Page 11 of Rejected Wolf Mate

“That smells amazing,” I said when I reached the kitchen.

“You know me. I’m addicted to coffee.” Rand appeared behind me, brushing past to get the carafe. His maple scent mixed with the aroma of coffee, and it was annoyingly pleasant.

He poured two cups of steaming coffee and sat across from me. “Do you need food?” he asked.

“I’m still full from the mansion,” I said. “But thanks.”

Silence hung in the air for a moment as both of us struggled to figure out what to say next. There was so much unsaid between us that it was hard to sort out what needed to be said, and what we’d rather keep buried.

He broke the silence. “You mentioned Thea. How is she?” He sipped his coffee.

“Good,” I said simply.

“Hard to imagine her grown up.” He cracked a grin. “I always remember her as the little kid who trailed you around.”

Despite myself, the edge of my lip quirked upward as the old memories flooded back to me. “That sounds a lot like her,” I acknowledged.

“Think she’ll be all right?” he asked.

Unlike a lot of people, Rand had never treated Thea any differently for being an absent. He’d been almost as protective of her as I was. And when you had a massive shifter staring you down, you think twice about picking on the girl standing next to him.

I nodded. “She’s able to take care of herself. I convinced her to take some self-defense classes and things like that. You never know when you’re not going to have someone to watch your back.”

His jaw twitched. “You don’t think the guys will come after her since you got away?”

“Doubtful,” I said dismissively. “You know how most shifters treat absents. They assumed I thought her a liability. And even if they didn’t, it’s not really me they want. They aren’t going to think you’ll go after someone like her. I’m going to call her, though, and give her a heads-up, tell her to keep an eye out just in case. But I think she’s safer where she is.” I took a sip of coffee and sighed. “You still know how to make an incredible cup of coffee,” I admitted.

“Better, if you ask me,” he said smugly. “You think I was a coffee snob back then? It’s only gotten worse.”

I gave an amused smirk before taking another drink, inhaling the aroma. I may have gripped the cup a bit tighter when his voice cut through the temporary tranquility again.

“So, what have you been up to?”

I shrugged, trying to keep my voice neutral despite the annoyance running through me. It didn’t feel as though he had the right to ask that type of question.

“This and that,” I finally said.

“Very descriptive,” he remarked.

I shot him a look and opened my mouth to fire something off at him, but cut myself off when I saw him smirking at me. He was just messing with me.

I glowered at him. “I don’t see how it’s any of your business, really.”

“Probably not.” He shrugged. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to ask. It’s good to see you.” He paused. “I wish it were under different circumstances, to be clear. But I am glad you showed up.”

I looked away, trying to hide my annoyance even as it bristled under my skin. After the way he’d left, he didn’t have the right to say any of this. On top of that, he was talking as though it was an amicable, mutually agreed upon type of thing. It hadn’t been.

And yet, despite my grumbling and protests, it was good to see him, too. Something about seeing him sparked something I hadn’t realized was still there. I felt like I could breathe easier. The best way I could describe it was that feeling you get when you’ve been sick for a long time and one day, you wake up feeling better. That’s what it felt like with Rand. Which just made me more annoyed.

“What about you?” I asked. “How did you become a Silver Wolf?”

He shrugged, leaning back in his chair and kicking his bare feet up on the table, just the way he had when we lived together. “Fairly straightforward. You know I joined that group of monster hunters. I stayed with them for a few years, wandering around the States and taking care of threats, all that fun stuff. It was great, and I was good at it. Felt like I was making a difference, you know?”

“Sure.” It’s what Rand had always said he wanted: to be able to make a difference. It was a good thing. Noble. I just wish that need hadn’t resulted in him leaving me out to dry.

If he guessed what was running through my mind, he didn’t let on. Instead, he continued. “Anyway, at some point, the leader of the Silver Wolves—a guy named Malcolm, I’m sure you’ll meet him at some point—found us and offered us the chance to join the Silver Wolves if we wanted. Similar work to what we’d been doing, but way better pay. The only downside was more structure and rules. Me and a couple others decided to give it a shot, so we went through tests for about a month. By the end of it, I was the only one who passed. I did that for another few years, but a large group of us decided on early retirement. We all ended up here in Brixton.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Retirement? Based on the conversation you were having with your buddies, you sounded about as unretired as it’s possible to get.”

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