Page 33 of Wolf's Rejected Mate

But I was too slow and no match for this level of fury.

Chapter16

Abby

At first, the broken back window and blood droplets on my clean but worn wood floors had put my heart in my throat, but when the arch on my breastbone began to ache, I instantly realized who was responsible. Ire overtook my concern, and after scouring the main floor, I raced up the stairs to confront Elijah, who had now broken my trust, as well as my heart.

He appeared to have heard me coming. His body turned to confront me, but I flew toward him, my face twisted in rage.

“What the fuck did you do?!” I yelled, disbelievingly. “You broke into my house?”

Shocked by my reaction, he blinked and shook his head, and that was when I noticed my personal belongings sprawled all over the floor. Doubly furious now, I stomped toward them to look where he had been snooping, but Elijah collected himself to explain.

“Abby, I’ll fix the window,” he promised, joining my side as I tried to make sense of the address book and cellphone on my bed. “I just wanted to do something—anything—but sit in that shed and be useless.”

I turned to glower at him, and that was when I saw his wrapped hand for the first time.

Begrudgingly, my fury gave way to concern again, and I reached for his palm, but he only chuckled.

“It’s already healing,” he promised, allowing me to unwrap it.

“You did this when you punched in my window?” I challenged.

He bobbed his head. “You locked the door.”

I offered him the dirtiest look I could muster.

“Because I don’t want random people in my house,” I retorted.

Elijah’s eyes shadowed. “I’m sorry you consider me a random person now,” he said, the contrition thick and confusing to me.

He’d never apologized to me before—not for anything. And he wasn’t finished.

“I’m sorry for a lot of things, Abby—honestly, I don’t even know where to start. I’ve spent all day thinking about it all, and I made a ton of mistakes in my life. Maybe that burial, that amnesia, was my penance for how I let you go. Maybe it was the gods’ way of telling me that I don’t deserve good things if I don’t know how to keep them.”

Stunned, I could only gape at him, my heart fluttering with every word. The Elijah I had fallen in love with as a girl would have never said these things, but this man in front of me had changed… matured?

It was difficult to lower my guard when I’d spent so long embittered by his rejection, but when he drew closer to me, warily placing his hands on my arms, I couldn’t withdraw, either. He was, and always had been, my soulmate, and that wasn’t easy to dismiss, no matter how much I tried to fight it.

“I don’t blame you for keeping a wall up, but I won’t leave you again.”

My eyes widened at the vow, disbelief clouding my vision for a moment. How long had I wanted to hear those words from his mouth? But the timing… oh, gods…

“I know you have your doubts,” he sighed, reading my expression as clearly as if I’d spoken aloud. “But I am going to take my city back, Abby. Something uncouth happened to me out on that battlefield, I’m sure of it. I was never meant to have left here.”

Dizziness overcame me, my head still on his promise.

“You… you’re going to stay?” I demanded. “Really?”

He nodded, the sincerity shining in his eyes, and I believed him. His regret was palpable, and life without him had been dismal.

A small whimper escaped my lips before I could stop it, and Elijah cupped my face in his hands, capturing the sound with his mouth. Every doubt, every sleepless night, was forgotten when our lips met, the electricity I’d craved for what seemed like eons rejuvenating me.

“This,” Elijah breathed when we parted, his breath hot against my face. “You should have opened with this.”

I cut him off with another kiss, arms encircling his waist to pull his hips closer. Elijah exhaled deeply, melding his body against mine. His hand reached up along the curve of my back, sliding over my ribcage toward my breasts.

Already, my nipples were hard enough to cut glass, and Elijah explored them with his thumb, his mouth trailing along my cheek and collarbone to follow over the vee of my t-shirt.

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