Rejected, Abused, I Fall for the Forbidden Alpha (by Riley Scott) novel Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Raven POV

As expected, Hades has already become suspicious. Marissa’s face goes even paler. She looks on the verge of fainting. Jackson looks frustrated, his own anger rising to the surface. She looks to me for help, but I glance away. She’s on her own. She got herself into this mess so she could get herself out of it. She wrings her hands together, and the tension in the air gets thicker.

“I’m not well,” she whispered shakily, tears beginning to well in her eyes, “I just didn’t say anything because was afraid you would think I was making excuses.”

She should have been an actress I thought with a twisted smile. She had the skills to make it big, and even her tears seemed real.

There’s a condemning look on both men’s faces. Neither one of them looks as though they believe her bullshit. It’s a pretty lame excuse by any stretch of the imagination.

“Do you have any idea how much you’ve slowed us down?” Surprisingly, Jackson explodes first, “At this rate it’s going to take hours to check the perimeter. If you weren’t up for it, then you should have fucking said something!” he roared.

Marissa gives a pitiful sob. Hades glances sharply at Jackson and then sighs, rubbing a hand over his chin and looking tiredly at his fiancée.

“Enough. I was the one who insisted,” he exhaled, “so I’m the one to blame. I understand your anger,” he added with a sidelong glance at Jackson, “but we either just put up with it or you escort her back, Jackson.”

Neither option was remotely appealing to Jackson. Clearly, Hades knew Marissa was lying by the swift piercing gaze he gave her, but was too frustrated to take her to task right now.

“And if you encounter rogues?” Jackson shoots back, folding his arms across his chest and continuing to glower at Marissa, “then what. Raven, no offense,” he shot me an apologetic look, “I’m well aware of how impressive her fighting skills are, but she can’t shift. The likelihood she’s able to hold her own against blood-sucking rogues is going to be impossible. If anyone should escort Marissa back it should be her,” he proposed.

“Except it would be the same problem if the girls encounter rogues on the way back to the packhouse,” Hades pointed out with a growl.

“I want to go back. I think Jackson should take me,” Marissa was desperate enough to involve the man who was most hostile towards her.

If we encountered rogues, she would be virtually useless in a fight.

“Do you really believe all her bullshit?” Jackson’s voice is loud and damning as he wildly gestures towards

Marissa, his anger getting the better of him. “She’s not sick she’s just useless,” he snarled, “hell, if we do come across trespassers then what use is she going to be?” he demanded, “because I sure as hell don’t trust her to have my back, do you?”

Wise man. A good judge of character, I thought, almost nodding in agreement with him and just catching myself in time.

I honestly would rather that Marissa go back instead of fighting alongside us. I had seen what little training she had put in and even the most average of shifters would be able to defeat her easily. In a real fight, she would put us all in danger and no doubt even get herself killed without help. She was a liability and a hindrance and that was putting it politely.

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