Page 26 of The Enforcer’s Rejected Mate (Red River Rejected Mates #1)

Chapter

Seventeen

CORDELIA

I ’ve been running for an hour, uphill, in a rainstorm.

I think I’ve fallen a dozen times and my palms are scraped raw and the knees of my jeans are muddied.

In short, the run was a nightmare. Not even the hot, brooding shifter running about twenty yards ahead of me was enough to make it bearable.

I wince and pause to lean over and brace my hands on my knees when I make it to the top of another switchback.

The run wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t gassed out from what happened in the meadow.

The meadow.

Like magic those two words summon the ghosts of the alpha’s touch that turned me into a needy, begging omega. I’ve never lost control of myself like that. Never. Being an omega is new to me, just like my wolf, which makes me wonder if it will always be like that.

No. No, it’s never like that.

The answer comes to me quickly. I don’t know if it's me or my wolf, but I know I’m right. Omega or not, what happened with that alpha wasn’t normal. What would have happened if we hadn’t been shot?

A shiver rolls through my body and I almost go down for the hundredth time when my toe catches on a root. “Hells,” I whisper as I stagger forward. I’m grateful I keep my feet under me. It’s one thing to fall in front of shifters. I’m used to that from my time in Frostclaw but humans?

There’s something to be said for face planting in front of a hunter that looks older than Maud and is somehow keeping up with the shifters marching us uphill.

Embarrassing.

Even after taking a bullet and getting zapped by lightning.

My endurance has increased since I got my wolf, and the run should be easy for me, but right now she’s checked out for this ride.

She’s been silent ever since I forced her to give our skin back.

She was preparing to make the run with the Bloodstone Pack but I couldn’t let her.

Not when she kept thinking about the satisfying crunch the hunter she attacked’s neck would make between her teeth.

I’d already practically gone right into heat and climbed an Alpha, took a bullet, and a lightning bolt, before greeting my hopefully soon-to-be pack in my birthday suit.

I didn’t need to add eating a hunter to the list.

Even when I felt her start to stir at the start of the run, it wasn’t long before she turned her nose up and went right back to silence. She’s ticked at me but that’s fine. We’ll get past it.

“Hurry up!” The barked order comes from the alpha I climbed like a tree.

He’s been with us but he shifted. I pretended not to notice when he went wolf and bounded to the front of the group.

I thought, well, I thought he might come back to me if I gave him space.

That hasn’t happened yet. It stings some but after Keiran I’m not looking to make a fool of myself over another handsome alpha.

I clear my throat and watch him wave on the group.

The hunters are wheezing and falling over their feet.

There’s a few behind me that sound like they’re about to keel over which is understandable.

They’ve puked up whatever rotgut liquor they were drinking and are in a world of hurt trying to keep pace with shifters.

Only a few of the humans are doing decent but even they look tired.

“No slowing down. Keep moving!” The alpha barks at us.

He’s a whole switchback ahead of everyone with his hands on his hips.

Someone tossed him a pair of shorts before we took off running, which is too bad.

If he was gonna yell at me I’d prefer getting a look at the toned ass I know he has.

Even from this distance my shifter senses grant me the ability to see the sneer on his handsome face.

Maybe my wolf isn’t hiding from me. She’s probably hiding from him.

He’s got power over her. Rank. Makes sense. I can feel his presence pushing down on me from here. I look around the group marching the hunters and it’s weighing heavy on them too. Slightly bent necks and eyes averted.

Rank wise he’s at the top of the food chain in this pack.

The only one that doesn’t seem to care is Lucian. Before we set off for Red River, he introduced himself to me as the leader of the Defenders.

“What are Defenders?”

“We keep the peace and make sure we’re ready for anyone or anything that might harm the pack. We’re protectors.”

“Protectors…”

Alpha Ashford had his guard but those Alphas didn’t protect much. Or at least they didn’t when it came to the pack. They were just as cruel as the Alpha, always looking for someone lower than them to punish.

