Page 48 of Losing My Rejection

Instead of the sound of cracking and shattering of glass like I expected, I watched as a large dark-furred wolf stepped up to the front door and put its paws on the door handle. The door swung open easily and it stepped inside. However, the moment it saw me, it ran across the room, leaped over the counter, and tackled me to the ground.

Screams erupted in the shop as several people rushed over to save me. However, all they saw was a massive wolf licking my face like an excited puppy. The moment I laid eyes on him, I knew it was Josh. My heart skipped a beat and I could feel the excitement pulsing through my system. I was so happy he was there even if I didn’t understand why. Even so, I had to push him off me so I could get back to my feet and stop my customers from calling the cops.

“It’s alright,” I cried, pushing the wolf aside. “He’s not gonna hurt anyone.” I finally got back to my feet. “I… uh… I’m watching my sister’s dog. He must’ve gotten out.” I grabbed Josh by the scruff of the neck and dragged him toward the kitchen. “I’m just gonna go put him back upstairs.”

Several bewildered stares followed me until the kitchen door swung shut, cutting us off from everyone else. I tightened my grip on Josh and hauled him across the kitchen.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I growled. “Did you have to do that right in front of all my customers?”

The wolf whined, but I didn’t really care. My sudden excitement at seeing him again was fading. It was replaced with anger. He’d kept secrets and walked out on me.

“I thought I’d never see you again, you asshole,” I snapped, letting go of him at last.

He parked his butt on the floor, his ears lying flat on his head in shame.

“Why the hell didn’t you say anything about your dad being in town? Did you just plan to spring it on me at the last minute and think I’d be okay with it?”

The wolf shook his head.

“What then?” I cried. “Why didn’t you fucking tell me that you had a chance to get your entire life back?!” There were tears in my eyes now. “I told you I loved you and you acted like you were gonna skip town the moment things looked up! Is that what you’re going to do, anyway? You just wanted to come back and apologize before you told me to go fuck myself one final time? Just so you can go home with a clear conscience?”

I wanted to punch him. I really did. The fury had built to the point where I needed to get it out. But hitting a dog felt wrong, even if I knew it was him. Instead, I took a few steps back, trying to take a deep breath to clear my head. Getting angry wasn’t going to fix anything.

I wished it would.

“Just go away,” I said at last, all the anger escaping from my body with a sigh. “Go home and don’t come back. I don’t want to see you anymore. I can’t trust you not to keep secrets from me.”

Turning my back on him, I headed for the door to the dining room. I had customers to calm down and a shop to run. The sooner Josh was out of my life, the sooner things could get back to normal.

“Do you really mean that?” I heard a shaky voice behind me ask.

I glanced back to see a completely naked and sweating Josh standing in the middle of my bakery kitchen, his ears and fur melting away with his shift. His hands and feet were dirty from running across town and he looked more like a kicked dog than ever even though he was human now.

“I… I was going to tell you,” he said. “I really was. Today, in fact. I never expected Dad to show up at the shop before I was ready. I wanted you to come home with me.”

“Oh, so I’m just supposed to uproot my entire life, sell off everything I’ve worked so hard for, and move across the state so you can go to culinary school and be some huge success while I sit at home and fucking knit?”

He shook his head. “That’s why I hadn’t talked to you about it yet. I was still trying to figure it out. I knew asking you to go with me wasn’t fair. And… I wasn’t ready to tell my dad about you yet. I… I was scared.”

I wanted to be mad. I really did. In fact, I wanted to scream and shout until I was blue in the face. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The things he said made sense. I’d been the exact same way when I was in his position.

“The more I thought about it,” he continued. “The more I realized asking you to come home with me wasn’t fair. Not only because you shouldn’t have to give up your entire life for me… but because that’s not my home anymore.” He looked up at me, tears filling those deep brown eyes of his. “My home is with you.”

“You don’t want all that back? You could have everything back the way it used to be again.”

He shook his head. “The life I imagined for myself back home disappeared years ago. It just took my father kicking me out of the house to figure that out. When Mom died, everything changed and I felt like an outsider. But coming here to Shifter Grove, the place I should feel most of our my element, is where I’ve found my home again. I found Sam and Ace and Matt. And most of all I found my mate. The wolf I love more than anything else in the entire world.”

Now it was my turn to start crying.

“Do you really mean that?”

“Of course I do,” he replied. “With all my heart.”

I couldn’t help the sudden urge to rush across the bakery and sweep him up into my arms. I hugged him so tightly I thought his bones would crack and he did the same right back. We stood there for I don’t know how long, holding one another like it had been years since we’d seen one another.

“I love you, Andy,” Josh said softly in my ear as he kissed my neck. “More than anything.”

“I love you too, babe,” I replied. I returned the kiss, sniffling a little at the same time. It had been a long time since I’d had so many emotions back to back. “We need to stop doing this all the time,” I chuckled as I wiped my face. “I’m gonna get dehydrated.”

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