Page 15 of Rejected Sold Mate
Scott cleared his throat, and I was shaken back into the moment, remembering where I was. I swallowed past my embarrassment and approached the table. Jayce watched my every move, his neutral expression becoming calculating, and something darker and more possessive underneath it all. I couldsee him taking in the paint stains on my hands and white t-shirt, and then the slightest smirk when he met my eyes again.
My anxiety ratcheted up a few more notches. Nothing Jayce would be smirking about could be good news for me.
I made it to the foot of the table and looked down at my feet. “Alpha, you wanted to see me?”
“Yes,” Scott sounded more curious than anything. At least he wasn’t angry. “Sit down, Rhie.”
Doing as I was told, I sat in the chair closest to me and waited. I was almost vibrating with nerves, looking between the two of them with my hands folded in my lap so I didn’t try to rip my own hair out. Whatever it was, I just wanted to get it over with so I could close the chapter of my life that Jayce had forced himself into.
Finally, Scott spoke, his tone even. “Jayce came to me this morning, Rhie. I know this is personal, but he was right to do so. Jayce told me about how the two of you slept together less than a week ago, and how something formed between the two of you afterwards.”
All of my thoughts came to a screaming halt, and I felt my face go beet red. I whipped around to Jayce, no longer bothering to be the well-behaved Omega I was expected to present myself as. “You told himwhat!?”
Jayce’s smirk only grew, but he stayed silent, watching me as Scott continued.
“I know it can be hard to tell since you’ve never experienced it before, but from what Jayce has described, I think it’s likely the two of you have formed a mating bond,” I started to argue when Scott held a hand up, “Before you get defensive, Rhie, understand that this changes things. Permanently.”
“I—” the rest of the words died in my throat. I couldn’t find the air to speak.
“This goes beyond a one-night stand. It’s a lifetime bond, as both of you are aware.”
I wanted to protest, wanted to scream that there was no way it was true, but I felt my heart sink when all the pieces started to fall into place. It made too much sense. The lonely ache I’d felt since the night we’d slept together, the way my emotions had been heightened, and how I’d been desperate to be close to Jayce no matter how cruel he was…
Could it be? Was Jayce my mate? It would explain the unbearable homesickness I’d been struck with.
I was glad I was sitting, because there was no way my legs would have held me at that point. “No…” I whispered, horrified. “No, this can’t…”
Scott blew out a long breath. “I know it’s a shock, but these things just happen. You know that. And when a bond forms, you don’t run away from it, you honor it.” He looked chagrined for a moment. “Trust me on that. I made that mistake with Nayeli, and it almost ruined my life. Jayce knows what happens next, so it’s just up to you to accept it.”
Still shaking my head, I looked inside of myself and reached for that ache that had haunted me for days. As soon as I brushed it with my consciousness, it changed, and I knew my fate had been sealed. The ache wasn’t just a nebulous thing when I looked at it closely; it was a tether, thin but solid, running from me to Jayce. If I’d investigated the ache days ago, I would have known immediately what it was, but I’d been so determined to ignore it and put what happened with Jayce behind me that I’d missed what was right in front of me the whole time.
Almost shyly, I looked up at Jayce and found that he had been staring at me while I dealt with my inner turmoil. He didn’t seem shaken up about it at all. In fact, he seemed almost smug.
“So how…” I had to swallow before I continued, my mouth having gone dry as a desert. “How do I honor and accept this…uh…bond?”
“Well,” Scott steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair. “As an Alpha and your mate, Jayce has decided to take you back to his pack to live with him, which is his right. We’ve been trying to be a little more…progressive with how the pack is being run, but no amount of progressiveness is going to supersede a mating bond.”
That brought my thought process to a stuttering halt. “No. I’m willing to do a lot, but I don’t want to move,” my voice sounded desperate to my own ears. “I’ve just settled in. It’s just started to feel like home…”
“There is nothing to be done, Rhie. I’m sure Jayce will do everything he can to make you comfortable in his pack—”
“No!” Arguing with an Alpha was a dumb decision on a good day, and it was outright dangerous when Scott had already made up his mind, but I couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “You don’t get to decide where I’m going to live. Neither of you does!”
Scott shrugged, annoyed but mostly unbothered. “The bond decided for you.”
The fight drained out of me, and I flopped back in the chair, feeling boneless. He was right. What was the point in arguing when none of us could change the connection that had formed between Jayce and me?
I covered my face with my hands, feeling like I was frozen. It all made sense when I thought about it. Jayce felt responsiblefor protecting me from the rogues, but we both knew if Scott found out I’d endangered not only myself but both packs by letting my guard down enough to get snatched, he’d be pissed. I’d been ready to take whatever punishment Scott would mete out, but apparently Jayce decided the best way to keep me out of trouble was just to acknowledge the bond that he might have been trying to ignore just as hard as I had been and take me home with him.
The Blacktide Alpha felt responsible for my safety after saving me once. He didn’t have to be, but maybe the mating bond was making him feel compelled to do so. Whatever the reasoning was, I wasn’t about to bring up the kidnapping to complicate things when the mating bond was front and center of my problems.
“This is insane,” I mumbled, more to myself than the two Alphas in the room with me, but Scott responded anyway.
“You’re bonded, Rhie, and that’s that. And frankly…” he exhaled, and chose his next words carefully, “This might be for the best. It’s no secret you’ve had a difficult time integrating into my pack. Being Jayce’s mate will make it a lot easier for you in his pack. It comes with a certain measure of respect that they won’t be able to deny you.”
For the best. Of course, he would think that way. Scott had let me join his pack in repayment for some ancient debt, but I’d never really found firm footing, and I wasn’t contributing anything that he would be worried about losing. I was just an outcast. The outsider Omega. And now I wasn’t his problem anymore.
Instead of arguing with my Alpha—myformerAlpha now—I glared up at Jayce. He’d dropped a damn bomb in my lap without even a little bit of a warning. He could have at least toldme first. I’d still have been angry, but at least it wouldn’t have felt like I was being ganged up on in the meeting, or left totally in the dark.
