Page 17 of Rejection and Redeemed
Fran huffed. “Fine, I did run out. How did you find me?”
“It wasn’t hard. We knew Jacob would have to stay in a non-pack area, and this was the first one we thought of,” Frank said. “I take it Jacob is the wolf I smelt in the lodge next door.”
“He is,” Fran confirmed, walking into the kitchen area and putting the kettle on. “Who wants coffee?”
Robbie put the bag he brought for Fran down and walked to Fran, touching his shoulder. “I take it things aren’t going well.”
Fran sighed and his shoulders slumped. “Well, the fact that he hasn’t even asked my name should tell you something. All he knows is that I’m a Pullman. When he found that out, he threw me out.”
“Idiot,” Finn said. “I’ll go and talk to him.”
Robbie turned and looked at him. “I’m not sure that’s wise.”
“If he tries to kiss me again, I’ll punch him in the face,” Finn said, turning round and walking out before anyone couldsay anything else. Being mated to Robbie and having his love, plus finally shifting into his white wolf, had given Fintan the confidence he never had before.
“You can go with him if you want,” Fran said to his cousin.
Robbie shook his head. “Nope, he can look after himself.”
“He can,” Frank agreed with him before walking into the little kitchen and taking over making coffee.
Robbie drew Fran to the table and made him sit down. “Oh Fran, what can we do?”
Fran gave a humourless laugh. “There’s nothing you can do. Jacob is an outcast and filled with anger, some of it rightly directed at Cresswell. You know, I always dreamed about finding my mate, but in all my dreams never once was my mate an outcast who was in love with someone else.”
Frank walked over with the coffees and handed them out before sitting down, opposite his son. “Berni’s been in talks with Cresswell to get the outcast order rescinded. If Cresswell doesn’t agree, Berni will go over his head and talk to the Council himself. You know they never say no to him.”
Fran felt a kennel of hope blossom in his chest. He had no doubt that his uncle would get the outcast order overturned, and as soon as that was done, Jacob could hopefully relax a bit.
Finn knockedon Jacob’s door and waited for the man to open it. Jacob flung the door open growling out, “What?” He paused and looked shocked, before smiling widely. “Fintan, come on in.”
Finn stood there for a moment and looked at him. “I’ll come in, but if you try and kiss me, I’ll punch you in the face,” he warned.
The smile fell off Jacob’s face but he moved out of the way, letting Finn in, before closing the door behind him.
“So you’re being an arse to Fran, why?” Finn demanded.
“Fran?” Jacob queried.
Finn’s eyes got an angry look in them. “Yes, Fran, your mate. Francis Pullman, senior nurse at the Pullman Hospital and one of my best friends. I can’t believe you haven’t even taken the time to learn his name after he spent hours searching for you, to make sure you were okay,” Finn all but spat out, walking over to lean on the dining room table. “As soon as he found out you had been kicked out and was an outcast, he ran out of the castle straight away. We only put together that he was your mate after we realised that he’d been sad since coming back from the Bishop pack.”
Jacob snorted. “I’d be sad as well if I was to be mated to me.”
“That’s not the reason, idiot. No one wants to be mated to someone who has feelings for someone else.”
“Who said I was going to mate him? Why would I want to mate a Pullman when it was a Pullman who caused all my problems?” Jacob spat out.
“A Pullman, really? Was it a Pullman who got you to break your mating with me?” Finn asked him angrily.
“No, but it was a Pullman who took you from me, killed my father and took everything away from me.”
“You threw me away, remember? I was a shifter who couldn’t shift and you didn’t want me. You can’t blame a Pullman for that. As for your father, he lost a fight. Alpha Pullman won his pack, that is pack law — something you should also know.”
“I didn’t want to ‘throw you away,’ as you call it. When I discovered you were my mate, I was stunned, yes, but then happy that I got a mate. It was my father who told me to say the words to break the bond and told me I had to do it in a crowded location to humiliate you.”
“And you couldn’t have thought for yourself? You couldn’t have told me in private? How did you suddenly find out I was your mate, anyway?”
“I was nineteen the other day. It was on my birthday I smelt the amazing scent of chocolate and oranges and followed it until I found it was connected to you. I told my father I found my mate and he was so happy and said it was a cause for celebration until he found out it was you. Then his happiness turned to anger and he forced me to say the words to you.”
