Marked

Chapter 42: Pack History

Ben gave me directions to Mia's and about ten minutes later, I was standing in front of her door, trying to work out what the hell to say to Dean. I knew he was upset but he was way out of line. Even I would've punished him in some way with that blatant disrespect. Except Ben said there was a reason and it sounded like it wasn't the same reason I thought. I thought he was heartbroken he definitely couldn't have Kane but Ben said Dean and Mia. Shit, I wished I had more time to mentally prepare for whatever was about to happen.

I knocked on the door and a few seconds later, Mia opened the door just a crack. She sighed when she saw me and glanced back in the house a minute before focusing on me. "I know he disrespected Alpha, but just let me have some time with him and I swear he'll fix it," she promised. "Don't take him away from me."

"I'm not taking him away," I assured her. "I just want to talk. That's all."

She looked uncertain and hesitated but then opened the door more. She left the door open but quickly moved to Dean's side once we were both inside, very clearly putting herself in a position to defend him if I started something. It was clear she was worried I was going to do something hurtful and that made me sad too. Everyone in this pack seemed to expect some harsh punishment and I hated Bryce for doing this to them.

"Dude," I sighed, shaking my head at Dean. "What the hell was that?"

"I'm not going to act like what he did was acceptable," Dean said, crossing his arms. "I don't understand why you're even here. You should've rejected the bond the second he marked you."

"Okay, I'm sorry, I just," I sighed, rubbing my hands over my face. "How well does your sister know you, Dean?"

Mia frowned in confusion but Dean knew what I meant. He kept my gaze for a minute before darting his eyes away. "She knows."

"All right, so is this some major lashing out because of the heartbreak that you don't get him?" I asked, setting my hands on my hips. "Because I really want to understand what the hell was running through your head when you decided to challenge Kane and bring up his father. That was really crossing the line, I hope you know."

"If he follows in his father's footsteps then his authority should be challenged," Dean said, narrowing his eyes.

"Follows in his footsteps?" I repeated, frowning in confusion. "I don't know what you mean by that."

Dean darted his eyes away and I felt pain in him, pain so intense it actually started to hurt me. His eyes went to Mia and for a brief second, I saw the pain in her eyes too before she went back to stoic. My eyes slid to her and she shifted uncomfortably and said nothing. Dean looked over at her and they maintained eye contact for a minute before Mia looked away, staring straight ahead. I would bet anything they were linking.

"It's an upsetting topic," Dean said, avoiding my eyes. "Forced marking. Bryce used to allow the males to do it and... People suffered for it quite a bit."

Oh for fuck's sake. I took a deep breath and invited myself to sit by grabbing a chair and plopping down. "Is anyone able to explain to me what exactly that entailed or is it too painful?"

Mia's eyes remained fixed ahead and she stayed silent. Dean hesitated but gave in, leaning forward and clasping his hands together. "Bryce let any of the strongest male wolves claim a mate, whether or not that mate was willing, or even their fated mate. The marked were expected to stay with their forced mates and do what they were told. If they didn't, they were killed. Didn't matter how poorly they were treated. As a result, we lost most our female population because they kept getting marked against their will then killed when they fought back. Some of the marked were males, but most the forced markings were females because Bryce didn't allow... Other kind of coupling. If he found any situations that weren't male and female, he'd kill them both, and females were never considered strong so they were never given the chance to choose and mark a mate. So it was mostly females that suffered for it, and mostly females that died. That's why we have so few."