Page 22 of Kidnapped Rejected Mate
I was a shitty prom date to Macie. Ignored her questions about colors and times, and was late to hang out with her. Made her mother angry when it was time to take pictures, and I was slightly drunk, laughing and sloppy, not taking anything seriously.
Because I didn’t want to go to prom with fuckingMacie Evans. I wanted to go to prom—andeverythingafter—with Aurela. I wanted to spend every waking moment with her for the rest of my life.
“I wasfurious,” Aurela whispers. “I was—I was so embarrassed. And I just wanted you to hurt. It turned out that the other girls were all kind of going through similar stuff. And when we talked to Tara about it, she came up with this idea that we should crash the prom. That we should do something to ruin the night. We were all on board with it—doing a prank or something. Using our magic.”
I close my eyes, already knowing where this is going. All this time, I assumed she had something to do with what happened. I felt the tug toward her that night, knowing that she was in danger. But everything was so chaotic, so crazy, and her name didn’t come out with the others.
“But what Tara had in mindwas nota prank.” Aurela pauses, sucking in a quick breath. “It was—she gathered us allout on the ridge. Acted like she had this big surprise for us, but then—then she said we were going to be messing with daemonic energy.”
I wince. Back in high school, I wouldn’t have known that much about the stuff, but now I’m practically an expert. And I know just how dangerous it is to mess with—especially for a bunch of high schoolers.
“She said it would be the perfect way to get back at everyone. For hurting us. But she was like…I’d never seen her like that before.”
When Aurela falls quiet, I clear my throat, reaching out and taking her hand. “Like what?”
“Like…hungry,” she whispers. “The other girls were like…it was like she took their power from them. And she was trying to take mine, too. I didn’t know what would happen, but I knew it was bad. We fought, and she—she ended up being able to take some of my magic from me. Then she pulled out the daemonic energy, and it was like…” I squeeze her hand, and she looks over at me, eyes wet. “Tara was onfire. Swallowed by the flames. All this time, I thought she was dead.”
“You saw her with the daemon fire?” I ask, brow wrinkling. “And she wasn’t put out?”
“No,” Aurela whispers, shaking her head. “I have no idea how she survived.”
The information-hungry part of me wants to push, press for more, demand she give me more information about what happened that night. But somehow, I know that if I’m too insistent, she’s going to close up on me again.
And I don’t want that. I don’t want to bring back the woman who threatened me with her family.
“It’s not like things were great before that,” Aurela says, wiping at her face with the backs of her hands. “But after that day…everything just started to fall apart. Nothing’s been the same since.”
“But you have your fiancé,” I say, shaking my head and dropping her hand, as though that little reminder is enough for our touch to feel out of bounds. “You’re getting married. Not everything is bad.”
Aurela laughs, shaking her head, her tears flowing freely down her face. “I’m not sure whether Caspian is a consolation prize or a punishment. He’s a total creep.”
I blink at her, my mind trying to organize this new information. “You don’t—you’re not in love with him?”
When she turns to look at me, her expression is so fractured that it makes it hard for me to breathe. “No.” Her lip quivers as she shakes her head. “Of course not. My mom just wants me married off, and he’s the only alpha in this pack willing to take someone like me.”
She pushes against the wall, getting shakily to her feet and crossing the room to the small bathroom.
I sit against the wall, listening to the sound of the sink running on the other side of the wall. I had no idea she was this miserable.
Everything I did—it was all so she could be happy.
And if she’s not happy, then what was the point of that sacrifice?
Chapter 12 - Aurela
When I come out of the bathroom—hands shaking from the reality that I just told Soreneverything—he’s standing right outside the door, clearly waiting for me. My throat feels like a raw bundle of nerves, and I can barely stand to look at him.
“Are you okay?” he asks, his hand twitching like he might reach out to touch me, but he doesn’t. He holds himself very still, like a soldier during inspection.
Soren. My chest tugs toward him, and I try to swallow down the feeling.
“I’m fine,” I whisper, running my shaking hands over my hair. “I just—I think I need to head to bed. Sleep off the wine.”
I start to slip past him, but this time he reaches out and catches my wrist, pulling me back to him. I draw in a dramatic breath, looking up at him and taking in his tortured expression.
“Aurela,” he grits out, swallowing and looking away from me for a moment, his jaw working as he does, and I can practically see him working up whatever he’s planning to say to me next.
Probably something about how he’s going to have to tell Xeran everything. About how he was just being a good person by bringing me here, and he doesn’t want me to look into it. How nothing has changed since back then, when he decided he no longer wanted anything to do with me.
