Page 18 of Rejected By Blood (Mated in Silence 2)

Now to tell Dean. I had a sinking feeling this was not going to go as well as I wanted it to.

Chapter Seventeen

By the time Shane and I got back to the cabin, Dean was already there, sitting on the rock stoop, his head on his knees.

“Jillian?” he said, looking up as we paused.

Dean’s gaze shot right to our intertwined hands. He clenched his jaw and balled his fists. A feeling in the pit of my stomach told me this was not going to go well.

“I can’t believe this,” he whispered, but I heard him just fine. Shane tried to remove his hold on me, but I didn’t let go. Dean had the problem with this, and hiding my mate from him wasn’t going to make him get over it any sooner.

“It would be better if you started. You and I are not enemies. We are both here because Jillian is our mate. We should be working together to make her happy. Clearly, that’s not happening.” Shane spoke, but it all seemed so far away. My heart was beating so hard I heard it between my ears as though it was in my head instead of my chest.

“No, and it won’t happen. I made her happy way before you. I was here all this time. I am her mate!” Dean rose to stand and pointed his finger at Shane. I looked over at my second mate, expecting him to be fuming but instead, he was cool and calm, muttering something to himself. I would have to remind myself to ask him about that once my mates weren’t fighting.

“And I am, too. Put yourself aside and think of her happiness. That’s our main goal in life, to make our mates happy. She is our priority, not our anger or our jealousy.”

“Fuck you. She’s mine.” Dean’s voice cracked. All of his pointed words and harsh language wasn’t about being angry. It was about benign hurt and having his ego bruised.

“She’s ours, Dean.”

Dean stomped over to us, and I knew that look in his eyes. Shane let go of my hand and stepped forward, still breathing steady, still calm and collected. He totally needed to give me lessons on that.

“Don’t do this, Dean. I don’t want to fight, but I won’t let you hurt me or her.”

That stopped Dean in his tracks. “I would never hurt her.” He turned to me. “Jillian, you know I would never hurt you.”

Of all the times not to have my whiteboard. I rushed inside and got it, wrote a note and then showed it to him.

You are already hurting me.

Dean ran his fingers through his hair a little more violently than necessary while blowing out a breath. “I’m hurting you? How? Tell me.”

Tears welled in my eyes. By not accepting my other mate. It kills me that there is distance between us.

Dang, I was getting really good at spelling--at least I hoped.

Dean stepped back as though I’d slapped him, but instead of being okay, he turned his rage-filled gaze on Shane.

And before I knew it, he’d reeled back and cold-clocked Shane right in the jaw. Shane barely moved under the impa.

Which more than surprised me.

“You need to go cool off--before you hurt yourself or me. Jillian won’t be happy about it either.”

Again, without touching Dean, Shane shot him with a dose of the truth. The fact that Dean couldn’t accept Shane was killing me, ripping me apart and shredding my heart.

“I just…” Dean looked down at his knuckles, red and raw from punching Shane. “I guess I have no choice. Mate, this makes you happy? This is what you want?”

I nodded. He knew that already, but clearly Dean was having trouble with acceptance.

“Okay. I give up.” He threw his hands in the air and looked down. “I’m going for a walk and then can we all just sit down and talk about this? Some ground rules, maybe? I don’t even know.”

Shane stepped forward. “Dean, I think that’s a good idea. We all need to think a bit about this and regroup. Fate had it in her plan for Jillian to have both of us as mates, certainly we can find a way to move forward for our mate. She deserves all the love we can give her.”

Shane was some kind of guru when he wanted to be. Who knew?

“She does.” I let out a breath. They were agreeing on something. “She deserves everything. Jillian, can you forgive me? I swear I’ll try my best. I swear to you, mate. I love you.”

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