Page 12 of Rejected Sold Mate
Now she was arguing with me about where we would both sleep tonight, and my frustration was mounting. No amount of understanding about how scared she must still be would erase my need to get her somewhere safe and defensible.
“If you don’t want to go to the cabin, we can go back to my actual home, but then my entire pack would know you were there, and something tells me you don’t want that.”
She balked at the idea. “I’m not going anywhere near your pack. If the way you treat me is any indication, I don’t think I’d have a good time with them.” Rhie’s tone was sharp and sarcastic, and it got my hackles up.
“I just saved your life, Rhie, and you repay me by insulting my pack?” I grabbed her by the arm and started hauling her in the direction of the cabin. I wanted out of the open woods. Every minute we were there, we became more vulnerable.
She twisted in my grip, pulling out of my hold just enough to walk beside me, and I let her. As long as she didn’t run, it didn’t matter to me how she got there. “You can’t just tell me I’m going somewhere with you, Jayce. I’m not your prisoner.”
“No,” I conceded, “But you’re an Omega, in danger, and the alliance dictates that I’m responsible for you.”
“Oh, that’s funny,” she laughed, but it was an angry sound. “Did the alliance also dictate that you should threaten me in the bookstore? Or insult me when I was still in your bed?”
The words hit harder than I expected, but I wasn’t going to rise to her bait. Instead, I clenched my jaw and offered the words, “I deserve that.”
That gave her pause, “What?”
“You’re right. I treated you like shit. I don’t blame you for being angry about it, but why do you think I discovered that you were missing in the first place? I was there to clear the air.”
Rhie opened her mouth and then closed it, facing ahead in surprised silence.
“For what it’s worth,” I continued, “My pack isn’t a bunch of slavering ferals. They might be standoffish, but most of them aren’t assholes.”
Rhie snorted, and her point was clear.
“I saidmost.”I rubbed the back of my neck, exhausted and frustrated with the situation. “Look, Rhie, I don’t like the man I was when I spoke to you that way. Both times. I still think you should have been more open with me at the bar about who you were and that you knew me, but that wasn’t an excuse to be a prick to you. I am an Alpha, and I should be setting a better example. I…you…fuck.” I tilted my head back and looked at the stars through the canopy of trees. “I don’t know what I’m trying to say.”
Rhie was quiet for a while longer, but finally, I heard her exhale as the cabin came into view. “It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not.”
“You’re right. It’s not. But we’ve got bigger things to worry about.” She looked at the cabin, and I could see that the color had drained from her already pale face. The sense of déjà vu was strong. It hadn’t been all that long ago that we’d arrived here and been all over each other. Now our relationship had significantly soured, and we were potentially being pursued by rogue wolves.
“At least you know your way around the place,” I offered.
The look she gave me was withering. “You aren’t funny.”
“I know.” I unlocked the door and stepped inside, flicking on the light as I went. I hadn’t considered it until that moment, but no one had even been inside the cabin since the night Rhie and I had spent together. My stomach clenched as I looked over to the bed, which I expected to still be rumpled from the two of us, but it was neat and tidy.
Still, the tension in the room was painfully high. I could still scent what we had done together, and the memory of her spread out on that red plaid comforter hit me like a freight train. It felt like stepping into the past, and from how still Rhie was, she was just as thrown off about it as I was.
I fumbled for something to say to break the silence, landing on, “You made the bed?”
Rhie exhaled, hands grazing the doorframe like she was afraid to fully enter. But finally, she crossed the threshold, pulling the door shut behind us and flipping the lock. “I’m not an animal.”
“You could have trashed the place, and I would have deserved it,” I dragged a hand over my face. “I can sleep on the floor.”
Rhie didn’t respond right away, her head turning as she took in the cabin for the second time. Her eyes landed on the bed for a moment before pulling away, color returning to her face in the form of a blush. When she spoke, it wasn’t in response to what I said, but another question. “Why? Why did you come for me?”
A bunch of thoughts hit me all at once.Because I never stopped thinking about you, because knowing I hurt you makes it hard to sleep, because I would have fought all of those wolves just for a chance to save you, even if it doomed me.
I didn’t say any of that, though. “Because it was the right thing to do. And,” I tried to add a little humor into my tone. “If I didn’t save you, how else would I have been able to apologize to you and clear my conscience?”
There was more to it. Of course, there was. But I thought the two of us had been through enough that night without me also making things emotional. Rhie looked like there was more she wanted to ask, but she just shrugged and said, “Fair enough. Are you sure you’re okay sleeping on the floor?”
I’d rather you invite me to bed,I thought, but instead told her, “I’m too tall for the couch. So yeah, the floor it is.”
“Far be it from me to question your chivalry,” she sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed. “This is just for tonight, though…right?”
