Page 31 of Pregnant Rejected Mate

I part my lips to say something, the look in his eyes reflecting genuine concern. Perhaps it feels easy to speak to him since Yazmine admitted he was her first real friend on the island. It’s a trait he seems to share with Kairo, that aura of comfort and compassion that has me convinced that I was wrong.

Felix is the way he is only because it’s his choice. The weredragons aren’t a bad lot.

However, I’m interrupted when Felix appears out of nowhere. With his fists curled at his sides, he looms beside Stryder with a menacing presence radiating in the treacherous glint in his eyes. He glares at me, and I swear he just growled from his chest. The gruff sound vibrates in the air, prompting his brother to step back quietly.

“Can we talk?” Felix asks, his voice low and raspy as he doesn’t look anywhere but square in my eyes.

Something about his demeanor, tense shoulders, and clenched jaw tells me he’s not pleased at all. Almost as if he’s upset that I’d been speaking to his brother. He’s almost impossible to read, but right now, his irritation is plain to see.

“No,” I say, the urge to be defiant and press all his buttons consuming the single word that leaves my lips. I don’t plan on making any of this easy for him, considering the heartbreak he caused me. My plan of revenge is working, even when I’m not trying.

“We need to talk,” he affirms, tilting his chin to match my defiance.

“There’s nothing to speak about, Felix,” I reiterate, shaking my head. If this is his idea of an apology, he has another thing coming for him. It’s too public, too many ears around to hear everything I want to throw his way.

Though I’m not sure what I was hoping for.

“There is, and you know it.”

“It can wait,” I tell him, turning toward Kairo for a way out of this. I’m just not ready for the confrontation. I never was. Even if he did apologize, I don’t know how I’d take it. I hadn’t thought as far as that.

“Kai—Aah!” I shriek with surprise when a pair of hands grab me by the waist, and my feet lose the ground beneath them. It all happens so quickly, unlike the first time I’d been lifted by the weredragon without warning.

The difference is that the first time, I hadn’t seen him but felt his presence. This time, it was unexpected, his human hands gripping my waist before he leaped us into the air and transformed into his dragon form to take us higher up.

“Let me go!” I protest, trying to wring myself free and prying his fingers from my waist. Fingers that become brutally scaled, tough and firm, and impossible to peel away. He clutches me tighter, his dragon lips parting to fill the air ahead with a cloud of menacing smoke. As if threatening me to be still.

What the hell is he doing?

Chapter 13 - Felix

Grunting under my breath, I clutch the stems of the cherry blossoms and feel them being crushed under the weight of my fingers. I hate the fact that I just lied to Sierra. Again. When I had the chance to apologize for everything, I’d put her through. Flinging the flowers on the floor out of pure frustration, I spin on my heels and bite my bottom lip contemplatively.

With leaded feet carrying me toward the front door, I feel like an intruder in my own home. Spying through the door crack, I watch Sierra enter the courtyard before Kairo finds her.

It’s the power of mind-reading I wish I had right now to eavesdrop on their conversation as they sit at the marble water feature in the center, my sister holding Sierra’s hands on her lap and listening intently to what she’s saying.

Even though I can’t hear a word, I have a feeling I know what it’s about.

She’s talking about me, shame filling my insides and keeping me cemented to the spot behind the door. It feels like I’m intruding on a moment of vulnerability for which I should have provided comfort. I should have given her a safe space to cry, to shed the tears and the layers of pain she’d suffered all this time. Instead, I plucked her from her world and shoved the harsh truth down her throat.

It’s unfair, and I deserve every second of self-loathing I feel right now. My vision blurs with tears I refuse to shed, witnessing Sierra’s pain as she weeps quietly and tells Kairo about the past.

The pain outweighs the guilt and shame I feel for not being the one to tell my sister. Perhaps I feared what she’d tell me if she heard it from my mouth. I know what she’d say—that I’m an idiot who doesn’t deserve the second chance he’s been given, fucking up at every turn.

That’s all I’ve been doing, all because I’m a coward.

I feel relieved when my sister embraces the woman I love with the arms of compassion I cannot give Sierra right now. She won’t allow me to get close enough to her to do that. I understand, but the frustration still gnaws on my conscience. I must be brave enough to step out, leave the castle, and go toward Sierra and ask her to hear me out.

I’ll be as gentle and loving as I once was. Hopefully, that will let her open up to me.

I’m about to step forward and cross the threshold to meet them in the courtyard when my brother, Stryder, and Yazmine beat me to it. With crestfallen eyes, I watch them make their acquaintances while I’m left to wallow in self-depreciation behind the castle’s front doors.

Great!

I’ve never felt so highly out of place before. As the second oldest Vulkan sibling and the Beta of the Aurora Dragons, I should be more courageous.

Instead, I’m spying on Sierra’s interactions with my family until my brother leans in and whispers in her ear.

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