Page 112 of Rejecting his Mate

“His mate also pushed him away,” I say with a wince. “I know how that feels.”

“I didn’t push you away.” He looks genuinely distressed. “I just couldn’t deal with my feelings at the time.”

“I know,” I assure him. “And we’re fine now, and Sawyer and Roux will be fine in time too, I’m sure. But Sawyer has to be hurting right now, and he shouldn’t be out there at all. I don’t think the Order is going to stop looking for us.”

He straightens on the edge of the couch, his boots tied, and looks at me. “I know you want to make everything right for Sawyer, but he and that little wolf will need to figure things out themselves. Don’t get involved.”

“But –”

“Halle.” The warning in his voice sends a jolt of need through me. I like it when he's a bossy asshole, and he must see it in my eyes because he says, “I don’t have time to fuck you the way you want to be fucked right now. Not if we are going to make dinner.”

I pout. I went twenty-one years without everknowing the touch of a man, but with less than twenty-four hours with Cade, I’m suddenly a nymphomaniac.

I hold my hands out to him, and he takes them, coming to his feet. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a killjoy?”

“I’ll fuck you all night,” he promises, kissing the side of my head as if he hasn’t just made my pussy throb.

We leave the cabin, although all I want to do is get back into bed with him. My stomach has other ideas, though. It grumbles as we walk, the thought of food tantalizing.

It is already dark after the winter sun vanished behind the mountains. The lights that line the path to the house give just enough illumination for us to see where we are going without blocking the stars overhead. I can’t see the lake, but I can hear the water as we walk hand-in-hand toward the main house.

The lights are on in most of the rooms on the first floor, though the second floor is dark. We pass the other cabins, including Roux’s. I cast a glance in the direction of her door, wondering what happened to her to make her push aside her fated mate.

I can’t imagine the strength it must have taken. There was nothing I could have done to resist the pull of Cade once that mating bond flared to life. I didn’t want to, either. My wolf wanted him as much as I did.

I pull my eyes away as we approach the house, focusing instead on Cade’s large palm wrapped around my smaller one. He leads me up the steps of the porch and through the back door that opens out into the kitchen.

The sound of talking reaches me immediately, and the smell of the food makes my belly rumble again. I wasn’t hungry until Cade mentioned it, but I could eat a horse now.

As we step through the doors into the dining room, all eyes come to us. Tessa is sitting next to Abel, Apryle across from them, and Roux, who I’m not sure I like after she hurt Sawyer, is sitting next to Hester.

The table is filled with dishes, food steaming in each one. Potatoes, green beans, bread rolls, and some kind of casserole I can’t see from here. My mouth waters in anticipation, but Cade squeezes my hand, bringing my attention back to the eyes looking at us. The silence that greets us is deafening.

I’ve never liked being the center of attention, and I like it even less now. I feel like an attraction at the zoo.

“I was right then,” Hester says, half-rising from her chair to offer us a seat at the table. “There was a connection. You are mates.”

Cade leads me to the two empty seats opposite Hester. I take the one nearest to Tessa while he sits on the other side. “Yeah,” I say. “We are still trying to figure that one out.”

“Congratulations,” Tessa says, and I hear the sincerity in her voice.

I give her a warm smile. “Thank you.”

“Happiness radiates from you.”

“Right?” Apryle says. “Enough to make you want to barf. Someone pass the potatoes.”

Roux leans forward to grab the dish at the same time I do. Our eyes meet over the top, and I narrowmine slightly. I don’t understand how anyone could resist Sawyer. He is frigging hilarious, and I don’t like that she brought out a different side of him.

I pull my hands away, letting her take the dish and pass it to Apryle, who watches the whole interaction with amusement.

Roux turns back to me and gives me a smile that is not entirely friendly. “It’s nice to have you both here.”

She does not mean that. We came and upturned her entire life, but I appreciate her attempt at holding out an olive branch.

“Thank you,” I say in a tight voice. Cade squeezes my thigh under the table, a warning to play nice. Too bad every part of my body seems to be attached to my clit at the moment. All it does is make me needy for him again.

Behave.

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