Page 19 of Rejected By Blood (Mated in Silence 2)

I rushed Dean and hugged him tight. He wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face in the crook of my neck. “I’m so sorry. I’ll make this okay.”

I pulled back and kissed him like there was no tomorrow. He needed a sign that I loved him as much as Shane.

Something we would have to talk about.

“I’m gonna go work some of this energy out. See you later--see you two later?”

Shane nodded. “Yeah, I need to get to work too. How about we walk together? Get to know each other a little?”

Dean nodded and let go of me. “I guess we should. Let’s go.”

Chapter Eighteen

All the emotional scenes lately had me exhausted. Shane slept outside again, under the window, and I wanted to insist he come in, but I wasn’t sure who would sleep where in our little home, and since Shane and I hadn’t officially mated… How on earth did the other females with harems do it? If I’d had any close friends among the women in those relationships, I’d have asked for advice, but even though I was getting a little more warmth from the pack members, I wouldn’t say we were close.

My wolf wasn’t even whatI’d call supportive since she was sure about who her mates were and had no time for anything else. Mates were mates, and that was that. And I agreed, but agreement wasn’t all it took to make a family. Wasn’t that what this was all about, after all? My mates and I finding that place between us where we could come together and create a happy home? I needed more information about how to make that work. How to be sure that neither of my mates felt left out or less loved than the other.

I did get Shane to come in for breakfast but while the two of the were obviously trying to be good sports, that wasn’t how this was supposed to work. I didn’t know much, but I knew that they should be comfortable enough to talk over breakfast. To say please pass the brown sugar or offer the other a refill of coffee when pouring their own

For a girl who’d been living alone in the woods, it seemed overwhelming. I didn’t even know how to be part of a family, really. My first memories were with this pack, although I understood I hadn’t been born to anyone here. And I’d been passed from one person to the next, raied like a child who didn’t belong to any specific mother and father. And that was true. I didn’t. But I had to belong to someone, even if maybe they weren’t alive anymore. Who? I’d never allowed myself to think about it too much, always focused on making it from day to day.

But the time had come for me to find out where my roots lay. I was a wolf, as were all those in the pack, so maybe I was the product of distant relatives?

Someone’s by-blow? Wolf shifters rarely had children with anyone but their mates. It was more than a rule, it was how our minds worked. And our wolves were even more disinterested in a non-mate. But once in a while something did happen, an unexplained attraction or, worse, a rape would result in a child born outside of matings.

Depending on the pack, those young ones might be accepted or might not be. Since nobody paid attention to me, I’d overheard a lot of gossip while working in the garden or other tasks. Nobody mentioned me at all, but maybe there was something I should know.

After all, I didn’t come appear from thin air!

I sat on the stoop for an hour or more after my mates left for their work. I didn’t know much about what Shane did except it was somehow related to security. But of course everyone was involved in planting at this time of year. Including me, and with nothing resolved in my mind, I started for the fields on the other side of the compound. We were planting carrots today. A lot of carrots. We sold some baked goods at our farm stand and at the farmer’s markets around and the carrot cakes and muffins were big favorites with the customers. So...we had to grow plenty, but we were going to try out some of the new colors and see how they went. I was kind of excited about that.

Also about the herb garden. We’d had a small one last year and restaurants had bought every bit we could provide. They were apparently quite profitable. Dill and mint and tarragon and parsley--flat and curly leaf--and so many more.

Usually that would totally occupy my thoughts. But not this year. Everything had changed. Which was why, halfway to the field I turned off and headed for the alpha’s house. If anyone knew where I came from and where my original family might be found, if any of them were left, it would be the alpha.

I passed others on the way to their various tasks, but they weren’t any more interested in me than they had ever been before. Still, I studied each fact, watching, wondering...did they know? I mean, if a little girl shows up out of nowhere, wouldn’t people wonder why? Had I been left on the previous alpha’s doorstep in a basket like some movie or had he taken me on at someone’s request. If so, who?

If I was going to start a family with my mates, and since Dean and I were doing it every night, and Shane likely to enter the mix soon, a baby seemed like a definite possibility.

I felt like I needed to know about my birth family. It might not be a pretty tale, but I thought I was mature enough to hear it. If I was really Callista, what did that mean? Odd that I’d been here all these years with nobody showing up to collect me and return me whence I came and now...now the forest was filled with people who wanted “Callista.”

By the time I arrived at the alpha’s house, I’d built up quite a head of steam. I was going to march right into his office and demand the information I was due. Everyone had the right to know who they came from. I reached for the front door just as Jerad was coming out, laden with bags of seeds.

“Jillian, aren’t you supposed to be planting carrots?” he huffed. “I am sure I saw you on the schedule.”

I nodded

“Good.” He piled his bags in my arms. “These are the tri-color seeds for the experimental area. Take them with you.”

I pointed frantically at the alpha’s house,gripping the heavy sacks as they threatened to slide from my arms. I did have my whiteboard in my satchel, but I’d have to drop the seed bags to get to it, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pick them up again.

“The alpha is out there already. You can talk to him there.” Okay, he understood me.

Because this was a topic to address surrounded by others. For sure. Without further hope of communication, I turned and headed for the field, knees wobbling under the weight of the carrot seeds. I’d have to learn my origin story another day.

Chapter Nineteen

I had a notebook in my back pocket and patted it as I approached the alpha. Since he was surrounded by other pack members like he was a celebrity instead of our leader. He answered questions while patting his rounded belly and laughed when he was supposed to, but to me, an outsider for the most part, it all came off insincere and stiff, like he was simply putting on a show.

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