Three Alphas, Fated To One, Played By One, But Mated To One-Chapter 45: Using Mike

"What? Are you in a hurry to reunite with your mate?" Karl asked in what I would have thought was jealousy if I didn’t know better.

"What mate?" I decided to play dumb for now to throw him off because I just needed him to protect me while he was still in the pack. I can’t afford to offend the proud alpha.

"You don’t know?" Karl asked in puzzlement.

"Know what?" I decided to play dumb to the end.

Karl couldn’t read minds anyway, so if he wanted to find out if I knew Mike was my mate then he would fail miserably.

"You have already found your mate." Karl said to me slowly while carefully observing me. Although he didn’t make it too obvious, after knowing him for so long, could I not even tell something so obvious?

"Wha....what?" I acted so surprised that even my own mother would believe I was surprised if she was still alive?

"I have a mate? But I don’t have my wolf yet. How is it possible for me to sense my mate?" I asked, pretending to be puzzled and further emphasizing the fact that I am wolfless.

Even though I don’t know why Lizzie insists on keeping her awakening a secret, I am obligated to protect her and keep her hidden.

"You really don’t know?" Karl asked again as if to probe me. In fact, I could feel his wolf sizing me up as if to try and sense whether I have a wolf.

Luckily, Lizzie knows how to hide and no one could sense her.

"Know what? Can you just tell me what you are going on about?" I had to keep pretending otherwise I would be in big trouble.

"You are Mike’s mate." Karl dropped the bombshell and I opened my mouth so wide an egg could fit inside.

My eyes were wide open as if I have never heard anything more shocking and my entire body was trembling.

Of course, all this was pretense, but to make my act convincing, I had to go all out.

"How could that be? How could it be him? Why him of all people?" I asked in devastation and for good measure, I shade a tear or two to make it more convincing.

"Hey hey hey. Don’t get worked up, you are still hurt and need to rest. Don’t think too much about it. If you don’t want him to be your mate, you can always reject him." Karl moved to sit on my hospital bed and patted my shoulder as a sign of comfort.

I had to still my will to stop myself from flinching. I really didn’t want him touching me at all.

"Are you kidding me? If I reject him, won’t he kill me? Mike is so proud, if I initiate the rejection, he would probably not let me live another day. It is different if he is the one doing the rejection. But I am sure I don’t have to worry about that. He will definitely reject me the first chance he gets." I had to give some excuses because as proven earlier with Innocent, being Mike’s mate was equivalent to having a protective amulet. Why would I want to lose that?

But I couldn’t let Karl know about my thoughts, otherwise I would face a fate worse than death. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Indeed, but if you want to reject him, I could protect you. Don’t worry." Karl comforted me but I wasn’t buying his act.

Considering that he was just showing concern for me to fulfill a bet, why would he stand up to Mike for me? I am not that naive.

"I don’t want to do that to you. You have been so good to me and Mike is your friend. I would never put you in such a situation. Let’s take time so that you don’t fall out with him." Of course I wasn’t gonna reject Mike before leaving the pack.

That is a recipe for disaster. Now, I still have the halo of being his mate and every wolf knows that if a mate dies, their partner becomes weaker than before.

No one would want their alpha to become weak. So, the pack members will tone down their torment. Even if they still treat me as a slave and torture me, it will not be life threatening and I can use that time to build more connections through the dark web and make more money.

"I am glad even at a time like this, you still think of me. But you don’t have to worry so much. I will protect you. If you are so worried, why don’t you leave with me next month."

My jaw nearly dropped when I heard that suggestion. This time, it was a real shock and not a pretense.

I had thought that even if Karl was committed to the bet, he would at least persist while in the Night claw pack and once he leaves, he will forget about me. But my assumption seems a bit off.

"Why are you so surprised? Don’t you treat me as a friend?" Karl asked with a smile and I couldn’t help but wonder if he had really started to treat me as a friend after pretending for so long?

But then the memories of that night came back to my mind and I shook my head. I can’t let his sweet talk fool me. He is an enemy just as Mike is and I will get my revenge. Eventually.

"How is that possible? You are basically my only friend in this world. If I don’t treat you as a friend, who will I?" It was just a way to fool him.

Since he could fool me for three years, I am allowed to do that as well.

If he could take me out of the Night claw pack, maybe I will have a better chance of escaping in the future and building my own life elsewhere while investigating my father’s death.