“Who leads you?”

“That would be me,” Lucian says with an exaggerated bow that makes me smile. When he lifts his head he glances towards the alpha I’d been with at the front of the group. “And sometimes him if things are bad.”

I hadn’t asked what he meant by bad or pushed the conversation much past that.

I was too afraid that if I did, Lucian might start asking his own questions, the most feared of them being what I’d been doing with their sometimes leader in the meadow.

Like a magic spell, my knees get weak and I bump right into Lucian.

He’s jogging beside me with a hunter in tow.

He’s practically dragging the man like a piece of luggage.

Every step Lucian takes the hunter’s head bobs and jerks.

I think he’s passed out. He steadies me with his free hand.

“You all right?”

I nod, face flushing at the reason for my misstep. “Just tired.” My stomach rumbles. I give him a sheepish look. “Could eat too, I guess.”

“We’ll get you sorted as soon as we hit town. Thorne’s orders.”

Thorne. So that’s the name of the alpha. I was too nervous to ask his name before.

“Is he always like this?” I ask Lucian.

He grins and the expression comes to the alpha easily.

He’s not like any alpha I’ve met in my life.

He’s easy going, a smile comes quick and fast to him with a boyish charm that disarms me.

If he hadn’t told me he was the leader of the Defenders I would have never suspected it.

Though the last part is probably wrong because I would have known from the way the others in the group defer to him.

“He’s only like this when he’s got a point to make.”

“What point is he trying to make?”

Instantly my brain goes into overdrive. What would be the reason for Thorne to need to prove a point? I pull at the hem of my waterlogged sweatshirt and duck my head. Is it me? Is that why he hasn’t talked to me or so much as looked in my direction since we started this run from hell?

Does he want me to quit?

My old friend shame sidles up to me and puts an arm around my shoulders. What if that’s it? For a minute he lost his head and almost…almost…I swallow hard and push myself to run a little faster. Alpha Ashford’s accusations about me ring in my ear.

“Whore.”

“I know you’ve been rutting that slut for years. I don’t blame you. She’s easy on the eyes so why not put her to use?”

I take in a quick breath. The voices of the other alphas in the pack agreeing with Alpha Ashford haunt me.

They chase me right up the hill until my steps are sure and strong.

I’m fast enough that I pass Lucian and his hunter.

I keep running up the switchbacks and pass another of the Defenders and another.

I’m fast enough that for a while the voices of Frostclaw are still and quiet.

I let out a deep breath and smile. Perfect.

The rain and the sounds of the forest around us serve as the perfect escape while I keep running.

My legs burn and my lungs scream, but still I keep running.

It’s when I’m midway up what I realize is the very last switchback of the trail that I see I’m not that far from Thorne.

I slow enough to look behind me and see the rest of the Defenders are two switchbacks behind and well below us on the path.

I laugh in surprise. Holy hells. I’m fast fast.

That has my wolf perking up. She likes winning and snorts in approval at us beating the rest of them.

That must catch the attention of Thorne because when I turn back around he’s watching me.

Our eyes meet and just like that it’s like a mini lightning strike all over again.

My body feels like the live wire in the laundry rooms that Keiran was tasked with fixing two summers back but accidentally hit with his screwdriver and shorted out the whole building.

I still remember the way the sparks flew and everything went bright for a half second before the power went out.

This is exactly like that.

I forget to breathe until Thorne turns his back on me.

I feel the loss of his attention immediately.

It’s not easy but I muster up all the endurance I have left and sprint after him.

He’ll have to look at me, acknowledge me, give words to what we did in the meadow if I’m right beside him, won’t he?

I don’t know if he lets me catch him, I don’t think he does from how hard I have to try but I manage it.

I surprise myself and him too, if the look he gives me says anything. But I don’t stop as I gain on him.

Like I said, my wolf likes winning and as much as she likes Thorne…she’s out for the win more.