Page 48 of His Bullied Fated Mate

I rubbed at my forehead. “No, I just didn't sleep well. What is it you need?”

“I was just letting you know it was lunch time. Do you want me to run out and grab you anything, or do you have your lunch figured out already?”

I shook my head. “I have my lunch. You go.”

He paused in the doorway for a moment. “You sure you're okay? Need to talk about anything?”

I told Philip pretty much everything that went down. He was my right-hand guy when I needed anything. But even this was something I didn’t want to talk about. “I’m fine. Head out for lunch.”

He gave me a wave, and I turned, looking outside my window. I drummed my fingers on my chair. I should probably get out of my office and go for a walk. Maybe that would help with my mood.

I left my office and headed to the park across the street. I waved at some pack members but tried to keep my talking to a minimum. I could tell my irritation was getting the better of me.

And then I spotted her. She was standing at the far end of the park by herself. She had a book in her hands while she was holding her other hand up. I frowned, realizing that she was training.

Why hadn't she told me she was training? And why was she training alone? I figured she would have asked another witch for help. Or at least someone.

I headed in her direction, and I could hear her talking to herself the closer I got. “Okay, it says to relax your muscles. Allow your mind to shift into a calm and safe space. Think about something happy.”

“What are you doing?”

Janella jumped, the book flew from her hands, and she turned, looking at me with wide eyes. “Jesus Christ. Don't you know not to sneak up on people like that?”

“You're out in public. You should have expected that someone was going to come up to you and ask what you were doing, Janella.”

She grabbed her book and slammed it shut. “No one has come and bothered me.”

“You still haven't answered my questions. What are you doing?”

“I'm training.”

“Why are you training here?”

“Because it said to go to a quiet location and someplace within nature. I figured this was a perfect location.”

“Why didn't you tell me you were training?”

She pulled herself up. “Why does it matter? You're not a witch, so you can't help me.”

“You don't know that I can't help you.”

She sighed. “If I want your help, Riley, I'll ask.” She grabbed the book and started to walk away. I crossed my arms, my mind thinking back to the nightmare.

The next three days, I found her at the park during my lunch break. Each time, I wondered why she wasn't asking for help. Every time I was going to head over, she was magically gone.

By day four, I was just straight out annoyed. She hadn’t asked for my help. Refused to talk about it at the house when I asked. She almost seemed to be avoiding me about it. And that damn nightmare kept looming over me like a dark cloud. I stormed out of my office and made my way over to where she was sitting on the ground with her damn book.

“Alright, this is enough.”

She looked up from her book. “Excuse me?”

“You can't just sit out here alone all by yourself like this.”

She frowned. “Why not?”

“Because it's weird. You should have someone working with you. Someone watching you.”

She frowned. “Riley, I'm perfectly fine training by myself. I'm not even bothering anyone.”