Healing the Ruthless Alpha novel Chapter 42

Chapter 42

*CAHIR*

… You treat me like shit!

Those words resonated in my head as I drove to my office at midnight.

What the fuck did she mean by I was treating her like shit!? Considering I never wanted a mate, I felt I was doing good enough with one. I never wanted a mate but I did not want any woman in my life to feel as if they were being mistreated.

“Trouble in paradise?” Aristo walked into my office behind me.

“Don’t bother me, I have to work.” I fell into my seat and powered on my computer while my Beta snickered from opposite me.

“Why are you working when you can be balls deep in your Luna?”

“Aristo.” I raised my head from my computer screen.

Every day, he spoke about my woman and sex in such a casual way, that it irked my wolf. My Beta may be a man ruled by his dick ny percent of the time, but he was smart enough the other ten percent of the time to know better than to continue discussing my mate as if she was a common woman and not his Luna.

“Hey, don’t eat me. I am only -” He laughed, raising his hand in the air in surrender.

“You may be my Beta and best friend, but take this as your last warning. The next time you talk about Sihana in such a crass way, I will rip you to shreds. Beta or not, never forget your place.”

“I am sorry.” He hung his head but this display was familiar. “I was trying to lighten the mood, not insult your Luna.”

“Whatever your motive is, think about your head before you speak. You are too replaceable to crack such expensive jokes.”

“Ouch, what a way to hurt a man’s feelings.” He rubbed a fist over his chest but that gesture too was familiar. “I understand.” He gave me a beaming smile that did not reach his eyes.

“Why are you still here?” I asked him, keying in the password to my computer. “Is there a girl waiting at your office right now?” I asked him and he laughed.

“There’s no girl in my office, but I wish there was,” he sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face. His skin looked dry and his eyes were heavy. His cheery expression was forced with a wry smile on his face that made him look older.

“I saw you drive in through my window so I decided to bug you. There’s a ton of work that needs completing, that’s why I am staying this late in the office.”

“If you have a ton of work to complete, don’t waste time in my office. Get out.” My work rate had slowed since I met Sihana so I too had a backlog of work that piled with each second that passed.

That woman distracted me in the most unusual ways. One minute I would be working on a project and the next, my mind would be appraising an image of her in my head.

But I treated her like shit.

“Nah, let’s have a conversation. You have become more stuck up since you found your mate. Tell me what’s happening.”

“She says I treat her like shit.” The words burst from my mouth without my consent. They were ridiculous in my ears so I needed someone else to make sense of them for me.

“That’s because you treat her like shit.” My eyes narrowed at Aristo’s flippant words. “Have you forgotten how you pretended to sell her off?”

“I claimed her already. She must know by now that was only a ruse.”

“How would she know if you never told her?” He challenged.

“She is not a fool. She can piece things together for herself,” I answered.

The men I sent to raid Silver Moon pack and retrieve my mate were given a simple instruction. They were to make sure not to force her hand in coming here. If she did not want to be my Luna, I had no plans of forcing her. Before she got here, she knew the destination. She came here so she must have pieced things together.

“You need the pieces to put them