Page 11 of The Enforcer's Rejected Mate
“Not here,” I whisper. I have to get out of the square before we shift and run. If the pack saw me shift they’d never let me leave in peace. Memories of them sneering at me, laughing and pointing, pushing me, the constant bullying in the name of enforcing rank, their pursuit to never let me forget that I don’t belong floods into my mind. No, they’d never let me leave if they knew I had my wolf. Not without putting her through her paces to prove herself. I curl an arm around myself. I don’t want themnear her. I can’t risk them hurting her but the thought barely forms before a growl rips out of me.
My chest vibrates, the motion of it soothing even if the sound is scaring the hell out of me. I didn’t know I could sound like this. It’s low and powerful and I can hear my wolf in the cadence of it. She’s not to be trifled with. Oh Luna,my wolf is strong.I almost laugh when I press both hands to my chest and work to keep her in. She’s pulled forward by Keiran’s sweet and tart marmalade and apple smell I caught earlier, she’s licking her chops trying to get more of it.
She wants it.
She wants to run free and play. The night is young, and the moon is bright with her mate waiting for her. Now. We must run now.
She wants her mate.
Keiran.
“No,” I whisper, suddenly understanding why I’m growling. Why I want to rip Bella’s head off her shoulders. It isn’t my heat that has me losing my head. At least not completely. “Oh no.”
Mate.
Keiran Ashford is my true mate.
I don’t know much about what’s going on around me but I do know that Keiran figures out we’re mates at the same time I do. He has to, if the strangled sound that comes out of him is anything to go by. He shakes off Bella and takes a step towards me. I almost sob at the sight of him finally choosing me. The crowd parts in front of him and Keiran walks towards me. His father’s startled bark makes everyone sit up and notice just like I am.
Keiran is doing something unexpected.
He never does that.
“Keiran?” I whisper. It’s the first time I’ve spoken to Keiran in public. Silence descends on the pack so heavy that it feelslike even the world has stopped. I hold my breath and stop too but Keiran doesn’t stop. I almost swallow my tongue because the unexpected thing Keiran does is choose me. Keiran keeps walking right to me.
Chapter
Six
CORDELIA
“Cordelia,” he growls out and the sound of it sets my soul alight and my heart racing. He comes forward another two paces before Bella rushes forward and tries to pull Keiran back but he shakes her off and keeps moving towards me. There’s no one to hold me back but I know Maud would if she were closer. The second I go to Keiran I know I was right about that because Maud shouts at me.
“Cordelia! No!” She yells but it doesn’t do anything to stop me. Not when I hear Keiran.
“Mate,” he snarls.
The pack gasps and Alpha Ashford loses his shit but neither Keiran or I look away from each other. My wolf howls with joy. She coaxes our mate to come closer and he does. She wants to run and play, to feel the night with Keiran. I don’t even think about it, I run forward and throw myself into Keiran’s arms. He feels strong and warm. I turn my head and bury my nose into his chest and inhale the cranberry sweet scent of him. His arms tighten around me and he holds me close. The fire inside of me stays, it calms while Keiran holds me. My mate is here.
My Alpha.
He’s the one that will take care of me. The one that will see me through my heat and give me his pups. This is the way it should be, the two of us together. I’m almost dizzy from it.
“You…” That one word is whispered in my ear and I smile at the warmth I hear in it. He’s smiling, I can tell when he turns his face and presses a kiss to the top of my ear.
“Keiran,” I whisper when I lift my head to look up at him. The entire universe is in his eyes. This world, the next, every second of every day that I have yet to live is there in Keiran. All of it unfolds in front of me with exaggerated slowness. I can see us walking together out in the meadow near Maud’s hut. We’ll build a cabin there, something big and warm, safe. There will be moon runs and feasts, pack meetings where our pups run and play with the others. I’ll be welcome—more than welcome, I’ll be Luna. I’ll be strong enough to stand next to Keiran. What’s more, he’ll be proud to have me there beside him. His arm around me and a smile on his face meant only for me.
We have our whole lives to live, and we get to do it together.
Tears fill my eyes at the future stretching out in front of us. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted and it’s all here laid out for us. For me. My heart squeezes and the pressure in my chest is back again but it’s different now.
It doesn’t ache or feel like I’m being crushed under the weight of the world. Instead, it's like I’m being filled with Keiran’s love, right to the brim until I’m too full and overflowing. I’ve never felt like this. Keiran’s eyes on mine are my anchor into the present. I stroke his cheek, and drink up his attention. His eyes are a window right into the future I saw. It’s too much and not enough all at the same time until I’m practically gasping. All the breath in my body has been stolen. Keiran sees what I see. I know he does from the way his gaze softens on me.
My smile wobbles and my eyes water as I reach up to touch his face. “It’s you.” My fingers graze his jaw when he stops me.
Keiran puts a hand over mine, the size of it dwarfs mine. I’ve always loved his hands. He leans in close to me and my lips part in anticipation of the kiss that Keiran has given me hundreds of times before. He’ll kiss me and claim me in front of the whole pack. My real life will start now.
“I don’t know why I couldn’t see you before,” I whisper to him. He knows about my mate dreams. He knows about my anger and frustration at never seeing my mate’s face. At how badly I’ve wished to see the one I’m meant for. “I tried to see you. You know I did.” My voice breaks. Turns ragged because I did try. I tried until I had nothing left and woke up exhausted from another sleepless night.
