Page 43 of Rejected Sold Mate
After I’d opened up to Jayce about my father, he’d encouraged me to do the same with all of my friends. It made our training sessions easier, now that they understood my hesitations and fears. At first, I’d felt so damn raw and vulnerable, but the girls didn’t even hesitate to embrace me despite my dark past.
“You do deserve it, silly,” Nayeli said finally. “You aren’t your father’s mistakes. You’re Rhie, the Blacktide Luna. Nothing else in the past matters.”
“I know,” I said, and was surprised to realize I believed it. It wasJaycewho made me believe it. “But Jayce and I haven’t put a name to what’s going on between us. I mean, besides, mate. But as far as feelings…I don’t know if it’s more than just…” I trailed off, face hot.
“More than just sex to him,” Kiera supplied. “I know. It felt that way with Samson in the beginning. Well, the second beginning,” she laughed at herself, “But let me tell you a secret. Our grumpy, secretive Alphas are a lot softer and squishier inside than they let on.”
The other two women murmured in agreement.
“But you might have to be direct,” Gwen added, “Sometimes they need a little prodding. Just talk to him.”
Grinning, I held my hands out again, palms up. “Okay. I will. But for now, let’s keep going.”
***
Jayce was still heavy on my mind when I got back to the house, but while his 4-Runner was in the driveway, he was nowhere to be found. It wouldn’t have bothered me if I hadn’t brushed against our pack bond and felt it closed off, like Jayce was trying to shut me out.
That worried me enough to seek him out, and I finally managed to catch his scent, still somewhat fresh, out behind the house. It led into the woods, and while I didn’t want to interrupt him if I was trying to have some alone time, something was nagging at me to find him. A sense of wrongness had settled over me, and I wasn’t willing to ignore it if my mate was involved.
I wasn’t sure what prompted the decision to shift, but I did so, and I was much quieter on four paws. I crept across the edge of the back lawn, past the trees, into the forest, where the light dimmed and the air grew cooler. He couldn’t have gone far; his scent was recent, but I wouldn’t be settled until I saw that he was okay with my own two eyes.
After ten or so minutes, other unfamiliar scents started to creep in, not alongside Jayce’s but in front of me. I kept to the trail, and finally, I heard the low drone of voices and picked out Jayce’s easily.
When I was close enough to hear what he was saying, it was like my world cracked.
“She’s nothing,” he said dismissively. I still couldn’t see him, but I’d have known his voice anywhere. “She’s just a lowly Omega with no real use. No magic. No standing in the pack. I don’t know why you’re concerned with her.”
I had no idea who he was speaking to, but the words were so cold, and they came from him so easily that I staggered backwards like I’d been hit. In fact, the words hurt worse than any real hit I’d ever taken, and for a second, it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
Nothing. No use. A lowly Omega.
All of the brightness I’d carried with me since the magic session at Nayeli’s was snuffed out instantly, and I felt bereft. As a wolf, I couldn’t cry, but a whine was building in my throat that I didn’t want to escape. I didn’t want Jayce to hear me or get the satisfaction of knowing that he hurt me so terribly.
I shook my head, legs bent, and forced myself to breathe. I wasn’t going to sit there just to hear more and continue to be torn apart. Gathering myself, I stood, turned, and fled.
The trees blurred about me, branches catching at my fur. I had no idea where I was going; I just needed toget away.Away from Jayce, his words, and the feelings I had started to have for him. My chest felt like it had been split in half, and my heart torn out.
How could I have been so damn stupid?
Distantly, I decided to correct my course and flee to my old trailer, not even thinking about how my car was still at Jayce’s, along with most of my things. I was too wrapped up in all of the lies—his smiles, his soft words, his hot kisses. Our interlude in the back room of the bar…
How was I supposed to live, knowing it was all fake? All I could do was run away, leave my life behind—
No.
The thought stopped me in my tracks, and I stumbled to a halt. No. I wasn’t going to run again. I’d finally found a place in the world, found respect, found friends, and a pack that welcomed me. I’d been running for so much of my life, and I wasso damned tired.
No more. I’d worked for this new life of mine, and I wasn’t going to give it up that easily. Jayce had drawn me into his life, made me feel like he cared about me, and he was going to explain why in the heck he was saying such terrible things about me now. It didn’t matter who he was talking to. If that’s how he really felt, he could say it to my face.
Growling, I turned back.
I’d gone off course in my blind rush away from Jayce, and it took a little longer to pick my way through the forest, but after a few minutes, I picked up his scent again and followed it. My pulse was racing when I thought about confronting him, but it had to be done. I had to be brave, even if it tended to be against my nature.
I saw him before the others, his tall form like a beacon in the trees. But before I could get any closer, the feeling of wrongness returned, and I stopped, crouching low. Then, the person Jayce was talking to shifted his weight, and Isaw him.The sight made my blood run cold.
Standing, just a few feet from my mate, was the rogue wolf from before. The same rogue that had handled me so cruelly, who’d bound my hands so tightly I couldn’t feel my fingers. That was horrifying enough, but as I crept closer, stayingas low to the ground as I could, I could make out other figures in the trees, too.
The rogues had come to claim whatever Jayce had offered them, and they’d brought backup.
