Page 5 of The Enforcer's Rejected Mate
“They’re not, but neither am I, isn’t that right?” It’s a question we both know the answer to. I’m not respectable. I’mthe orphan the pack tolerates. “That’s why you come to see me where no one can see.”
Keiran drops my skirts and lets go of me so fast that I stumble forward and I have to catch myself on a tree to stay upright. “I came to you for peace. Not dramatics.” He turns to storm away from me and my body goes into panic mode.
This isn’t how my perfect day is supposed to go. He wouldn’t leave me like this on the day that I’m going to shift.
I push away from the tree and chase after Keiran. “Wait, please.Please don’t go.”I’m begging. I know it, but I’m not too proud to beg. I never have been, not with Keiran. I can’t let him leave. If he does, then my fate is sealed. I won’t shift. It’s not logical, I know that. I know Keiran staying won’t decide if I shift or not tonight but right now it feels like it will.
Keiran stops but he doesn’t turn to face me. The pretty feeling I wrapped myself in earlier feels delicate and fragile. The slightest movement could tear it to tatters. What does it say about me that I’m desperate to keep it whole? My face burns hot and I try not to think about the way I’m stepping on my own pride when I reach out to touch Keiran’s arm.
“Stay with me.Please.” Keiran turns to me with that last please. His handsome face looks like it’s carved from stone. A true poker face. “I’m sorry,” I tell him quickly. He softens when I apologize.
He always does.
It doesn’t matter if I’ve caused offense or not. Whatever goes wrong between us always lands squarely on me as surely as the full moon will rise tonight. I’m used to the taste of sorry on my tongue.
“I-I should have thought before I spoke. You’re right. Those jobs are respectable and-” Keiran silences my words with a kiss. He gathers me up in his arms and shoves my skirts back up mythighs. Relief floods through my body because I don’t have to keep lying and most of all–he still wants me.
I wrap my arms around his shoulders and bite back a moan when I feel his teeth nip my collarbone. He’s playing with fire, biting and teasing my skin near where a mating bond would take the best. I don’t say a word and let him play his game.
“Need you. I need you,” Keiran whispers to me.
I start to work on Keiran’s belt. “Then take me,” I whisper back while happiness sings through me. My earlier panic is forgotten now that I have my perfect day back on course. It will all be worth it. Every second of it will be when I shift.
Besides, I can put up with anything so long as Keiran still wants me.
Chapter
Two
CORDELIA
Cold water sluices across my skin and washes me clean. Keiran didn’t get me too dirty and I’m grateful my dress escaped unscathed. I like to think I wouldn’t forgive him if he had ruined it but I know myself too well.
I would have absolutely forgiven him.
I shiver and cup my hands beneath the stream of water coming from the old iron water pump to scrub Keiran’s scent from my skin. I give myself another few minutes of desperate washing before I stand up, shivering and dripping wet and pick my way back to Maud’s hut.
Her door is open, the late afternoon sun slants across the porch and into the cozy space. She’s putting down a plate of roasted potatoes when I step through the doorway.
She doesn’t even look up from the table when she speaks, “You smell like the Alpha’s son.”
I go red and twist the ends of my cardigan. “I-I had to help him with something,” I say lamely to which Maud sighs. The sound is heavy. Tired. I wish she didn’t sound like that because of me.
“I bet you did.” She looks up at me then. “Sweet girl, why do you let him do that to you?”
Tears prick my eyes. I swallow past the lump in my throat and when I speak, it hurts. “I don’t know,” I whisper. All it takes are those three whispered words for Maud to sigh and hold out an arm for me to slip under. “I wish I was stronger.”
“Come here then. I’ll help you be stronger.” I do as she says and hug her tight when she curls her arm around me. She’s solid even if she’s small. Her arm feels like iron around me. I know that even if the Alpha himself came to take me away there would be no taking me so long as Maud had a hold of me. She doesn’t say anything and neither do I. We stand together in silence, and I turn my face and bury my nose into the collar of her woolen shawl. It smells like woodsmoke and herbs. The earthy sweetness of chamomile and lavender fills my nose and I relax. Maud’s scent reminds me of being a little girl, of the rare moments when she held me and sang to me in those early days. I take in a deep inhale and slowly exhale before I do it again, I’m on my third round of deep breaths when Maud strokes my hair and speaks.
“Tonight at the moon run the Alpha’s son will announce his mate. It won’t end well for you when he does.”
My toes curl in my shoes and tears wet my eyes again. I don’t expect the tears but they make sense. For so long, Keiran has beenmy secret, the only thing that’s truly felt wholly mine and now he’s gone. Even when I was catching the worst of it in the village, or coming back to find someone in the bunkhouse had rifled through my things again, or I was put on a double shift in the laundry rooms during the summer while the others skipped out to swim at the lake,I had Keiran.
This isn’t the way it’s supposed to go for me. Not today. But now Keiran’s visit makes sense. Why didn’t he tell me? My cheeks burn hot because I know the answer to my question. I know exactly why he didn’t. He didn’t want to ruin his last chance to have me. I don’t care what happens to me, or how littleI do have that’s mine. I won't mess around with a mated wolf. Keiran knows we’re done after tonight and I had to find out from Maud. Nausea washes over me.
He let me find out from Maud.
How could he?
