Page 3 of Rejecting his Mate (The Wolves of Black Mountain #2)

Chapter 3

Halle

I sit on the edge of the porch, watching my pack interact. The sun is setting, and a light orange glow stretches across the grass that surrounds the house.

As always, it is noisy and hard to hear myself think, but there’s also a certain amount of comfort from being around them.

I don’t remember if I had a pack before I came here. Did my mom and I belong somewhere, or were we just wandering around alone? I don’t like that idea.

Though I’ve asked many times, Adeline says she knows nothing about my life before she came to get me from the hospital. I get the impression she and my mom weren’t close. I don’t know why, but that makes me sad. Did my mom have no one after we lost my father? Was she mateless and alone, trying to raise a pup with no help?

I wonder what made my aunt and her distant. Adeline seemed fond of my father, at least on the few occasions she’s mentioned him. Why wouldn’t she be close to my mom too? Especially after my dad died. Did she not want to be around his daughter?

We don’t talk about the past, but the few times we have, I was left with the feeling that Adeline knows more than she’s willing to tell me, and I don’t know why she won’t open up.It makes our previous conversation strange.

Over the years, I have been desperate to know who I am. The lack of information about my parents is a hard pill to swallow. There is a certain amount of apprehension in the loss of that knowledge. How can I fit into the world when I don’t know who I truly am?

My skin prickles, making my head lift. Dalton is sprawled on the grass with a few other pack members, talking. His eyes, though, are locked on me as if telling me he’s watching my every move.It’s just another way of controlling me. He doesn’t want me to feel as if I have any space to do anything but what he commands.

I give him a sarcastic smile back, and he scrunches his nose up, his mouth snarling as if he wants to throttle me for my show of defiance. He won’t do it with this many pack members around, and not because he thinks they’d step in, but because he wants them to think he has complete authority over me.

“Why are you sitting here alone?”

I glance up as my aunt steps out of the back door. In the glow of the porch light, her blonde hair looks yellow like straw.

What is she hiding?

I plaster on a smile, concealing my suspicions.

“Do I need a reason?” I ask.

Adeline shifts her shoulders. “I guess not.” She sinks onto the bench next to me, watching the interactions of our pack family. “Sometimes I wonder if I made a mistake bringing you here.”

My eyes snap to hers. Is that why she’s been weird with me this last week? Does she regret taking me in? Giving up her life to be my guardian?

My aunt never took another mate, but she could have had a pairing similar to mine. Any wolf would have snapped her up because of her name.

Was that because of me?

“You wish I hadn’t come?” I ask, my voice weakening as I say the words.

She reaches out instantly and takes my hand in hers.

“No, my darling, no. That’s not what I mean at all. I just—I wonder if the choices I made were right for you.”

“I have a pack, and I’ve had a good life,” until Dalton anyway. “If you hadn’t done all this for me, I don’t know where I would have ended up. I’m grateful every day for what you have given me, Adeline.”

She nibbles her bottom lip, her gaze roaming over the back of the house as if she can’t bring herself to look at me.

My aunt has been… weird lately. The closer we get to my first moon ceremony, the more on edge she is. I thought I was supposed to be the nervous one. It will be my bones breaking and reforming, my body that will change. The ceremony sounds terrifying, but knowing my wolf will be free is keeping me focused on everything but the pain it will bring.

Once I shift, I will be stronger. Dalton won’t be able to push me around as much, and I like the idea of taking back some agency.

“I should have done better. My brother would have wanted me to.” She blows out a breath, and I raise my brows. My father is not often the topic of conversation between us. Adeline never likes to talk about him, and I’ve never pushed because I can sense how much his death hurt her.

It doesn’t stop the questions from swirling in my mind about him.

Are my eyes green because of my dad?

Did he have red hair like me? Or do I get that from my mom?

Am I like him?

What traits do we share?

These are all things I will never know because my aunt won’t talk about him.

I once asked Adeline if she had any photographs of my father. She went quiet and said she lost them before changing the subject.

She does that a lot when she’s talking about my parents.

Usually, I would let a comment like the one she just made slide and move on to other things so I don’t reopen old wounds, but I’m tired of having to act as if they never existed.

“Tell me about him,” I say, unable to keep the plea out of my voice.

Adeline closes her eyes, and I see the pain ripple over her face. I feel awful for putting it there, but my curiosity gets the better of me. “I can’t,” she says, her voice as raw as it was the first time I asked that question. I was eight years old; I’d lost all memory of my past and who I was, and I was trying to discover my roots.

Adeline hadn’t answered it then, and she’s not going to answer it now. I can tell by the look on her face, but I want to know. It’s important I do.

I squeeze her hand, trying to offer as much comfort to her as I can. “I know it hurts to talk about him, but I want to know my parents. Adeline, please, you need to—”

I cut my words off as Kyle, the pack’s gamma wolf, jogs toward the house and where we’re sitting. As much as I want to press my aunt, this conversation is not one I want to have with others around. I grind my jaw tight, cursing Kyle’s timing.

He takes the steps in one leap, the wood decking rattling beneath his weight, and gives me a friendly smile.

