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“Here,” he said, handing her the bottle. “You need to drink something.”
She gladly accepted the bottle and took a few gulps. “I think a beer would taste a hell of a lot better and probably calm my nerves more than water.” She laughed.
“I’m sure it would, but for right now, we just need to get some water and some food into you before you go into shock.”
Allie stared at him, willing herself to remember anything about him. While everything about him, his voice, touch, and his mannerisms, all seemed familiar to her, he did not. “I’m going to give myself a migraine if I keep trying to remember our time together,” she said.
There was a knock at the door, and Marc stood to answer it. “I’ll get it. You just relax.”
“Okay,” she agreed, not really wanting to even know who the hell was knocking at her door.
“Is she okay?” Gerri asked as she stepped into the living room.
“Yeah. I’m okay. Just super confused right now.” And that was God’s honest truth. “I feel like I’m going insane,” she admitted. It wasn’t an exaggeration. Not at all. Marc clearly knew her. Gerri clearly knew about their relationship. Yet, Allie didn’t have a fucking clue.
“I bet, honey. It sucks when you have a witch scramble your brains. It’s no fun, and it’s, in my opinion, the ultimate violation of you as a person,” Gerri said, sitting on the chair across from her.
“Why would my parents do this to me? What do they have to gain? If what Marc says is true, he and I completed the mating ritual. Why would they break that? Why would they take my fated mate away from me?”
Allie couldn’t seem to wrap her head around any of it. Yes, her parents had always had high expectations and had driven her crazy when she was growing up, but to break her fated mating. That seemed extreme even for them.
“Your parents belong to a group of fundamentalists who believe in marrying within a certain social and political circle,” Gerri explained. “My guess is that they snapped when you told them about your mating to Marc. They simply couldn’t allow it.”
“But why drag Clinton into this? What does he have to do with all of it?” Allie asked. She didn’t want to believe what Gerri had said about her parents, but she knew it was the truth. She heard it in Gerri’s voice.
Not only that, her mom and dad had always been involved in setting others up and arranging marriages within the family and tiger community as a whole. The matches were always advantageous and always with prestigious families. When a girl came of age, there was always a big party to introduce her to the community.
It had been that way since Allie could remember. Even when she had come of age, her parents had thrown her a massive party where all the eligible bachelors showed up in droves. Her mom had tried to tell her that it was nothing more than a coincidence, but geez. Allie hadn’t believed it then, and she sure as hell didn’t believe it now.
“My belief is that Clinton was the one they had secretly betrothed you to. That you were to be his wife, his mate,” Gerri said.
“Oh! No!” Allie gasped. Suddenly, everything clicked in her mind. All the dinners that her parents had set up and invited Clinton. All the questions they had about what she had thought about him and dates with him that they had tried to set her up on. Her stomach churned with the thought of her parents forcing her to marry or mate him. “What the hell are they thinking?” she asked. “I have never been interested in Clinton as a mate or husband, let alone as a boyfriend.” She gagged at the thought.
“They wanted their daughter to marry into a certain family and were paid handsomely for that arrangement,” Gerri said.
“I feel like I’m going to be sick,” Allie said, tears slipping from her eyes.
“Hey. Hey, baby. I’m here.” Marc sat beside her and pulled her into his lap.
She should have refused and pushed him away, but she just couldn’t bring herself to it. He felt like her only lifeline right now. Like everything and everyone that she had ever known had some plot to get her.
Allie sank into Marc’s heat. Placing her head against his chest, she listened to the sound of his heartbeat. The steady and rhythmic thump, thump calmed her frayed nerves. He was so strong and vibrant, while she felt so weak and defeated by her own damn family.
Marc ran his hand up and down her arm in a soothing motion.
“I hate how weak I feel right now,” she said.
“There is nothing weak about you. The shit you’ve had thrown at you tonight … the fact that you’re still standing after the blatant attack on you … Allie, you are the strongest person I know,” Marc said.
“I agree. You’ve been dealt a shitty hand. I’d be worried if you were up and dancing around the room right now. What you’re feeling is normal when the ones who are supposed to have your best interest at heart betray you in the most personal ways. I’m going to let the two of you talk things over. Marc, call me if you need anything at all.” Gerri stood to leave.
“Thank you for all of your help. I know we just met, but …” Allie said, letting her words slow to a stop.
“You have nothing to thank me for. I don’t like bullies. I especially don’t like bullies who go after my friends or clients.” Gerri winked and left.
“She’s a good one to have on our side,” Marc said.
“I’m so sorry. You must think I’m certifiably insane.” Allie wondered what man would want her with all this shit. It was too much. Even she knew that.
