MATED TO FATHER, FATED TO SONS-Chapter 18: UNREQUITED LOVE

In most people’s stories I am the villain, the bad apple.

The guy who, despite knowing that she is a virgin, still pushes her to the brim, but I am not.

Far from it, I am the good guy here. She wouldn’t want her first time to be with Alpha Corvin.

My dad didn’t care about her.

Not that I do, but at least I wasn’t as soulless and heartless as him to drag her in and watch her burn.

"What makes you any different," Nia whispered, almost like she was listening to my thoughts.

Maybe she was. This was Nia. I wouldn’t put it past her.

"What?" I scowled as she pressed the bag of ice against my lips and forehead mercilessly, and I bit my already bruised lip to suppress the pain.

"You are angry that your father punished her, but it’s not like you are nice to her either." She carefully placed a bandage on the cut and stepped back to visually admire her creation.

"I am not treating her badly," I muttered. If only she knew I was also trying to make her a bad girl.

I chuckled at the thought of Nia, who had been my only female friend, the one I never had anything to do with romantically, finding out about that and raining curses at me.

Nia, Rowan, Cole, and I were all close. I had always seen her as my sister, even though she was the daughter of the pack’s foreman.

At first interaction, you would hate her because she could be very nosy, constantly butting into things that didn’t concern her. But slowly, she would grow on you.

"You know she is not the reason your dad is this way."

I rolled my eyes. "Can we not do this again, Nia. I already had enough of my dad for one day." I paused, suddenly recalling what Amaris had told me. "And stop feeding her information about this pack."

She stepped back, placing her palm on her chest, her jaw dropping open, feigning the expression of someone who had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.

"Me? I did no such thing."

"Sure, right," I scoffed. "Then how does she know my grievance with my dad is linked to my mum?"

"People talk, Ryker, and even if I did tell her, you know I would never tell her the whole story. Maybe just a heads-up."

"You are such a saint," I teased.

"Soooooo," she stretched it out, and I knew immediately what she was going to ask.

"No, Nia. Cole didn’t say anything about you."

She frowned, wrapping her arms across her chest. I placed the bag of ice into the bowl on the table and ran a hand through my hair.

I took a step forward, closing the distance between us. I held her shoulders with both hands, my gaze meeting hers directly.

"You know Cole is in love with Lila, right?"

Her brows furrowed. "You said he had never openly told you that, and anytime you bring her up, he doesn’t say anything nice." She responded defensively.

"Yes, I said that. But I have also seen the way he looks at her. I am just pretending not to know because I don’t want to be caught in the center of whatever might happen between him and Rowan," I explained.

Cole was my best friend and Rowan was my brother. I had known Cole was in love with Lila since the very first day he laid eyes on her.

The way he looked at her, like she was some kind of goddess instead of the high-class bitch that she was. I also noticed the quiet disappointment on his face when Rowan introduced her as his fiancée a year later.

I knew Cole had been actively trying to court Lila, and she had been leading him on the whole time.

Cole’s disdain for Lila came from a place of rejection. And we all knew Rowan was only with her because of her political standpoint.

"I am not stupid, Ryker. I know Cole is not in love with me, but he knows he can never be with Lila."

I glanced at her carefully. "So you are okay being the available fallback?" My voice stayed calm because I could already see the tears welling in her eyes.

Unrequited love is such a bitch. This is why I don’t do love. I would never get myself so fucked up that I settle for being someone’s option.

"He likes me. I know that."

I was about to respond when a knock at my door cut me off.

"Come in," I called out, and the door eased open to reveal who was standing on the other side.

Instantly, my neutral expression shifted into a hardened scowl.

Beta Marco.

This could only mean one thing.

"The Alpha wants to see you. Now," he said, his tone low and flat.

I didn’t move.

"Now," he repeated.

I held his gaze, jaw tight, eyes narrowed. He wasn’t going to leave until I was trailing behind him and we both knew it.

"Go. You know he is just going to stand there until you do," Nia whispered, stepping to the side of the room.

I knew that. I rose slowly and strode toward the door with no particular urgency.

"Let’s go meet the Almighty Alpha Corvin," I taunted, and Marco’s expression darkened. Without a word, he turned and began moving toward the study. I followed at my own pace.

"Ryker, this thing you are doing, pushing your father to his limit, it will not end well for you," he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper as we rounded the last turn in the hallway leading to the study.

"You are the last person I want to take advice from, Marco. You enabled him. You knew what he was doing."

He exhaled slowly, like he was choosing his words carefully. "Things aren’t always black and white. There are grey areas."

"Yeah, right," I scoffed.

"This rage, this anger you are carrying, it’s burning you," he said, stopping just in front of the study door. I moved to stride past him but he placed a firm hand against my chest, halting me.

"It will not just burn you. It will burn everyone you love along with you." His eyes held mine for a moment.

"Then let us all burn," I said, and pushed past him, pulling the door open.

I walked inside and there he was, seated in that mahogany chair of his.

Feeling all high and mighty.

Alpha fucking Corvin.