Page 29 of Rejecting his Mate

He steps up to me and, placing his hands under my armpits, lifts me onto my feet with a strength that should be illegal. I let out a noise somewhere between a squeal and a groan as my side throbs.That pain is forgotten momentarily because I am far too aware of his hands holding me in place. My pulse quickens as his heat infuses me, my response uncontrollable. What is happening?

He must feel the same because he tears out of my hold as if I’ve burned him. The glare he gives me suggests he thinks whatever is happening between us is my fault.

“You’re latent.”

I flinch at the word. I would have rather he called me defective. “I had performance… issues.”

He studies me like a science experiment. “Latency isn’t something that can be fixed, little wolf. “

He’s not saying anything I don’t know, but the accusation makes me curl my lips into a sneer. “Screw you! I didn’t ask for this. I expected to go through that ceremony and shift just like every other member of my pack.”

Adeline said I was different, that I was special. I feel nothing except broken and wrong.

His hand slams around my throat, anger flashing through his eyes. “I’m not one of your wolf friends. I won’t be as forgiving of your disrespect.”

I whimper at his touch. Not because it is heavy or crushing but because it lights me up in a way I don’t expect. There's a throbbing between my legs, and I rub my thighs together, trying to create friction there. I wonder if he can smell my arousal. Heat infuses my cheeks at the thought, and anger floods me at my body’s reaction to him.

If he can, he doesn’t show any sign.

“You think they’re forgiving? My own mate tried tokillme. The rest of them would end my life in an instant to keep the pack ‘clean’.” I smack his wrist. “Take your hands off me.”

He doesn’t remove his hold, but he loosens it.

“You have plagued me for months.” He seems annoyed about this, even though I had nothing to do with it. “Why are you tormenting me, little wolf?”

His gaze slips down my neck to the claiming mark that Dalton branded on my skin. My hands itch to cover it, to hide it from him, but all I can focus on is the way his thumb is swiping over the column of my throat. I’m not sure if he realizes he’s doing it, but I want to lean into his touch. I don’t, in case he stops.

Instead, I meet his gaze with my own defiant one.

“You were the one hiding in the woods, waiting for me.” The words are raw and ragged as I push them out of my bruised throat.

He releases me, stepping back as if the distance can help fix whatever is consuming us both. I don’t think anything can help. “If you can’t shift, we need to move fast. Keep up.” The order is firm, and my wolf wants todo as he commands, but I don’t move as he turns away from me.

“I’ll take my chances on my own, thanks.”

He snorts. “Are you that eager to die today?”

I shouldn’t do it, but I lift my nose to sniff him, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever scented before. I frown. “What are you? You don’t smell like a wolf. You’re different, stronger than an alpha, but nothing is stronger than an alpha.”

He slowly turns back to face me, and those blue orbs pin me again. I get a flash of incisors as he bares his teeth, clearly annoyed at being questioned.

“Enough! I’m trying to save your life. Maybe I should leave you out here to fend for yourself.”

To die.

There is no fending for myself. I’m exhausted, hanging on by a thread, and ready to fall to my knees in the dirt. Dalton would easily end my life if he caught me.

“Just tell me what you are, and then I’ll follow you wherever you want us to go.”

He grits his teeth and grabs my arm, shoving me forward. “Walk, before I leave you here to face this shit alone.”

That threat is very real, and it’s enough to get me moving. I hold none of the cards in this hand.

I stumble and right myself, following him. I shoot daggers at his back, wishing I had real blades.

I do as he demands, though. I walk. “Can you at least tell me your name?” I ask.

“Cade.”

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