Page 6 of Rejected Forced Mate
"Don't. Do that." She said sharply.
"I didn't do anything," I was telling her the truth. "It's the bond."
She didn't look convinced, but Sage took a deep breath and continued. She poked and prodded at my injuries, and when she came to one of the deep bruises on my ribs, she pressed her fingers into the area, and I hissed in pain. Fuck, that hurt.
"You've at least partially rebroken this rib, shifting and running through the woods like an idiot. I'm going to have to mend it again. Hold still. Healing a bone can take some time."
Her touch drove me mad, but Sage wouldn't look at me, wouldn't speak, and her oppressive silence forced me into myown head. Not into the murky unknown of the past week, but much, much farther back.
Being so close to Sage made it impossible not to think about our past and what had shattered the once-strong connection we had.
We were just kids when we met, Sage, 13, and me, 14. She'd been cornered by a group of older teenage wolves who were picking on her, a small she-wolf with her arms full of school books.. I'd pushed myself in without a second thought, knowing no one would challenge the Alpha's heir. I'd offered Sage my hand to help her up once they were gone, and she took it.
We became secret friends from there. I knew my father would disapprove of me being close with a weak she-wolf pup, but we just got along so well. Sage and I would sneak into the woods
to spend time together, listening to music, playing games, and running through the trees in wolf form whenever the opportunity presented itself. She trusted me with things she'd never told another soul—her hopes, fears, and dreams of the future.
As we grew older, we both knew that our friendship was in danger, but we never gave it up. By the time Sage had turned 18, she'd become beautiful, and I would have had to have been blind not to notice. But I didn't want to ruin the friendship that we had, and I didn't pursue her romantically, even if I was dying to do so.
That same year, her magic manifested, marking her as a witch...and a pariah in our pack. Not to me, though. I promised that I would protect her and keep her safe, just like I'd always done. She kept her magic hidden, but it was the beginning of the end for us.
I still don't know how my father found out, but it's likely he was taking notice that his now-adult son was spending a lot of time hidden from sight and sent one of his wolves to spy on me. He was furious, not just as my father, but as my Alpha, and no matter how many times I told him that Sage and I weren't romantically involved, he didn't believe it. He was disgusted that I was interacting with a witch at all and told me that if I didn't cut her off, he would make sure she suffered.
He was still too strong at the time for me to challenge, and I knew that he could make Sage's life a living hell if he wanted to. So, filled with rage and grief, I went to her and told her everything. I promised that when I took over the pack, we could reconnect, but we had to separate until then to keep her safe.
Sage was not happy, to say the least. She was slow to anger, but the stress of her new magic had her on edge already, and everything boiled over. She screamed, she cried, and she beat on my chest with her fists, trying to get me to understand how I was the last steady thing she had in her life.
I grabbed her by the shoulders, my emotions running equally as high, and before I could stop myself, I kissed her. The ground had tilted beneath my feet, and I pulled her into my arms as our mating bond clicked into place. Sage was my mate.
The truth of it hit us both like a truck, and for a brief moment, I was overjoyed. She was mine, and it felt like somehow I'd always known we were headed down that path. I'd just been waiting for the proof.
But of course, my joy was erased by a terrible dread. If my father were threatening Sage just because we were friends, what would he have done to her if he found out his only son was mated to a witch?
I did the only thing I could think of to keep her safe. I rejected her, saying horrible, vitriolic, awful things to her, knowing that they would carve her right open. I used all the secret things she had trusted me with, and by the time I was through, she was as pale as a ghost, shaking. I hadn't even given her a few minutes to bask in the glow of our new bond. I tore it all apart before she even had time to breathe.
Those were the last words I said to her until I woke up in the same hospital bed I was currently sitting in. I'd expected Sage would stay away, and when I was finally able to take over the pack as my own, I would be able to apologize and repair our relationship without the fear of a vengeful Alpha.
Except Sage didn't wait around. She left the pack the very next day, and I didn't see her for five long years. I've been haunted by the last vision of her, pale and broken by my cruelty, and it had taken a massive amount of self-control not to ransack all of the other packs on the East Coast just to find her.
But now, sitting with her hands pressed into my sore ribcage, her magic washing over me like cool water, I came to the conclusion that I had been dancing around since I first woke up. My mate had slipped through my fingers once, and I wasn't going to let it happen again.
Chapter 4 - Sage
Noah was leaving Brokenclaw territory that night, and I was doing my best to pretend like he didn't even exist.
I didn't bother checking up on him at the healer's cabin today, knowing that it would just make everything more difficult if I had to see him again. His reappearance in my life was just a single blip, an unwelcome reminder of my past, and I was ready to get back to normal once he was gone.
Of course, a small part of me didn't want him to leave at all, but that was to be expected. He was my mate, even if he'd rejected me. It didn't mean the bond between us just disappeared. But I was older and wiser, and despite his efforts to talk to me about what happened between us, I wasn't interested in being hurt again.
While I was trying to avoid Noah, the rest of the town had a lot of things to say about the 'strange, handsome Alpha'. I tried not to let those comments irk me, but every time I heard someone call him handsome or hot or whatever else, I wanted to slap the words out of their mouths. Instinctually, my body and parts of my mind were still possessive over my mate, even if we weren't together. It was another reason I was glad he was leaving, so everything could go back to normal.
Well, most of me was glad. It was because of the other parts, the parts that were screaming for me to stop my mate from leaving me again, that I was two glasses of wine deep on my couch when the doorbell rang.
I considered ignoring it, but whoever was outside wasn't giving me the option, ringing it again just as the sound of the first attempt had faded. Finishing the glass of wine, I stood,already having a sinking feeling that I knew exactly who was behind the door. The timing just made too much sense.
It had to be Noah.
Pausing at the window nearest the door, I pulled the curtains aside just a bit to confirm my suspicions. Yup, there he was, looking way too good for how terribly he had been injured a week ago.
