Page 13 of Rejected Forced Mate
"Right. Mine." I repeated the words, but they didn't sound right coming out of my mouth.
"Can we sit and talk?" he asked, motioning towards the chairs near the fireplace. "I know it's been a whirlwind, but I want to explain myself. So if you hate me, at least it's for the right reasons."
He tried to inject some humor into the last part, but I wasn't buying into it. Still, I wanted to know exactly why he did what he did, besides the obvious sense of ownership he feels over me.
"Fine," I muttered, and walked over to the chair, settling into it and crossing my legs.
Noah followed suit, sitting across from me, and took a deep breath before starting. "I know you're furious with me, but I also know that you understand how pack dynamics work. I've been the Alpha of this pack for three years now, and you know as well as I do how much some of the wolves in this pack cling to tradition. Every month, there is more and more demand for me to take a mate and continue the bloodline, but no one knew that I already had a mate. I wasn't going to let them force my hand and pressure me into marrying someone I didn't care for, not when I knew you were still out there in the world, Sage."
That was news to me. A surge of jealousy hit me at the idea of Noah taking another mate, and that jealousy annoyed me. Wouldn't things have been easier if he were married? He never would have tried to kidnap me, I'd still be back at the Brokenclaw pack...
But I still couldn't stomach the thought. Stupid mate bond hormones.
"And what if you had never found me? Would you have just married someone so you could have a Luna? Surely you wouldn't have stayed single forever."
He leaned forward, and even though he was across the room, I felt crowded. Noah and the energy he put off were just so large, so overwhelming. "I would have."
I snorted, trying to play it cool. "Bullshit."
"You don't believe me? Sage, everyone wants me tied down and making pups. My pack, my council, my father, everyone. An Alpha with a Luna is more stable than just an Alpha. I could have increased my pack's loyalty in me by simply taking a wife. It would have been so easy. But I didn't. Because of you."
His words made my heart stutter in my chest, but I couldn't let myself fall for it. "You had no idea where I was or if I was even alive. You'd have gotten lonely and there would have been some sweet, pretty wolf from a friendly pack batting her eyes at you—-"
Noah surged forward, his hands clenched on the arms of my chair, his face suddenly so close to mine that I didn't even have time to flinch. "You think I wasn't lonely? I was fucking lonely, Sage. Miserably so. And I still held out."
I was shaking, the sudden closeness making my skin tingle. He was angry, and his power rolled off him in waves.
"And what would have happened if we'd never seen each other again?"
"Then I would have died alone."
His words settled into the room like a stone, taking the air out of my lungs as they dropped. Noah dying at all wasunthinkable to me. He felt like a constant—even when we were apart, I'd always known he was out there.
But now I found out...he was out there waiting for me the entire time.
Finally, it was Noah who spoke again. He didn't move, but it still felt like he came closer with every breath. I could smell him, and the scent made my insides melt. "It was fate that brought us back together, Sage, and I simply didn't have time to court you gently. I'd just been attacked, nearly killed, really, and I needed to get back to my pack. If I'd had the luxury, I would have taken my time, but I didn't."
"So now you just plan to keep me here against my will? What kind of Alpha does that make you? It's...it's...something your father would do."
His lip curled in disgust, and he reared back. Clearly, the rejection stung. For a second, I wanted to pull him back to me, bury my face in his neck, and drink in his caramel-spiced scent, but I resisted.
"That's low, and you know it. I'm giving you a choice, Sage. You can step up and be my Luna, or you can hide out here in the house forever. No matter what you choose, though, you are still my wife. The marriage is done."
Every time he reminded me that I was his wife, it felt like the walls were closing in. Restless and nearing hysteria, I shot up from the chair and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "I don't know if those injuries scrambled your brain or what, but the Noah I used to know would never do this. Nothing genuine can ever exist between us now that you've made me your prisoner."
"Sage," Noah reached for me, but I stumbled back, avoiding him.
'No. No. Just leave me alone. I need to get some air." I couldn't breathe in that house, in his presence, anymore. I turned and nearly fled to the front door, yanking it open and wiping the tears from my eyes as I sucked in lungfuls of pine-scented forest air. I thought I could erase the scent of him, of Noah, my mate, from my lungs and heart...but there was a lot more waiting for me on the other side of the door than just the trees.
With my eyes clear of tears, I could see the crowd of wolves that had gathered around the house. The late afternoon sun made it easy to make out just how many of them there were,
a few dozen at least, and I froze. I'd forgotten how big my old pack was, and apparently, they weren't afraid to speak up if they had doubts about their Alpha, because the energy rolling off the crowd was anything but celebratory.
Something told me they weren't there to congratulate us on our surprise nuptials.
It was clear they had expected to see Noah, not me, because the murmuring quieted when they saw me. There were a few utterances of, "Is that her?" and "She looks different," before they started to move forward.
I braced myself on the open door frame, drowning in the flashbacks of the years I had spent trying to hide who I was from all of these people. My magic hadn't manifested until I was eighteen, but they'd been more than happy to treat me like garbage just for being weak and female. I'd had to watch my back at all times and pray to go unnoticed. It had worked until I'd proven to be a witch, but Noah's rejection had prompted me to escape the pack before I could fall victim to the torment they would have laid on me for my magic. But now there was norunning, and the fear was rising in me like a wave, and I was drowning in it.
