Page 4 of Rejected Sold Mate
His mouth had found the sensitive juncture of my neck again, and it was hard to speak. “Yeah?”
“Thinking that we could do this again…maybe…”
Jayce stopped kissing me then and raised himself up on one elbow to look at me. “Rhie, this was a great fucking surprise, but how—”
“Before you keep going, let me explain. I don’t have expectations. I don’t even need to know your last name. But I really enjoyed myself, and this was such a perfect outlet for how twisted up I was feeling—”
“An outlet?”
He didn’t seem thrilled, so I tried to explain. “I’ve been under a lot of stress, and you made me feel so much better, and I don’t know if you feel the same, but I swear the chemistry I’m feeling is so good and like…what if we just continued like this? Like, every Friday we met at the bar and came back here before going on with the rest of our lives.”
A series of emotions played over his face, and when he laughed, it was sad. “You have no idea who I am, or how out of character this is for me, and I have no interest in just being an outlet for someone’s negative emotions, no matter how good the chemistry is.”
“Oh.” My heart sank. How stupid was I willing to be to have another chance at being with him like this? “What if I did know who you are? Would that change things?”
Jayce narrowed his eyes, and his hand came up to drag his knuckles across my cheekbone, “Who do you think I am, Rhie?”
I knew I was in danger, but I also knew I’d made the mistake of showing my hand, and he wasn’t going to let me take it back. “You’re…you’re the Blacktide Alpha.”
Jayce froze, and then he laughed again, humorlessly. While he still remained in the bed next to me, I could already feel him pulling away in every other sense but physical. “And here I thought you wanted me for something other than my title. I have to admit, it takes guts to use an Alpha for an ‘outlet’, as you said. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”
Dammit, I’d ruined everything. I was reeling, trying to find the right thing to say to fix what I’d done. “That’s not what this was! Yeah, I knew who you were, and it scared me until you treated me so sweetly, and then it didn’t matter that you were an Alpha! I would have never gone home with you if you’d treated me like…well…like most other wolves treat me.”
“And how is that?”
I couldn’t meet his eyes anymore, and I looked away. “My pack’s Alpha tolerates me, the Lunas are my friends, but everyone else treats me like garbage—”
“The Lunas are yourfriends?”His voice was incredulous. “Whose wolf are you, Rhie? Am I about to fuck my place in the alliance up because I slept with you?”
“No! No, Scott basically forgets I exist most of the time, and—”
“Scott?”Jayce was out of bed before I could even reach for him, and he was gathering his clothes with angry motions. “So, you lied when you said you were new to the area, too, then?”
I shook my head, a lump forming in my throat that made it hard to speak. Jayce froze and looked me over again, like he was racking his brain to try to identify me. Then, a look of horror crossed his face. “You’re that outcast Omega Scott accepted into his pack a few months ago, aren’t you?”
Anger rose to war with the misery that had grown inside of me. “Oh, and that would change things, right? If you knew I was an Omega, you’d never have touched me?”
Jayce sneered. “Rhie, you don’t want me to answer that.”
I could feel hot tears rolling down my cheeks, but I ignored them, pulling the sheet up to cover my chest. “Yes, I do. Say it. If we’re going to be all honest now, might as well tell me everything.”
It was bravado speaking, and as soon as I’d made the demand, I wished I could take it back. But it was too late, and Jayce was about to show me who he really was.
Chapter 2 - Jayce
One would think I’d grown used to everything going wrong for me by the time I’d settled my pack in the Crystal Creek area. Being able to settle there was one of the few strokes of luck I’d been allowed in my life, so when I’d had not just great sex, but a genuine connection with a beautiful woman, I should have known something was going to go wrong.
But I can be a stupid man. Or a shortsighted one. Because I’d wanted Rhie to be someone compatible so damn bad that it had been eating me up inside from the first second, I pressed my lips to hers.
Of course, I’d known she was a wolf, but I’d been hoping like hell she was some mid-ranking, single woman in one of the three allied packs. Or maybe from somewhere else, farther away, traveling for work or pleasure. I’d enjoyed spending time with her to the point I’d have tried to figure it out. All I’d needed her to be was a strong, unproblematic she-wolf of basically any status, and I would have tried to continue seeing her, because damn if I hadn’t felt some sort of connection when she touched me.
None of that happened, though. Instead, Rhie was the lowest-ranking member of the Alpha who liked me the least out of the three. Not only was she at the very bottom of the pack hierarchy, but she wasn’t even a long-term member of the pack. No one had filled me in on what brought her to the doorstep of the Shadowbay pack, but everyone knew that it was something sinister. She was an outcast Omega, and while I’d seen her in passing with the Lunas of the other three packs, I’d assumed they’d just taken pity on her, soft-hearted women that they were. I’d never once looked directly at her, and that was why I hadn’trecognized her at the bar, and why her name didn’t click in my head.
That, and I wanted her so intensely from the first sight that she could have told me any name under the sun and I would have accepted it, just to have her attention.
Now she was looking up at me from my cabin bed, sheet pulled around her chest, waiting for an answer. Anger rose in me—at her, for not immediately telling me who she was, and at myself, for being such a damn fool.
“Fine,” I gritted out, pulling my jeans on and not even bothering to look at her anymore. “Would I have touched you if I knew you were an Omega? Maybe. Would I have touched you if I knewwhoyou were? Scott’s outcast, bottom of the pack, Omega, that he only allowed among his ranks out of pity? Hell no.”
