Page 34 of Rejected Mate

"I'm a little hungry. I see they have a menu. Do you mind if I get something to eat?"

"No," I whispered, realizing that she was just as nervous as I was but for different reasons. I imagined if it was a date with Sky, or even better, Winter, then they would be whispering sweet nothings in each other's ears and then escaping to the bedroom. I forgot where I was and who I was with, as I spent the majority of my time getting jealous about events that hadn't taken place or even were about to.

She’d managed to get her food and was sitting snacking on a fry as I spent more time being lost in my thoughts and trying to remember the last time I'd been in a place like this. It reminded me of the reason why I used to be proud to be a wolf. Not the brutal side that others classed us as being, but the type that enjoyed our own company. Lately, the only wolves I'd been in contact with were my brothers and Doc. And the wolves sent by her father.

"Are you sure you don't want some?"

I looked at her plate. It had meat in the form of a steak, but it didn't look as if it was beef. It was small, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a buffalo. The whole idea of it made my stomach rumble.

"Take some. You're hungry," she offered.

I shifted my lips as she passed me cutlery. I was about to say something about eating it with my hands, when I remembered why we were here, which was to get along. I cut a piece and devoured it within seconds once I popped it in my mouth. My anxiety became a thing of the past.

"It's buffalo, right? My favorite. I can't remember the last time I ate it. It tastes so fucking good!" I said.

She giggled, and the sound caught me off guard. I was used to her being angry and standoffish, not this nervous, unsure Fagua.

"I can tell. Especially by the way that you're popping it into your mouth and smiling every time. You're really enjoying it. It's a little too chewy for me."

Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised because most women tend to feel that way about buffalo.

"Who found this place?" I asked.

My attention focused in the direction of two wolves who said that they were going outside to catch wind. I assumed that meant they were going to shift.

"Mayia. She told me about this place. It's like a haven for wolves. So many come here from different packs, and as you can see, they all get along." There was something in her voice I hadn't heard before, a vulnerability.

I raised an eyebrow, curious about her relationship with Mayia, and wondered what more she knew of our kind. It seemed I had judged her wrong because she seemed to know more about us than I did.

"If I tell you everything that she told me, then we would have to spend a week here. We're not going to get through the conversations I've had with her in one night."

"Why?"

"I speak to her every day. We meet in the park, go for a walk at night, then have a drink or two. Sometimes a little more than that." She laughed as she reminisced about her time with Mayia as she popped the last fry in her mouth and wiped both her mouth and the grease off her hands.

"Why would you trust such a stranger?"

She shook her head, as if to dismiss what I'd just asked her.

"You have no idea what it's like to be alone and lied to all your life. You have your brothers. I've had no one. Well, not exactly no one. I had my mom and dad, but they used me just to gain power over other wolves."

I finished the buffalo, and the temptation to order another was hard to resist. But I held back, thinking about the way she behaved when we first dined together. She made me feel like some sort of brutal animal, which I was, but then she made me feel like shit for being me. Besides, I wanted to hear what Fagua had to say about her new friend.

"I'm sure you had friends back home."

"One. And she was… well, she was like you."

She meant a wolf. I couldn't think what else she meant by that statement.

"Mayia is different, like I am. Unlike everyone we've ever come across."

"Yes, but you are not the same half-breed as her." I had guessed this from the conversation and my brief encounter with Mayia back at the penthouse before I got whisked away to the hospital.

She nodded in agreement. "But being a half-breed means that you get to know what it's like to not fit in. That's the point."

I suppose she was right. I'd spent all my life with my brothers and before that with our parents. We'd lived an honest life and trusted each other. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to not be able to trust the people that I loved so dearly.

"Oh my God," she shrieked with a huge grin on her face, jumping up and down. "Let’s go outside." She grabbed my hand and then we charged through the bar. I could feel her excitement through her hands, but I had no idea what had made her go from feeling slightly low to this high. And honestly, it made me both irritated that I couldn't cause a reaction like this with her and curious about what was going on.

---