Page 39 of Rejected Exile

She's staring over my shoulder at Niall, a hard look on her face. "I don't want him here, and I don't need him. Take him back to whatever ditch he crawled out of."

"Nah." Niall's voice is flippant, his tone uninterested. "I've got better things to do with my time. Work out the bad blood between you two—or don't. I don't care."

Then he starts up his truck and drives away.

Leaving me standing on the front lawn of the woman who hates me the most in the world.

"Dee." I stare up at her in frustration. "You can't honestly expect to stick around here. Without a wolf, without a mate? It isn't right. That's not how we do things."

"Who's to say I won't get one?" she shoots back, ice in her gaze and she looks down at me from her position on the dilapidated front porch. "For all you know, the new alpha will welcome me back into the fold, and I'll have a new mate by spring."

The thought makes my stomach do uneasy flips. It's impossible—it could never happen—but just thinking of another man taking Delilah down to the Mating Circle, stripping her naked, and rutting inside her... my wolf growls at the mere thought. Bond between us or not, Delilah isn't someone I everwantedto give up.

I have to convince her to leave, though, no matter what. And I can see now that I won't accomplish that by reminding her she's shiftless. So I try another tactic.

"It's dangerous here," I remind her. "All the female werewolves die. You could be next if you stick around."

"From what I've heard, they die when they shift." She takes a step forward, then another, until she's standing at the edge of the porch, staring down into my face. "I don't shift, though, do I?"

I don't know what to say to that.

She needles me. "I'm shiftless. Right?" There's a searching expression in her face, and a question in her tone. "Right?"

Answering feels rude, but I don't know what else she's looking for. "I know you're shiftless, Delilah. I was there when it happened."

She winces at the memory—then scowls, fixing a dark and angry stare on me. "I remember you being there. As if I could forget."

As ifIcould. That night haunts my memories, waking and otherwise. The consequences of what happened the day I turned her away have been like a demon at my back, ripping and tearing flesh. An aching hole in my center burns with need because of the choice I made that day, the order I thoughtlessly followed—and when I look into her chipped green eyes, all I see is the dark hole I threw myself down into.

I'll never be pulled out of that darkness. Never be saved from it. But maybe, if I just find the right words, I can save Delilah.

So I take a step towards her, daring to get close enough that she could touch me—or slap me, something her expression suggests possible. From the top step, she's a good two inches taller than me, so I take a step up the stairs, then another, until I'm facing her head-on, looking down into her cerulean eyes.

This close I can hear her heartbeat, can smell the scent of her, freshly washed and scrubbed clean. The urge to bury my hand in her hair and inhale is overwhelming. The seven years that kept us apart have never felt longer than they do the moment I notice how much she's changed, and how little my feelings for her have.

She inhales, the breath sharp and shallow. My eyes fall to her parted lips. The urge to grab her and make her mine is hard to resist. But I do. I know I'd only be pulling her into the darkness with me.

"You need to go," I tell her, keeping my voice soft and low, trying to put every ounce of pleading I feel into my tone. "Wherever you were, clearly you did well for yourself. So go back there. Be happy. Stay far away from this place."

"Or you'll what?" Delilah narrows her eyes at me. "Reject me?"

"I don't know," I confess. "But I'll do something. Whatever I have to do to make you realize that you don't belong in this place—it isn't yourhome. And it never will be."

Her brows draw together, the fierce scowl only emphasizing the curve of her cheekbones and the blue of her eyes. "You're not going to be the new alpha, so I don't care about your opinion. It doesn't matter to me.Youdon't matter to me."

That stings more than it should. I remember a time when she came to me first with every bit of news in her life, and I did the same, because it wasn't real until she knew about it. Now I feel the ache of that space she left in my life—but she must not feel the same ache for me, because while I was spinning out here in Juniper, she was out in the world making a new life. Finding new people to fill it with. Which is exactly what she should go back to doing.

"You might not care what I think, but the new alpha will." Leaning close, I pitch my voice low as I tell her, "Your father left the house to you in his will. But he left his totem to me."

Her eyes widen, and she takes a step back, reeling as if slapped. A pained gasp leaves her lips. "His vote? It's yours?"

"His vote. His position. Every part of being on the council." I cock my head at her. "You may not have a wolf, but you know what that means. I'll be one of three people who gets to pick the new alpha—and I'll have a voice to guide them.

"When I make my choice, I'll be sure to pick someone who will exile you again, just like your father. So I suggest you don't bother moving all your things here. You'll be goinghomesoon enough."

Delilah stares at me. The pain in her eyes makes me want to wrap my arms around her, but I know better. Giving her any bit of hope, making her believe we could ever be mates or anything like it, would just keep her around here longer.

And the sooner she's gone, the better.

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