Page 39 of Rejected and Regretted

Not even a second later, I heard the voice I was dreading. “Avril?”

I didn’t have to turn around to know that Koen had transformed back into his human form. Yet, I didn’t dare move. I could hear his footsteps drawing nearer, alerting me I had to act fast.

Kea once said the smiles I forced at him were obviously fake, but I don’t think any of them had been as obvious as the one I managed as I spun on my heel. “I’m fine! Don’t worry. I’m just clumsy.” I desperately tried to brush it off, but the second I watched his nostrils flare, I knew he had picked up on the metallic scent.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, giving me no time to step away as he firmly grabbed me by the wrist, exposing my injured palm. I held my breath when he frowned. “It’s just a cut.”

“Like I said, I’ll be fine,” I insisted, trying to withdraw my hand, but he kept a firm hold on my arm.

When he looked up at me, confusion was written all over his face. “Why is it not healing? A cut this shallow should’ve healed already.”

I shrugged. “Omega blood. We’re quite frail,” I tried, continuing to struggle against his grasp, with no luck of freeing myself.

A few seconds of silence followed before his eyes suddenly darkened.

I knew then he was certain something wasn’t right.

25

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K O E N

I had no ideawhat was going on with Avril, but I sensed an abrupt shift in her mood in the forest. The carefreeness and excitement she exhibited during the run were suddenly just gone. As much as it bothered me not to know what had gotten her into that state, I tried to return as quickly as possible, hoping she would feel better once we were back. I just didn’t expect her to jump off in haste, as if she were on a sinking ship.

Even though I was fully aware that Avril couldn’t possibly badly injure herself in such a mild fall, the irrational part of me still feared for her well-being. Especially when I smelled the faint metallic scent poisoning the air, which sent me into overprotective mode. Consumed by worry, it didn’t strike me as strange that she managed to get injured. It was only when I noticed that a cut as superficial as the one crossing her palm wasn’t healing at all that I realized something had to be off.

“Let go, Koen!” Avril hissed. The harder she tried to pull her arm, twisting her wrist vehemently, the tighter I held her. It was so instinctive, I barely registered I was applying any force at all. “It will be healed in a minute, you’ll see!”

I could hear her words, but I didn’t trust them. Not when there was not an ounce of conviction in her own voice. It was almost as if she knew what was wrong.

Wait.

I sniffed the air again, slowly lowering my face to the cut on her palm. Examining the scent thoroughly, closer to its source, I caught a hint of a different smell mixed with her blood. It was barely perceptive, which explained how I had missed it at first. But I couldn’t be entirely sure what it was. Not until I…

“The hell are you doing Koen?! Let me go, damn it!” she protested again, yet I paid no mind to it.

While she thrashed about, uselessly trying to rid herself of my grasp, I leaned even closer to the wound. Without hesitation, I flicked my tongue over her skin, coating it in her blood. She winced, likely weirded out by the gesture. But she couldn’t possibly be more shocked than I was when I was finally able to make sense of the situation.

The taste of her blood lingered in my mouth as I probed it carefully. It was simultaneously sweet and salty, coupled with a bitter aftertaste. Although the punginess of iron was predominant, there was an underlying hint of a different metal. It could have gone unnoticed had it not burned my tongue.

Silver.

When my eyes locked on hers, I saw a storm brewing behind them. She was angry, yet no more than I was after what I had just found. She finally managed to escape my grasp when I was overcome with confusion, but she couldn’t go far.

Before she could run, I used my werewolf speed to reach her, tossing her over my shoulder. She yelled, her fists slamming against my back relentlessly, but I secured her with my arms. I wouldn’t let her go - not until I got to the bottom of this.

At lightning speed, we made it to her guest cottage in a matter of seconds. Right outside her door, I put her down atlast. To prevent her from trying and escaping me, I pinned her against the wall with both my arms.

Coming to terms with the fact she wouldn’t be free from me until I got the answers I wanted, she stopped fighting. Still, she held her head high, her dissatisfaction stamped on her expression as she stared right back into my eyes, our faces inches apart.

“Why is there silver in your bloodstream?” I questioned cooly.

She narrowed her eyes defensively. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The truth, Avril,” I demanded, pushing my palms harder against the wall as it became harder to hold back my rage.

If she told me someone from my pack had drugged her, I would be furious. However, that didn’t seem to be the case at all. Though I had decided to give her space after the kiss we shared, I still made sure to keep an eye on her from a distance to ensure no harm came her way. I knew no one could have poisoned her under my watch. But even if I didn’t trust myself, her reaction told me otherwise.

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