Page 10 of Rejected Wolf Mate

“She’ll stay with me,” I announced.

Astrid’s eyes darkened until they were the dark blue of the ocean in a storm. I never would have thought a glare could be attractive, but something about the look made an old familiar urge stir inside me.

“No way.” She shook her head. “Anywhere but his place.”

“Stop being dramatic,” I said. “I’ve got plenty of room, and it’s a bit out of the way. If someone is after you, we’ll know they’re coming long before they get to my place.”

“You calling me dramatic isn’t endearing me to your plan,” she said.

I raised my eyebrow. “Does it look like I care?”

“You really haven’t changed,” she grumbled.

“Do I need to carry you over my shoulder and haul you there myself?”

“I’d like to see you try,” she dared.

I grinned, that old spark igniting. I’d always liked when she argued with me. “Yes, I’m so frightened of fighting the girl a third my size.”

She opened her mouth, but Jameson held up a hand, and she fell quiet. Jameson pulled me over to the side.

“It really doesn’t seem like she wants to stay at your place,” he said. “Maybe it’d be better if we find somewhere else. Maybe Malcolm or Oliver. Or I could talk to Georgia and see about her staying here.”

“She’s staying with me where I can keep an eye out for her,” I growled, loud enough for the rest of the room to hear. “And if that means I have to camp out in someone’s living room, so be it. But wherever she goes, I’m following. At least until we know what we’re dealing with.”

Astrid grumbled, fuming at the declaration. Finally, she threw her hands in the air, wincing as the motion jostled her injury.

“Fine,” she said. “You win.”

Chapter 5 - Astrid

Rand opened the door to his house and motioned for me to go inside. “Ladies first,” he said.

“Still the gentleman, I see,” I said dryly.

“Come on. You know I’ve never been a gentleman.” He winked.

I bit back an unbidden smile and brushed past him, catching a whiff of maple. God, how did his scent still have an effect on me all these years later?

I glanced around the house. He had done well for himself, it seemed, because we had stepped into the foyer of a large, two-story house. I caught a glimpse of a spacious living room with a massive TV through one door, and down the hall, I could see what looked like a large state-of-the-art kitchen.

Annoyance raced through me. He’d done well for himself without a thought for us while Thea and I had scraped by for most of our lives. Falling in with Ansel had helped. He at least paid well, even if what I had been doing for him was less than legal. But the fact that I’d had to go through that just to make ends meet while Rand hadn’t irked me.

I kept my hands at my side, trying to stop them from curling into fists. For the briefest of moments, after the Silver Wolves had taken me in and looked after me, I had hesitated and begun to wonder if I was making a horrific mistake by working with Ansel. But seeing Rand’s house had re-instilled that need for revenge. The fact that he’d managed to get away with dumping me the way he had, only for his life to have turned out just fine, made me bristle with injustice. It wasn’t fair.

And yet, even amid the annoyance, the briefest hint of amusement crept through. He might have had a massive house, but it was a complete pigsty. Apparently, he had kept his perpetually messy habits in the time we’d been apart. Something about it sparked a warm familiarity. We had always argued about it, but by the time he left, it had transformed into something closer to a ritual, one that we’d both enjoyed for some inexplicable reason.

“You’ve got a couple of rooms you can pick from,” he said, pulling me from my thoughts. “I’d suggest the one at the top of the stairs and to the left. It has a bathroom attached.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“Of course.” He jerked his head up the steps. “Get settled. Take a shower, if you want. We can catch up after.”

The instant he suggested it, I realized how exhausted I was and how much my muscles ached. I’d been traveling for a while, and a shower sounded like heaven.

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” I said. “Thanks.”

I stayed in the shower until my fingers turned pruny and the soreness in my shoulders and legs ebbed. When I dried off and headed downstairs, I could smell freshly brewed coffee.