Page 13 of His Rejected Alpha Mate
“No,” I told him, “it’s cool. I’m just going to pack up and head out. There’s nothing left for me to take you through. You’ve been working on this for a while now.”
He flinched, but didn’t deny it. A thousand words flitted along my tongue. I bit them back. There was no point. In a few brief minutes, Isaac would be out of my life for good. He’d won this battle, he’d gotten my job, gotten me fired, but he wouldn’t get Kade any more. I was going to protect Kade from Isaac.
My phone rang with a video call just as I’d managed to relax into the football game playing on the TV. I’d given up on the supernatural league, the vampires making me think of Isaac and work, and I’d settled for a human team I’d loved as a child.
Although the call said Dad, I couldn’t help the suspicion that this was Papa calling. I’d never known Dad to use a video call willingly. I didn’t let it ring for long before I picked it up. Arranging my face so I wasn’t frowning, I greeted him, “hey Papa.”
“Son.” Shit. It was Dad, and he didn’t look happy. A frown marred his face. “You’ve been avoiding your papa and have hurt his feelings. He loves you, son, and he’s worried. The most important thing is, are you okay?”
Dad wasn’t the softest man. It came from being the healer and sometimes having to hurt someone to heal them properly. He saw humans and shifters in all stages of life, and it had naturally hardened his shell. The only time he was that soft inner was for his family, me, and Papa.
“I’m sorry, Dad. Sorry, Papa.” I knew he was listening. He and Dad worked together since Papa was a nurse. They didn’t like to be apart. It was sweet, really. “It’s been a rough couple of days.” I outlined the silence from Jasper. They knew about the second rejection and then explained about work and that they had fired me.
“What the hell? They can’t!” Papa’s face was full of indignant fury.
“They can. I was on warnings.” I tried to shrug it off.
“You never said.” Dad’s face didn’t show any judgment.
“There wasn’t any point. I ignored it as best I could. Maybe I should have fought the warnings, the complaints wouldn’t have stood up to scrutiny —“
“Of course they wouldn’t.” Papa said loyally.
“I just thought it was Isaac gunning for my job and causing hassle at work. Then I was off and left without notice.”
“Ah.” Dad said, nodding.
“They fired you because you went to get Kade back?” Papa’s mouth dropped open. I couldn’t restrain my chuckle. Sometimes it was impossible to tell that he was nearly ninety. He looked late thirties, early forties maybe. I was a terrible gauge when it came to ages. I was in my fifties but looked like I was still in my late twenties. One of the many perks of being a shifter.
“Yeah, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Dad gave me a smile, making me fill with pride. “What are you going to do now?” he asked.
“I’m going to use up the leave I had and take my time looking for something else. There’s no rush. Thanks to you both, I don’t have a lot of bills and plenty of savings.”
I’d always had a job of some kind, even if it was just helping Dad’s assistant with paperwork and invoicing. College wasn’t for me, so I’d taken distance learning classes around working on a few subjects. My parents had given me the money they’d saved for college so I could buy my house.
“I meant about Jasper, son. You need to sort things with your mate. If he’s going to reject you formally, you need to know what his plans are. If he’s staying in Sweetwater, it’ll mean you going away for a while until your bear can cope with the rejection. You need to make a plan.”
My mouth went dry, my heart thudded in my chest. I hadn’t thought about the long-term plans. Fuck. My. Life. I needed to talk to Jasper.
“I don’t know if I can,” I finally admitted.
The fear of being formally rejected closed my throat. It felt like a rock was sitting on my stomach. My bear grumbled at me. He didn’t truly believe that we would be rejected properly. We had too much to offer. My eyes surveyed the room, taking in the light and airy space. The house was too large for one person with four bedrooms, the same amount of bathrooms and a massive open-plan kitchen and dining space, a formal dining room and comfortable den. I’d gotten it for a steal since it was so close to the border of the compound and farther out from the sleuth land than the other bears had liked.
“I’m sorry, Son,” Dad spoke into the silence. “You can’t move on until you know either way.”
A Formal Rejection
Jasper
“HeyJas,”Si’svoicewas warm over the line. I handed Angelica over her breakfast and moved from the small kitchen through to the living room to take the call in peace.
“Hey, Si, how you been?” I tried to put my frustration at his silence the past few days aside and focus on him. Shuffling around on the seat, I tried to get comfortable, hoping that I’d get a decent conversation out of Silas. We hadn’t spoken since he’d announced Rincoln’s death. I missed having him by my side.So you say, my fox said sniffily.You hardly thought about him. Guilt, hot and heavy, weighed down my stomach.
“The council has been in an uproar since they announced the new leadership, so I’ve been dealing with that and, uh, the Rincoln stuff.”
“Leadership? What stuff?” None of what he was saying made sense, and there was a strange distance between us.
