Page 153 of Rejected By the Alpha King

Finishing my shower, I stepped out and dried off. After wrapping my hair in a towel, I dressed slowly and stepped out. Kenzi and Amelia were both in my room. No doubt Jax had said no men allowed.

“You look better,” Kenzi observed. “You just need to put on about ten pounds, and maybe we can tussle again.”

“That was hardly a tussle,” Amelia snapped.

“Not that anyone cares, but she did make me bleed.”

“And you practically broke her in half!”

“She did what I needed her to do,” I interjected softly. “I knew the risks of shifting mid-attack. Believe me when I tell you it was the only way. If I’d remained a wolf, Emerson would have just carried me back to my room. He probably already had a healer standing by my bed.”

Amelia stared at me for a moment before running forward and giving me a hug. “For the record, I fucking hate you. I think you’re an idiot for leaving. I can’t be friends with someone who has such poor judgment. I don’t give a fuck what Emerson and his witch did. We would have found a way.”

Since I didn’t really know how to respond to that, or the hug, I just patted her awkwardly on the back. “All right.”

“I thought you were dead.”

“Not dead.”

“Chained up and repeatedly raped over and over again.”

Jesus. “None of that either.”

“Good.” Pulling back, she sighed. “I honestly have never seen the pack quite like this. It was so quiet some days, you could hear a pin drop. Once word spread that you saved Irene, and how you saved Irene, they realized what assholes they’d all been. Me too, for the record.

Everyone felt so damn guilty, our pack bonds were practically dragging Jax to the ground.

Having my pack bond severed has almost been a relief.”

“Your pack bond is severed? No wonder I couldn’t feel you near.” It made sense.

“But you’re still bonded to Jax,” Kenzi pointed out. “Emerson couldn’t steal the bond.

And you wouldn’t give it up.”

“Even when I was certain no one was coming for me, it was the only thing holding Emerson at bay. Once I gave him my bond, he’d stop caring what I wanted. He probably would have chained me to the wall.”

“It’s a good thing we got to you when we did,” Kenzi said cheerfully. “He was getting ready to kill everyone who worked at that bar if you didn’t give him your bond by the next full moon.”

My stomach twisted. “Shit. Really?”

“Oh, yeah. That seems to be your schtick. Sacrificing yourself for others. Would you have done it?”

Would I? I’d deliberately kept myself at a distance because I didn’t trust them. It didn’t occur to me that he would use them against me. No wonder there was so much desperation in their smiles. I’d thought it was just because they’d been ordered to be nice. Did they know that they were cannon fodder?

Would I have sacrificed myself for them?

There was a knock at the adjoining door. “Food,” Jax said roughly.

Amelia and Kenzi both gave me a look, and I nodded. They opened the door and slipped through. Jax walked through with a large bag. “Soup and bread. I wasn’t sure what your stomach would be able to handle. If it sits okay, I’ll send Finn out for something more substantial.”

Finn. I hadn’t had a chance to hug him. Talk to him. Thank him.

“I’d like you to have a guard while you eat. Who would you like?”

With those words, tension filled the room. I gave him a soft smile. “You can stay, if you’d like.”

Relief swept over his features, and he stepped through and closed the door. Placing the bag on the small table next to the armchair, he pulled out my bowl and handed it to me before returning to the chair. “Emerson has stationed guards all throughout the town. There’s a whole camp set up on the exit road out of town.”

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