Page 101 of The Enforcer's Rejected Mate
“I might pass out,” I confess.
“Ugh, fine, I’ll cool it with the mom stuff but trust me. Thorne has feelings for you. I suspected it but…tonight, tonight sealed the deal and I wasn’t the only one that saw it. You’ll have to keep an eye out while he’s gone. I heard about what happened in the Healer’s Rooms, you know, with Cassidy.”
“What’d she do?” Piper asks.
“Nothing,” I say quickly because I’m focused on the part where she said Thorne would be gone. “What do you mean Thorne’s gone?” Brushing aside the fact that she said I’ll have to watch my back isn’t the smartest play I’ve ever made but I want to know where Thorne went.
Clover doesn’t answer me, she answers Piper. “She called Cordelia a stray. Was running her mouth because…well, you know.”
Piper shakes her head. “Her mother ruined her. Spoiled her rotten. When I get my hands on that little shit.”
I look around us. The courtyard is bustling. The band is in full swing now. People are dancing, shifters are running, some have already shifted and a few wolves sprint through the area chasing one another. Thorne isn’t anywhere to be seen. I do spot Cassidy watching me. She’s not happy from the sneer on her face. She’s got a few girls with her but I shrug them off. If that’s who I need to watch my back from then I’m fine, I’ve dealt with much, much, worse. Besides, from the way Clover and Piper are talking she’s the one that needs to watch her back.
I put a hand on Piper’s arm and try to distract her from seeing Cassidy. “What were you saying about Thorne? He’s gone?”
I fail in my diversion tactics because Piper scowls in Cassidy’s direction while she answers me. “Yeah, he left on patrol. Took Lucian and a few others Defenders with them,” she says before she steps forward and holds out her hands, “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, why don’t you take a picture!” Clover adds and crosses her arms. “I’m gonna tell my cousin you were giving me the stink eye, Cass. What do you think he’ll say about that?” I’m stunned at the sight of Piper and Clover right now. I look at them and then back to Cassidy to see the other shifter roll her eyes at them. She stomps off a second later with her friends in tow.
Piper waves her hands shooing them away. “That’s right. Keep walking you little beta bitch.”
Clover gasps and smacks Piper’s arm. “Okay, alpha.”
“She deserved it.”
Clover laughs. “Totally.”
Friends defending me? I’ve never had such a precious gift. I throw my arms around both of them and hug them as hard as I can. “You two are the best friends a girl could ever ask for. I’m so lucky.”
They hug me back and we dance the night away.
Chapter
Forty-Three
THORNE
Someone set fire to our eastern border. When I find them, I’m going to kill them. Not so much for the fire but because it took me away from the pack meeting,and Cordelia.
She’d just been embraced by the Elders when Lucian appeared at my side to tell me about the fire.
“We spotted smoke on the horizon. Looks like it’s the old quarry. If we leave now, we can be there in half an hour.”
I grit my teeth. “Fuck. Let’s move.” A fire in the forest can spread in minutes. A half hour was already too long but we had to try. “Grab everyone we’re taking on patrol and double it. Put in a call to Oak Fast in case we can’t contain it. I’m heading to the quarry now.”
“Got it. Be right behind you.”
Lucian left and I stood there when I knew I should go too. I couldn’t help it, not with the way the pack was taking to Cordelia. She was being treated exactly the way she should be coming home. Annie stepped up to give her a hug. Good. She should be hugging Cordelia, not running her mouth. She better not start any shit while I’m gone. I hadn’t had time to give her and Ceelie a talk. I thought I had more time, meant to grab her after the pack meeting but damn this fire.
I weave my way through the crowd and stop in the doorway. I look back at Cordelia and fuck is she beautiful. She’s crying now but the bond tells me all is well. It’s happy. I can feel it snapping and alive in my chest. I rub my hand against my sternum and watch her for another second before I tear myself away and stride through the doors.
Now I’m running full speed towards the quarry. Can’t even drive there with the way the road got washed out two summers ago. Worst fuckin’ place for a fire. At least the storms we’ve had this week should have slowed down spread. The woods are too damp to really catch fire. Still, I run harder, push myself faster until the only thing I can hear is my heartbeat and the ragged sound of my breathing. I make it to the quarry in twenty minutes. It’s abandoned now, used to be run by some out of stater that did a half-ass job. Ronan bought it from them and shut it down as soon as he had the deed in hand.
“Best to let the land retake it.”
And the forest had been retaking it, saplings and trees a few years old grow up where the miners dug. The machinery they used is still here, rusted and gutted for parts we could sell. Vines wrap around the old metal, like the forest floor is rising back up to swallow the machines whole. I scan the area for the fire but there’s nothing that I can see. It’s twilight now, about to be properly dark. A human would be stumbling around but I can see just fine.
“What the fuck,” I mutter. I keep moving along the ridge and up to higher ground. When I get to the top I see the smoke Lucian spotted. It’s just behind the quarry, from the looks of it but it’s not a big fire. Good, maybe I got here in time.
