Page 9 of The Wolf's Pregnant Rejected Mate

“Okay,” she said, hugging Molly close to her chest. “When are we going to have the mating ceremony?”

“When we’re twenty. Wait.” Ryder frowned. “How old are you?”

“Seven.”

Ryder thought a moment, then nodded. “I’m older than you. I’m nine. So we’ll have the mating ceremony when you’re twenty. I’ll be twenty-two. Yeah.”

He nodded again.

Tess frowned. “My mother had her mating ceremony when she was seventeen. I want to have mine when I’m sixteen.”

“No, that’s too young,” Ryder said, waving his hand. “Twenty is a good age.”

She knew she ought just to obey him, but she huffed. Why should he be the one to decide everything without talking to her? Sure, Lenard decided everything that happened in the family without talking to Hilda, but this was about her, too. Wasn’t it? Hilda always said that mating ceremonies were for women and that men didn’t care about that sort of thing.

“I—” Tess started.

A shrill scream interrupted them. Tess jumped to her feet, heart pounding. She whirled to see that Mica was hanging onto the monkey bars. She clung on for dear life as another student in his wolf form bit down on her hair. Several others shifted to their wolf form and started yipping and howling as they jumped at her.

Tess resisted the urge to run. Running would only turn her into prey, too. She clutched her doll to her chest, eyes wide.

She wasn’t aware of the moment Ryder left her. She only knew that suddenly he was there, ramming into the wolf that bit Mica’s hair. He wheeled about, biting hard into the wolf’s shoulder—a pained yelp shot across the schoolyard.

Another girl, Elin, raced to put her arms around Mica. Mica dropped from the monkey bars, and the two of them ran for the school. One of the bullies tried to go after them, but Ryder pounced on that wolf, tearing at his ear. Tess’s heart pounded as she watched. She should shift and go help him. It was her job as his future mate, right?

Proper she-wolves don’t fight.Her mother’s voice rang in her ears.Nobody wants a girl who bares her teeth. If you can’t get out of a situation without violence, you shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place.

Teachers came bolting out of the school. Within moments, it was all over. The fight was broken up, and Ryder was dragged into the building by his ear. Tess took a step forward—it wasn’t fair that he was punished when he was only defending his sister.

She stopped. Nobody would listen to her anyway. She would only get in trouble, and the teachers would tell her parents.

She shuddered as the rest of the students were called back to class. At least she had a wolf. She wasn’t targeted by the other students like Mica was. Tess’s heart ached. She wished she could do more, but what could she do?

When Tess returned Molly to her pack, Mica and Elin weren’t in class. She found her seat and lowered her head, hoping nobody would look at her. If they did, they might see her jealousy. Mica might not have a wolf, but her mother would come to the school. Echo would yell at the teachers, which would be the opposite of what a she-wolf should be.

And Tess wished she had a mother and brother who would look out for her like that.

Who loved her.

She wrapped her arms around herself and let out a little sigh. At least she knew she’d have a mate one day. And Ryder would look after her when they were grown. She just had to make sure she became a proper she-wolf so he’d still want her when the time came.

***

Was it because she wasn’t a proper she-wolf? Was that why Ryder had rejected her when she begged him to make good on his promise when they were children? More likely, he didn’t even remember that day. She wasn’t important enough for him to think about.

Her shoulders slumped as the dark thoughts worked their way in. The voice sounded like her parents’. She could hear the exact cadence of their words as they scolded her.

It didn’t matter that she hadn’t spoken to them in nearly ten years. It didn’t matter that most of the time, they pretended they didn’t have a daughter anymore. Their voices still rang in Tess’s head, no matter how hard she tried to silence them. She’d fought for herself in these last ten years. Fought to find her self-worth in being who she was.

The pack always placed a heavy expectation on its members.

As she watched Ryder now, she wondered what expectations he was held under. He had an unmarried mother and a vulnerable sister. Being the only acceptable protector for them for so long must have been difficult.

Tess sighed softly, some of the tension easing from her shoulders. Perhaps she had been judging him too harshly for too long. Maybe he was weighed down just as much as she was.

It still stung that he rejected her. But she couldn’t keep dwelling on the why of it. Unless Ryder wanted to tell her, there wasn’t anything she could do to figure it out. So, it was best just to move on. The important thing was that he was protecting her now.

And that was more than she had learned to expect from anymore.

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