Page 37 of Kidnapped Rejected Mate
“What the hells did you just say?” I whisper, walking toward him, positioning myself so I’m between him and Aurela.
“Caspian, don’t do this,” Aurela says, but herex-fiancé’s eyes are on me.
I hear the door to the hospital opening and shutting, and can tell from the scents around me that the guys are here, including Xeran.
“Step away from my mate,” Caspian growls, and I growl right back at him.
“She’s not your mate,” I say. “She is mine.”
“This is aclearviolation of pack law,” Caspian says, his eyes skipping past me and somewhere over my shoulder.
Xeran appears, walking forward and pinching the bridge of his nose, like all this is too much for him. “She bears his mark,” Xeran says simply, looking at Caspian. “Have you marked her?”
“What?” Caspian’s eyes swing to Aurela. “You said you wanted to wait until marriage.”
“Andyousaid I’m a fat bitch, and the only reason you’d ever touch me is because my parents are practicallypayingyou to,” she fires back.
My satisfaction at her standing up for herself is washed out by a maddening anger at the sound of that.
I knew about the kinds of things he’d said to her. The pressure to take her to bed, alternating with slimy, awful comments about how he could never be attracted to her, despite the fact that he clearly was.
As far as I care, Caspian has only ever been her fiancé in name, and never in spirit. In fact, he’s been worse than nothing. He’s been a bully. Just another thing in Aurela’s life holding her back, trying to convince her that she’s not good enough.
“If she’s never carried your mark,” Xeran says levelly, “and you’ve not publicly claimed her, then you have no right to her.”
“I didn’t have to claim her,” Caspian spits. “She belongs to me. Just ask her parents.”
“I don’tbelongto anyone,” Aurela snaps, stepping up beside me. Her hand finds mine, and I don’t know if it’s more about her needing support or more about her wanting to calm me down. “Just drop this, Caspian. It’s not like you loved me, anyway.”
“This was never about love,” he laughs, rolling his eyes. “It’s about the promise I had to the Cambias fortune.”
Lachlan growls, stepping forward. “My parents werenevergoing to cut you in on that, you asshole.”
“Sure,” Caspian shrugs, his eyes drifting to Aurela. “But after I married her, it would only have been a matter of time before she ate herself to death.”
“You want a fight?” I hiss, stepping away from Aurela, even as she tries to hold onto my hand. “You deserve to get your ass kicked.”
“Yeah,” Caspian laughs, gaze locking onto mine as we start to circle one another. Then, he looks to Xeran. “I’m invoking Article Five. An official challenge. I beat him, and I get to keep Aurela.”
Xeran sighs again. “She is not a piece of property. But I can’t stop you from invoking Article Five. You can issue an official challenge.”
“Great,” Caspian says, turning to me.
“You idiot!” Aurela shouts at him. When I glance at her, I see Phina and Valerie holding her back. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”
“Yeah, ri—” Caspian starts, but he’s caught off-guard when I shift, lunging toward him, hungry to make him hurt for all the pain he’s caused my mate.
He shifts just in time to absorb the blow of my tackle, and we go spinning out into the grass outside the hospital. He’s everything I expected him to be—weak, sloppy. Silver spoon-fed into thinking his wealth could buy him anything.
Including even a modicum of ability when it comes to fighting.
I could kill him instantly if I wanted to. But I don’t.
First, I get the sense that Aurela doesn’t want me to. And Xeran has worked so hard to keep things bloodless after the death of his brothers that I don’t want to sully that with a fight right here outside the hospital.
Shifting back into my human form, I slide out of the way just in time for Caspian to miss his shot, careening into a stone bench, cracking the side of his head against the armrest.
“Good thing we’re already at the hospital,” I say, tilting my head to the side, mocking him. This feels more like Felix’s thing than mine, but I need to let out some steam.
