer shot me a strange look. “You don’t know how long you’ve been dating?”

I shook my head. “It all just sort of blends together when you’ve been friends for your whole lives,” I replied. “And I guess we never really ever had an official

conversation about it…”

“Well, you must have marked each other, though. Right?” Jenifer looked up at me and coc ked her head. Her big eyes stared unblinkingly up at me,

I swallowed nervously. “Um…”

“Sorry.” Jenifer chuckled and shook her head. “I guess it’s a little too personal, isn’t

it?”

o

I didn’t know what to say. It was too personal, although not in the way that Jenifer expected. It was because I wasn’t prepared to come up with a believable lie just yet.

We walked a little further in silence. By now, we were a good distance away from the rest of the group, although I could still hear the music and laughter floating through the trees.

“Well, either way,” Jenifer said, looping her thin and frail arm through mine, “I’m glad that my brother found someone to love. Although, I must say that it’s completely unexpected for him to be interested in someone like you.”

I felt my eyes widen. “What do you mean?” I asked.

Jenifer shrugged. “No offense, but he is an Alpha, after all,” she replied in a soft tone of voice. “You would think that he would have chosen his beautiful Alpha fiancee over… Your dad was a Gam ma, right?”

“Um… Yeah, he was,” I replied. Jenifer’s tone of voice was soft, but it didn’t mask the sharp undertones entirely. I almost felt as though I was being interrogated. She didn’t somehow know that my relationship with Nathan was fake… did she?

“Not that I have anything against Ga mmas.” Jenifer continued still walking with

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her arm looped through mine. “It’s just that… Well, like I said, he’s an Alpha. It’s

unexpected, that’s all And Layla is gorgeous.”

I laughed nervously. “Yeah, she sure is,” I replied, just wanting to be polite and not

cause a scene. “Trust me, I was shocked, too.”

“And, I must say that it was pretty ballsy for you to show up at the wedding,” she

said, glancing up at me again with her huge eyes. “I mean… Did you know that he

going to leave his bride at the altar for you?”

was

Suddenly, all of this did feel extremely probing. I felt my throat close up as my mind scrambled to come up with another excuse.

“Well… no, not really,” I said. “But that’s between Nathan and I.”

“Right.” Jenifer let out a soft sigh. “Sorry to badger you. I’m just curious.”

“It’s alright.” I managed a weak smile.

“Besides…” Jenifer licked her l*ps, and smiled up at me with that same strange look on her face. “You can’t choose your fated mate, after all. Otherwise, who knows if he would have chosen you?”

I wanted to say something about that sudden comment, but we had circled back and were already coming back out of the woods to the picnic area.

And Nathan was walking briskly up to us.

“Speak of the devil,” Jenifer said, releasing her grip on my arm. “I’ll leave you too lovebirds alone.”

With that, Jenifer walked off without another word. Nathan came up to me and looked me up and down with a deep frown.

“Olivia,” he said, staring at me with wide eyes. “What happened?”

I scrunched up my nose. “I just went for a little walk with your sister,” I said. “Sorry. Should I have stuck to your side all afternoon or something?”

Nathan shook his head and shut his eyes for a moment. “No, it’s not that. You can do whatever you want, but… Did you pay attention to where you were walking just

now?”

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