Page 107 of Rejecting his Mate

“You gave me a claiming mark.”

Cade suddenly becomes fascinated with the contents of the bag. “Yeah.” He doesn’t elaborate or offer anything else, which makes me suspicious.

I grab his arm, stopping his motion. “How?”

“I don’t know. It shouldn’t have been possible, but…” He shrugs in response.

“The connection between us is not our pack link.”

Cade freezes and lifts his head. “No.”

I stare at him, wondering what any of this means. “So, it’s a mating bond?”

“I don’t know, but I feel you everywhere inside me. You consume every thought I have. Even going to get the bag from the truck was difficult because it meant leaving your side. That isn’t the behavior of someone connected by a fucking pack link.”

“I feel the same, but Dalton is still there, in my awareness. I don’t understand how I can be mated tohim and yet want you as much as I do because you consume me too. You were the reason I was in those woods every damn day. Because you brought me peace when everything else in my life was chaotic.”

I hold my breath after I say this, feeling as if I have just laid myself bare to him. I have been rejected once before by a wolf who was meant to be my forever. It hurt coming from Dalton, but I’m not sure I would survive Cade's rejection.

He stands, and I track him as he strides across the room to me. His hands go to either side of my neck possessively while his eyes scan my face. “I don’t care how this is possible, but my wolf recognizes you as his, and so do I.” He trails his finger over his mark on my neck, and my whole body tingles. Then his gaze finds mine. “You’re mine.Mymate.”

As soon as he says these words, it unlocks something inside me. I realize it is true. I am his, and he is mine. Whatever I had with Dalton was not real, and it barely scratched the surface of the feelings rolling through me right now.

I feel the rush of magic that spans between us as the mating bond slams into place, and I’m not sure if it comes from me or both of our wolves. I don’t even care where it comes from, because all I am focused on is what is happening to me.

I know the moment my connection to Dalton is severed. It is like someone punches me in the gut and then begins to pour heat into my body as Cade takes up the space he left.

The air leaves my lungs in a rush, and I feelcompletely overwhelmed with emotion as the new mating bond works through my body—a bond between Cade and me.

My wolf throws her head back and howls into the air even as I become dizzy. Sweat beads along the back of my neck, and I’m glad I’m in a towel only as heat infuses my skin. All the saliva in my mouth seems to vanish, my tongue glued to my soft palate.

Mate.

The word echoes through me like a tolling bell. He is my mate and not a chosen one, but my true mate. Was Dalton the only thing standing in the way of it?

It was always there, even if we didn’t understand it. I was always drawn to Cade, and he to me, but I never imagined we were fated before either of us was even born.

My wolf cries and whines, pawing at the ground and urging me to set her free. I don’t think that is going to be my choice or Cade’s—especially not when his eyes flash red.

I watch as his back arches and his shoulder pops.

My body viciously twitches in response, making the muscles in my back ache fiercely. I recognize what is happening because it has happened before on the night of the moon ceremony.

My wolf is trying to come out to meet him.

Panic claws at me. I can’t shift, and all this is going to result in is the same pain I felt last time.

My wolf paces inside my mind as I drop onto my haunches.

Stop!

I scream the word in my head, trying to reach my wolf, but she isn’t listening. Her only focus is on greeting Cade’s wolf.

Everything scatters as my spine bends, twisting savagely and making me cry out in agony. I’m vaguely aware of Cade going through his own shift, but all I can focus on is the agony I am feeling.

I drop onto all fours as my legs and shoulders crack. My wolf doesn't care that I'm telling her it's impossible. She is not listening, and I don’t know how to reach her.

That familiar feeling of burning from the inside out crawls over my skin. I’m alone in this agony, or at least I think I am until I feel a cold nose nudge against me.

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