“Hey, Adeline.” He turns to me. “Halle Bear. You don’t want to spar with the rest of us?”

Pushing my conversation with Adeline aside, I roll my eyes at Kyle. He’s twice the size of me, and even with my wolf strength, I’m no match for him— yet . But he makes this same invitation every damn time.

“You know I do.”

“Then come on. What’s the matter? You scared?”

I laugh. “Say that after I’ve had my first shift. My wolf will kick your ass.”

“You think so?” His brows arch in that cocky arrogant way of his that makes him so appealing to other females. Maybe I should have chosen Kyle.

“I know so,” I fire back with a smirk.

“Your girl thinks she can take down a gamma wolf,” Kyle says to Adeline. “She thinks she’s an alpha female already.”

Ass.

I shake my head even as a grin plays over my lips. “I’m going to rank higher than you one day,” I say, ignoring the fact I have to be with Dalton for that to happen. “How does it feel knowing you’re going to be my bitch?”

He throws his head back and laughs. “Who told you that’s what’s going to happen?”

It won’t, but I like to tease him. Dalton will never allow me the power a true alpha female should have. He sees me as a breeder who will have his pups, not a true partner.

Adeline tries to keep her expression indifferent as the conversation plays out, but there’s a tightness around her eyes and mouth that I see instantly. Is she still thinking about my dad?

“She’s a Beauford,” she says, finally. “Of course, she’s going to be strong and determined.”

“That won’t count for shit in a fight,” Kyle says. He shakes his head. “Seriously, as soon as you have your first shift, come and find me. I got some moves I want to teach you.”

“You’d show me all your trade secrets? ”

He ruffles my hair like a brother would a younger sibling. I shove his hands away. “Get off!”

“Want to keep you safe, Halle Bear,” he says and walks inside.

I snort a laugh and turn back to Adeline, expecting her expression to be jovial, like mine, but her eyes are troubled. “You okay?” I ask, wiping the smile from my face.

“Yeah, I just…” She swallows hard but doesn’t say anything more.

“Aunt Adeline?”

“Halle…” She says my name with so much desperation it makes me instantly go on alert.

“Are you worried about Kyle hurting me? Because he won’t. Kyle’s just messing around.”

“I’m not worried about that. I have no doubt you can hold your own, even against him.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

She opens her mouth, then closes it again. “I...”

“You’re scaring me,” I joke, trying to lighten the mood, but in truth, she is concerning me.

“I don’t mean to,” she says, grabbing my hand in hers. “I love you, Halle. It’s just… worrying when you’re growing so fast. Your first moon ceremony is coming and… Ah, there’s Ellie. I need to talk to her.” She stands abruptly, making the bench wobble a little. I want to make her stay and talk to me, but I know my aunt—whatever is on her mind, she isn’t going to share until she’s good and ready. “Try to mingle rather than sitting here like you hate everyone.”

“I don’t hate everyone.” Just Dalton .

As if sensing my thoughts, she glances in his direction. “It wouldn’t hurt to talk to your mate too. Try to connect a little more.”

“He’s not my mate,” I mutter under my breath as she walks away.

A mate wouldn’t put his hands on me the way that asshole does. I scratch at the claiming bond he forced upon me. It’ll fade in time. Claiming marks are temporary, like bruises, and have to be reapplied over time. Between mates who love each other, it is a symbol of closeness, of possessiveness.

Dalton did it to me to prove I can’t escape him.

I watch Adeline’s back as she moves across the grass toward the small seating area about thirty feet from the house.

Ellie glances up as she nears the benches at the back of the garden. The beta female exudes confidence that comes from years of being in her position.

She and Alaric, like most of the wolves in my pack, are chosen mates. Neither of them found that one mate, fated by the stars to be theirs. Most wolves don’t.

It is a cruel trick of the universe that gave wolves one true mate yet made it impossible to find them. Millions of wolves exist across the world, spread across each continent, but fated pairings are a rarity, like a precious stone that can only be found once in a lifetime. Most don’t even try to locate them and take mates they choose instead. This arrangement has, according to the elder members of my pack, existed for generations and has saved many lives, preventing wolves from turning lone and losing their way. Our kind need the pack to survive. My desire to often be alone is not normal, and yet I crave my solitude. I thought it might have been because of Dalton, but I was the same from a young age.

Sometimes, I think I should have held out and waited to see if I found my needle in a stack of needles. Anything would have been better than this life I’m facing with an abusive wolf who seeks to control everything I do.

I really wanted to believe in the fairytale. Ellie told me before I entered into my bond with Dalton that her love for Alaric wasn’t there to start with, but that they grew into it. I hoped that it would be the same for us.

I feel Dalton watching me again and try to ignore the fact my wolf wants to tear his head off.

“Halle!” Tammy, one of the younger wolves, calls to me. “We’re going for a walk if you want to come.”

I do. Anything to get out from under Dalton’s piercing gaze.

I push up from the bench and join Tammy and the others, all the while wondering if anyone would notice if Dalton dropped off the face of the earth.