Page 29 of Rejected and Regretted

“How did you sleep, Alp- Avril?” Theo asked, his concern for me almost blowing up our disguise. Luckily, there was no one around this early in the morning.

“Like a pup,” I lied, sticking to my stone face. “As you can see, the boogieman didn’t come for me. You have nothing to worry about.”

“That’s a relief,” Elijah added sincerely, though when he started following me, I understood that wasn’t the end of it. “We’ll stick around just to be safe.”

“I don’t need you two glued to me. I can fend for myself,” I insisted, slightly annoyed. The last thing I wanted was for themto see me as incompetent. I was the alpha; I should protect them, not the other way around.

“Oh, we know,” Theo acknowledged. “But we’re not going anywhere.”

His mate nodded. “We’ll never leave your side again.”

I sighed.Great. Justgreat. At least, having two strong men on each arm would make me less approachable. Especially to the person I wanted to avoid the most - the one whom I kept meeting.

As expected, I hadn’t even made it out of the village when I saw his face.

“Avril,” Koen called my name softly. His eyes lingered on mine before they shifted between the two warriors by my side. There it was - the same look of displeasure he had demonstrated the night before. As he focused back on me, he quickly shook it off, taking a step in my direction. “How are you?”

“Fine. Is there a reason I shouldn’t be?” I answered defensively. The last thing I wanted was his pity, and I wouldn’t thank him if my life depended on it. There was nothing I wanted to discuss with him.

Yet, Koen was clearly not on the same page, because he stood still in front of me, blocking my path.

“What Chad did-” he begun, flames dancing in his eyes at the mention of the fucker’s name.

“Chad’s dead,” I spat, grasping onto whatever reassurance the fact could offer me. “There’s nothing to talk about.” I tried to move past him, but he rushed in front of me, forcing me to look at him.

“If there’s anything I can do for you…” he continued, his fists clenched to his sides as if he was refraining from reaching out and touching me.

I forced a smile, hiding my growing anger behind it. I hated his compassion. I hated the way he looked at me as if I was a helpless princess who needed to be protected.

But, most of all, I hated feeling like he was the only one who could take my pain away.

“Like I said, I’m fine,” I pushed, my tone harsher. At last, he seemed to grasp it. “Thank you for your time, Alpha. I won’t take up any more of it.”

This time, when I stepped forward, he didn’t try to stop me. As obvious as his dissatisfaction was, he didn’t continue to pester me. Though my chest ached, I also experienced a hint of relief.

Last night, Chad reminded me of how it was to feel powerless. When Koen saved me, he awakened something I had learned to live without; something I never wanted to depend on ever again. When he looked at me, he reached out to a part of myself I had tried to bury, and I was afraid it would come back to the surface. I was afraid of what I felt when I was with him.

It was in my best interest to stay away from him.

19

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K O E N

An entire daywent by since the night I found Avril being attacked.

For an entire day, despite how desperate I was to speak with her, to be around her and see for myself that she was okay after everything that had happened, I just couldn’t get a hold of her.

I couldn’t say it was unusual for her to avoid me; she had done it quite often since she came back. Obviously, she didn’t feel at ease around me, regardless of how hard I tried to make her comfortable. I knew it would be a process. For her, I would gladly be patient. Yet never before had she ignored me to this extent, and I feared it could have something to do with that night. To be honest, I hadn’t quite gotten over it myself.

During our weekly hunt, I felt a strange tug in my chest, the same I would feel whenever Avril was in danger. It forced me to abandon the group before we had caught enough prey, but I trusted my beta to continue to lead our team without me. Hell, even if he couldn’t, it wouldn’t have made a difference; all I cared about at that moment was to find her and make sure she was safe.

When I bolted toward her, tracking her scent, I hadn’t expected to find what I found, nor to feel what I had felt. The vile words uttered by that bastard struck a chord deep withinbefore I even saw her, awakening a primal rage unknown to me - raw, unfiltered rage. It consumed me, urging me to embrace the violence my beast sought. It made me see red, until red was all there was - staining the grass, the trees, my paws, my teeth.

Even as the fucker’s limp, disfigured body lay on the ground, I didn’t want to stop. No one could have pulled me out of my enraged state - no one, except for her. The very second Columbus heard the faintest sob break through Avril’s lips, he reverted back to his sane self, immediately allowing me to take control again.

As I rushed to free her, I didn’t even dream about being thanked the way I was. When Avril threw herself into my arms, the entire world disappeared. Under any other circumstance, I would have felt pure joy, yet deep inside, I could feel her fear, her pain, her despair. It crushed me. All I could do was hold her close, hoping to let her know I was there for her. I wouldalwaysbe there for her when she needed me, because I once wasn’t, and it was the worst mistake I’d ever made.

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