Chapter 171- What Ara Means To Him!

Arabella:

A few minutes later, Bradley and I were sitting at our usual spot in the Warriors’ Café. He was unusually quiet, and his face was still serious as he waited for the server to place our coffees in front of us.

The moment my cup touched the table, I shook my head and pushed it back toward him. "Please take this one back. I already had coffee."

A lie, obviously.

Bradley didn’t call me out on it, but the look he gave me said he knew exactly what I was doing. "You’re taking Lucien’s instructions too seriously, aren’t you?"

I shrugged and let the server take the cup away.

Maybe I was. But if Lucien had asked me to be careful about what I ate or drank, I could do that much without arguing with him. The man had lost his beast because of me, and the guilt was still there.

"You wanted to talk to me?" I asked him because last time he seemed too angry to talk.

A knowing smile appeared on his face before it disappeared just as quickly. "Yeah. I know where your mind is going after what Victor told you. You think I might have had something to do with Anika’s murder."

Well, at least he saved me the trouble of asking.

I sat back in my chair. "Did you?"

"No." His answer came without any delay. "I would never hurt Anika."

"Then tell me what happened between you two, Bradley."

He picked up his coffee but didn’t drink from it immediately. "She was my fated mate, and she rejected me. That part is true. And before you say anything, I know I should’ve handled it differently."

"But you never accepted her rejection... you didn’t take her rejection too well."

"No, I didn’t." He finally took a sip before setting the cup down. "I kept thinking she might change her mind. That one day she’d realize I was the one meant for her and come back. I didn’t want to close that door myself."

I couldn’t agree with that, no matter how sensibly he tried explaining it to me.

"She was eighteen, Bradley. She was old enough to know whether she wanted you or not. If she didn’t want the mating bond, you should’ve respected that."

"I know." He raised both hands before I could continue. "Trust me, I know that now. I’m not saying I was right."

At least he wasn’t trying to defend that part.

"But there was more to it than me being some idiot who couldn’t take no for an answer." Bradley leaned forward slightly. "She was with Victor... Victor Toussaint."

The way he said it made me frown. "What did that have to do with anything?"

"I didn’t trust him, Arabella."

Of course he didn’t. I almost rolled my eyes. "Because he was the man she chose instead of you?"

"No. Because I knew where he came from." That shut me up for a second.

Bradley rubbed a hand over the back of his neck before continuing. "You can ask Lucien about this. When Amy chose Gamma Noah, I was there. I didn’t have a problem with it. Why would I? It was never my business."

He paused before adding, "But Victor was different. I knew about your father. I knew about your sister, and I was aware of how shitty your family could be. So yeah, I had my doubts."

That wasn’t exactly pleasant to hear, but I couldn’t even defend them. Not after everything they had done to me.

"I tried warning Anika," Bradley continued. "More than once. I told her to slow down and make sure she knew who she was getting involved with. But she was already too deep into the relationship by then. She didn’t want to hear any of it from me."

"Maybe because you were her rejected mate."

His mouth twisted slightly. "Yeah. That probably didn’t help."

"Or maybe you didn’t trust Victor because Anika chose him after rejecting you."

Bradley’s hands came down hard on the table, making the coffee cup jump, as he got to his feet.

"Don’t do that, Arabella," he hissed.

I leaned back slightly, caught off guard by his reaction. I had seen Bradley annoyed plenty of times. I had watched him argue with Lucien, complain about palace women... but I had never seen him look at me like this.

"Don’t forget who helped you when you first stepped into this palace three years ago," he no longer seemed to care that a few people around us had started looking our way. "Nobody wanted to see your face. Nobody thought you deserved any respect. I was the one who always respected you, and tried to make things easier for you every damn time."

For a moment, I didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t wrong.

But this wasn’t the Bradley who usually joked with me. I had never seen this side of him before, and honestly, I didn’t know what to make of it. His reaction had shocked me more than I wanted to admit.

Bradley pointed a finger at me. "So don’t come at me with this bullshit. Don’t stand there and try to imply that I killed her. I loved Anika. I would never fucking kill her!"

"One more word, Bradley... and you’re finished." The quiet voice made both of us go still.

I turned and found Maya standing a short distance away, looking weak as hell but somehow still managing to look threatening with the walking stick in her hand.

She lifted it slightly. "I’ll make sure I beat your ass with this stick so badly you won’t be able to sit for a week."

"Maya?" I immediately reached for her when she came closer. "What are you doing here?"

I took her hand to make her sit in the empty chair beside me, but Maya tightened her grip and pulled me to my feet instead. "Come on, Arabella. We’re not staying somewhere they can’t even give you basic respect."

"Maya—" Bradley tried to speak.

"No!" She passed him a warning glare. "You might be the royal Beta, but raise your voice at her again and I’ll report you directly to the King myself. I know he’s your friend, but I also know he won’t like hearing how you’re treating her."

Bradley didn’t say anything. While leaving with me, Maya looked over her shoulder. "You’re closer to Lucien than almost anyone, Bradley. So, you, of all people, should know exactly what Ara means to him."