Page 65 of The Enforcer's Rejected Mate
“You don’t have to earn it.”
My eyes water because I’m finally getting why the others kept me out as violently as they did. Why the other orphan’s conformed as readily as they did. The promise of home and belonging, of a pack and of a place all their own—a place that has always been meant for them was so much greater than me. Maybe even keeping me out made it all the more special because I was the example of what they hadn’t been sentenced to.
I was the horrible example of the other. A fate narrowly escaped.
Maybe that’s why the sight of me made them so uncomfortable too.
“Everyone that has come before us. Every soul is here. It lives on and always will in Thorne’s Embrace. This is the heart of the pack,” Thorne says, forcing me back into the now of everything. I startle and blink up at the tree, wind rattles the leaves and branches overhead and I hear the shift of pebbles under foot when Clyde moves behind us. It feels like a lever has been pulled and a little more of the weight I’ve carried with me falls right off. How is it that I keep finding more to let go of?
When will everything that isn’t mine finally be gone?
I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly as I lean into the bulk of the root in front of me. I let my hand settle against Thorne’s and smile when the cedar and pine scent of him tickles my nose. I let myself enjoy this moment and I smile because I can picture what he looks like with a smile on his face without looking at him.
“Our home,” I say softly, repeating Thorne’s words.
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
THORNE
Witch. Halfling. Fated Mate.
WhateverCordelia is, she’s a thorn in my damn side.
She has to be a witch though.
That’s the only explanation I have for the way my world has spun right off its axis since Cordelia arrived. From the first second I saw her, it was chaos for me. Even before we got hit by the lightning, she unravelled me. I was so completely gone for her that I didn’t even clock the hunters that shot us. A rookie mistake for the Enforcer meant to keep an entire pack safe. I never would have made that mistake before her.
It has to be magic.
“She’s a witch,” I say, eyes on the door Cordelia just left through.
Ronan sighs at me. “No, she’s not.”
Clyde just left with Cordelia a minute ago and I’m already antsy to follow after her. I try to act casual instead of tearing out of the room after Cordelia like I want to.
I lean back in my chair and stare up at the ceiling. “If she wasn’t a witch then why couldn’t I smell her? I bet you she’s got something going on with that Jazzy. She asked Clover if she knew her.”
“Jazzy is harmless.” Ronan waves me off. “That witch is too lazy to do anything to us. Cordelia is a shifter. She’s Amara’s girl.”
I don’t look away from the glass ceiling. It’s late enough that the stars blaze. I frown up at them.
“I’m not saying that.”
“Then what are you saying?” I can hear the edge in Ronan’s voice. He’s good about not throwing his status as Alpha around. I’m thankful for it seeing as it would make things awkward between the pair of us. I’m the strongest in this pack, even over him and we both know it. Maybe when Ronan was my age it would be an even split but not anymore. In a fight, I’d be able to take him down if it came to it but he’s better at leading so I’ve never even thought of challenging him. The pack trusts him and I’m happy to serve as the Enforcer. It’s an easy role for me to fill.
I look back at Ronan. “I’m saying that she doesn’t smell like a shifter. I’ve been with her since she first set foot in the Meadows and I haven’t picked up even a whiff of her scent, and aside from that, why didn’t she tell me she was one of us?”
My questions are valid. We both know it. I can tell from the way he narrows his eyes at me.
“Amara’s girl has her reasons. Luna will reveal it in time.”
Amara’s girl.
It’s no secret that Ronan was devoted to Amara Fireheart. She wasn’t his fated mate or true mate, but she was the Alpha’s chosen mate. He’s never moved on from her.
That makes Cordelia special if she’s really who she says she is. She’s not the Alpha’s daughter, but she’s close. When she was younger, Amara took up with a human down in Oak Fast and gotpregnant with Cordelia. That doesn’t change the fact that Amara was Ronan’s woman until Frostclaw tore us apart.
