Page 18 of Rejected Bullied Mate

My pulse thundered in my ears as I ran to her. How? How was this possible? I knew her, I'd known her forever, and she'd never had this kind of power. If there had been a magic user—a witch, if my nose was correct—among my pack, I should have been able to sense it a long time ago.

Yet there she stood, panting, her eyes wide. Kiera looked like she couldn't believe what she had just done, either. Pride and fury warred in me. She'd hidden something monumental from me, but at the same time, my mate was stronger than I'd ever dared to hope.

Before the three downed shifters could rise, I skidded to a stop between them and Kiera, a growl ripping through me loud enough that nearly everyone left at the bonfire stopped cold.

"She's mine," I snarled, "Touch her, and you answer tome."

They shrank back, bowing their heads as they tried to figure out what to say to their Alpha. Kiera was right—I was an asshole, but it came with the territory. Kiera might have been bullied by some of the pack before, but if anyone thought the pack would continue to do so now, I'd have to set the record straight.

While Kiera's victims, who I recognized as Curt, Francine, and Pete, three lower-level pack members who always seemed to hold a grudge because of their inability to rise in the ranks, scrambled away, I grabbed Kiera's wrist in my hand hard enough that she had no choice but to look at me. The second I touched her, the magic snuffed out, like water thrown on a flame.

"You're coming home. Now."

She was still breathing hard, but she looked conflicted, "But the ceremony—"

"Fuck the ceremony. Let's go."

Kiera hesitated before nodding, and I could feel her racing pulse under my palm. When I looked at her face, I didn't see fear of the three people on the ground. Instead, I saw fear of herself, of what she'd done.

And when her eyes met mine, there was fear of me, too.

Without another word, I pulled her away from the bonfire, the overwhelming urge to shift clawing under my skin. I'd been so close, and I wanted to take my wolf form so fucking badly, but nothing was more important than getting Kiera out of there and finding out just what in the hell was going on.

I threw open the door of the Jeep, and Kiera climbed in, wrapping her arms around herself. As I drove, her eyes were distant, and the silence between us stretched to the limit. I didn't know how in the hell to approach what had just happened, and it didn't look like Kiera was desperate to bring it up either. My hands tightened on the steering wheel, annoyed at how I struggled to find the right thing to say around her. Kiera owed me one hell of an explanation, but I wasn't going to get one if I pissed her off too much.

Finally, I decided to keep it simple: "You have magic."

Kiera flinched. "I don't want to talk about it."

It was hard not to yell, and I had to unclench my jaw before I continued, "You never told me."

"I never wanted you to know. I never wantedanyonehere to know."

Of course, she brought it back around to how much she hated being back in Crystal Creek as part of my pack. I ignored it and settled on the second most important question I had for her. "What about Kit?"

Her head jerked up, "No," she told me quickly, "He doesn't have magic. That's not how it works. If he's anything besides human, then he's a shifter just like you."

I noticed she didn't refer to herself as a shifter, and it disappointed me. Kiera might have been a weak shifter, but it felt like she'd abandoned that part of herself altogether.

"Fine. Tell me about it. Explain how the hell it is you can do something no other shifter is capable of."

I was already pulling the car into the driveway, my blood pumping so fast I couldn't wait another minute for answers. Kiera's eyes were glued on the house, her face a blank mask.

"Kiera," I repeated, my tone harder this time. I didn't have patience for bullshit, and I wouldn't take anything less than the truth.

"Please just wait until we get inside," her voice was small. Inwardly, I cringed. Fuck. I wasn't trying to scare her. She was obviously shaken by what had happened, and I needed to back the fuck off and take care of her like any Alpha worth his salt would do. Not to interrogate her when she was still nearly shaking from the experience.

I climbed out of the Jeep and walked around to open her door. Kiera seemed surprised when I offered her my arm to lean on, but she accepted it. I could still smell her usual sweet scent, sugared lemon, but layered on top of it was the smell of ozone from her magic. It made my skin prickle.

What in the hell had she been thinking? A part of me wanted to tell her how foolish it had been to try and hide that from me. What would have happened if someone else had found her like that, and she couldn't fight them off? For a smart woman, she could be so careless with her safety.

Once inside, I walked her directly to the kitchen table and had her sit, guiding her with my hand at the small of her back. She glared up at me when I didn't let her rush to her room but sat with a huff, folding her hands in her lap to hide how much they were trembling.

It was a struggle not to pelt her with a thousand questions, but I was trying like hell to figure out how to deal with my Omega without making her hate me more than she already did. I knew she needed time to process, even if I didn't want to give it to her, so instead of sitting down to interrogate her, I headed towards the kitchen.

Having her and Kit in the house had been the first time the place hadn't seemed so empty since my parents died. I wished my mother were here to guide me on how to deal with someone like Kiera, but she'd been gone a long time. When I thought about her and what she would do when things got tough, I remembered my mom making tea and drinking it while she worked through her problems. It settled her nerves, so maybe it would do the same for Kiera.

The tea tin was far back in the cabinet, and I had to push everything else aside to get it, but I grabbed the damn thing and put it on the counter. It smelled like home, like my dad's secret hidden cigarettes and the lingering scent of my mother's perfume. The tea itself smelled like camomile and vanilla, the kind that you made with hot milk and honey. I was more of a coffee kind of guy, but this was important. If there was anyone who needed the calm it would bring her, it was Kiera. I had no idea what to say or how to say it, so hopefully, my actions would work in my favor.

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