Page 16 of The Enforcer’s Rejected Mate (Red River Rejected Mates #1)

“I didn’t even get to show off my ring because last night was ruined but we’re making the most of it. Keiran proposed before the moon run. Don’t you think my ring is perfect?”

I look because I’m a sucker for punishment.

There’s no way I can’t not look. I try to act casual, turning and slinging my backpack over one shoulder as I do.

Anger flashes hot in me when I see Bella holding her hand out to Maud, who’s shuffled over to her work table and is mixing up the necessary incense to give the couple her blessing.

Maud hardly gives the ring a look and a half-hearted ‘that’s real nice’ before she lights a charcoal disc.

Bella isn’t fazed by Maud’s lack of interest because it was never for Maud to see.

It was for me.

I see red when I see the damn ring. It’s the one that she slapped me with, the one that split my lip.

The big shiny diamond looks huge on her left hand.

My lip throbs even though the cut is healed by now.

My wolf coming in sped the normal quick shifter healing up so there’s nothing on my lip that would ever tell you it was split last night.

Still…I know.

Bella gives me a sidelong look and steps towards me.

She’s in Maud’s hut, halfway in and I hate seeing her in this place I’ve loved so well with my mate at her back.

In all the years I’ve known Keiran, he’s never been here with me.

Not really. Our time was always in the woods, out back where no one would see us.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” She waves her hand at me.

I don’t answer her, I just tighten the straps of my backpack and look around the hut one last time. I can’t stay here with Bella and Keiran so close. I want to remember it as a refuge, not like this. I have to get out of here before they taint my memories.

“I’ll wait by the truck,” I tell Maud. I sidestep Bella and squeeze past Keiran before he can move.

My shoulder brushes his chest and it feels like I’m hit with a lightning bolt.

I hear the sharp intake of his breath. Even if our bond is broken, he felt that touch too.

I’m tempted to look at him but I don’t. I can’t.

I hurry forward into the misty morning and it’s only when I’m halfway to the truck that I let out the breath I was holding.

“ Fuck ,” I whisper and press the heels of my hands to my eyes. I can’t stand to look at anything right now in case I see Keiran. I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly before I do it again. “I’m okay. I’m okay .”

My wolf surges forward. She wants to go back and claim our mate. He’s ours, she insists with a howl and I stagger forward. “No. No, not now.” If I shift right now my clothes will be ruined and my bag too. I can’t lose my supplies like this.

It’s a struggle to keep moving forward towards Maud’s rusty old truck, but I manage it.

Images of my wolf leaping forward and ripping Bella’s throat out come hot and fast. Even as she wants to claim him, she wants to tear Keiran to pieces too.

To destroy every part of him that Bella touched.

It scares me, even if I understand the rage.

Isn’t this supposed to go away with me accepting his rejection?

Why is she still acting like Keiran is ours?

“He’s not ours. He never will be,” I tell her. I will her to understand but communicating with her feels like a slippery thing.

“Please,” I beg my wolf. “I have to find somewhere for us to go. Away from him. Once I’m there you’ll be free. I’ll let you out and we’ll run, we’ll hunt, I swear,” I bargain. A growl rattles in my chest but thankfully my wolf settles and I’m in control again.

I make my way slowly towards the truck. Even though I just woke up, I’m exhausted.

I lean against the truck when I reach it and look up at the sky.

A rumble of thunder echoes across the clearing and the drizzle turns to rain.

I should get into the truck but I don’t.

I’ll be cooped up in a bus before long and this is the last time I’ll stand in this familiar place.

I smile and look around the clearing. My gaze traces the familiar shape of Maud’s hut against the gray sky and I take in the trees I know so well one last time.

For so long this place was the only home I had.

I’ll never forget it, no matter how long I live.

I settle against the truck and enjoy the quiet of the morning.

The quiet doesn’t last long though, before a shriek pierces the air and sends a flock of birds up from the trees.

A second later, Bella comes charging out of the hut.

The white puffer she’s wearing is smeared with black.

She’s flailing like she’s fighting an invisible enemy and it’s only when she stomps her foot and screams, “ Keiran !” that I realize she’s not fighting a phantom, just pitching a fit.

It looks like she’s wearing a chimney’s worth of soot and I have to clap a hand over my mouth to muffle my laugh.

Keiran comes tearing out of Maud’s hut and goes right to Bella, who screams again.

“Do something to her! NOW!”

I swear to Luna I’ve never heard a more terrifying screech than the howl Bella just let loose.

I almost clap my hands over my ears to get away from the high-pitched sound.

Another clutch of birds flies away too and I know they haven’t witnessed anything like this before either.

I’m pretty sure her screaming has emptied the area of all wildlife.

Keiran answers but his voice is muffled and I bite my lip.

What if Bella gets Maud thrown out over her stupid jacket?

I start to worry and walk towards the hut but that’s when Maud sails out and slams the door behind her with a solid thud.

She strides past Keiran and a still yelling Bella without a second look and jangles the keys in her hand at me.

“Let’s get a move on, sweet girl! Your freedom awaits!”

I open and close my mouth but don’t say anything until she’s close. “Maud, stop it,” I whisper-scream. “What are you doing? What if she gets you banished?”

Maud lifts a shoulder in a shrug. “Well then, I guess I’ll just have to come find you, won’t I? We’d be terrible together, don’t you think?” she asks, getting into the truck. “Get in, you’re soaked!”

I climb into the truck and sigh. “What did you do?”

“Just had a little accident with the ashes is all. My clumsy hands in my old age are just the worst. Such a shame about her nice jacket.”

“That was not incense ash. From the looks of it, you dumped the hearth on her.”

“I will admit that I might have scooped up some ashes from last night before I got started in a fit of creative flair when I was blessing them. If a fistful of soot got dumped with the incense smoke, who can say?”

I clap my hands over my face and double over. “Maudddddd! No.”

“What? She deserved it, flashing that gods awful ring around. A wolf like her is all bark and no bite. She won’t touch me.” Maud turns the key and cranks the truck to life. “Now, forget all about them and her. You’re onto bigger and better things, Cordelia.”

I don’t fight her on that because she’s right. I am. I have to be. I lean against the door and look out the window as Maud drives. I watch as Keiran and Bella fade from sight. I watch as the trees I know start to change and Frostclaw Village comes into sight.

“What kind of bigger and better things?” I ask as we drive into the village.

Alpha Ashford is in the square with a crew.

They’re clearing away the bonfire from last night but when Maud’s truck comes into view he stops working to look our way.

I sink down in my seat when his eyes land on me.

We drive past Alpha Ashford as I duck my head.

I hold my breath until we drive past. When I look into the rearview mirror I see him still watching us.

He doesn’t stop until we’re out of sight.

“Anything that isn’t touched by Frostclaw and its Alpha,” Maud tells me. “I’m talking about those bigger and better things, Cordelia.”

I pray she’s right. I don’t think I could take more of a place like Frostclaw.