Page 34 of Rejected Bullied Mate

Samson leaned closer, his hand covering mine where it rested on the blanket. I sucked in a breath. The touch was unexpected, and so was the way his eyes softened when they met mine. "You're not the same girl you were either."

I swallowed, fighting back the fluttering in my stomach. "You're not wrong."

Samson came closer, "You were such a skittish little thing back then. But now you're a firecracker, full of magic, a power in your own right."

I couldn't breathe, his hand still warm on mine, his scent all around me. I was burning alive inside, and I grasped for any subject that would give me a second to catch my breath before I jumped him. "Still a pathetic shifter, though."

"I don't know. If Kit can do it, so can you." He leaned back on his palms, stretching his legs out in front of him, and I almost cried from relief at the tiny bit of distance between us. “I’m glad I got to be there when Kit shifted. I wanted to make sure it was a good memory for him.”

I nodded, keeping my gaze on the horizon. “You did. He was so happy.”

Samson exhaled, “My father wasn’t like that. He was cruel about it. Tried to force it out of me too soon.” He shook his head. “Took me out into the woods when I was eight, told me I couldn’t come back until I figured it out.”

I turned to him, startled. “What?”

“Yeah. Left me out there all night. I was scared as hell, but I wasn’t about to let him see that.” He let out a humorless chuckle. “Took me two days to finally shift. By the time I made it back, I was half-starved and so exhausted I passed out the second I got inside.”

My stomach twisted. I’d never liked Samson’s father, but this? This was worse than I’d ever imagined. “That’s… that’s awful.”

He shrugged, like it didn’t matter anymore. Maybe it didn’t to him. But I felt a surge of protectiveness for the boy he used to be, just like I had for Kit.

I hesitated, then forced myself to speak. If he was going to open up, maybe I could give a little, too. “It wasn’t easy for me either.”

Samson turned his head toward me, waiting.

I took a slow breath, keeping my voice even. I never spoke about my shift, or lack thereof, and it felt unnatural to do so. “My shifting has always been tied to my magic. I could never separate them enough to make the change happen properly, and my magic never properly manifested until...until we knotted that first time...so every time I tried to shift before that it felt impossible. Unreachable. When I was fourteen, I pushed myself too hard during a harvest moon, trying to force it.” I hesitated, my fingers curling into the blanket. “I got three-quarters of the way through before I had to stop.”

Samson went still. “You got stuck?”

I nodded, the memory pressing against me like an old bruise. “It was… unbearable. I made it back to human, but I passed out from the pain. I don’t remember much after that.”

He stared at me, something unreadable in his expression. “That kind of pain—” He broke off, exhaling sharply. “And you still tried?”

I let out a dry laugh. “I was a stupid kid.”

“No.” His voice was firm. “You were strong.”

That wasn't what I expected him to say. No one ever called me strong. Always weak, weak, weak. The way he looked at me made my heart pound—like he saw me, really saw me, in a way no one else ever had.

I tore my gaze away, swallowing down the sudden rush of feeling. I wasn’t sure I could handle whatever was happening between us. But I couldn’t deny that it was happening. Fire skated across my nerves, my core pulsing with how badly I wanted him. God, to feel his knot again, to belong to Samson fully, this time as his mate...

“You should use your magic to shift,” Samson said, like it was the simplest thing in the world. Like I hadn’t spent my entire life struggling with exactly that. It shocked me out of my horny thoughts like a bucket of ice water over my head.

“You think I haven’t tried?” My voice came out sharp, but I didn’t care. Anger was welcome after the confusion of lust. More familiar. Easier to control.

Samson didn’t seem fazed. “Not like this.” He turned to me, his expression intent. “You’ve always fought against it, but what if you worked with it? Your wolf is there, Kiera. You just have to stop holding back.”

I pushed to my feet, my pulse hammering in my ears. “You think I don’t want that?” My voice rose, my emotions bubbling too close to the surface. “You think I haven’t spent years trying? Do you have any idea what it’s like to feel like you’re not enough for either half of yourself? That no matter how hard you try, you’ll never be good enough?”

He stood too, towering over me, his presence like a force of nature. “That’s not what I meant.”

“No?” I let out a sharp laugh, shaking my head. “Then what did you mean? That you need your mate to be powerful so I can be useful to you? So I can be an asset instead of a burden? That you're embarrassed your Omega can't shift?"

His face darkened, and I could see the anger flare in his blue eyes. “That’s not what this is about.”

“Isn’t it?” I snapped. “You’re an Alpha, Samson. You only see strength. Power. I will never be the kind of mate you want.”

The truth of my words burned in my throat, and I hated how raw I felt. How exposed.

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