Page 29 of The Enforcer’s Rejected Mate (Red River Rejected Mates #1)

Chapter

Nineteen

CORDELIA

I think I’m going to faint.

I’ve only ever passed out once and it was after I didn’t eat for three days as punishment for sassing one of the females with rank.

I got put on kitchen duty that week and it was the dead of summer so passing out pulling bread from the ovens was expected.

At least that’s what I told myself after crawling my way out of the kitchens to lick my wounds.

Now though? I don’t think I’d live it down.

I have to survive the scary energy rolling off of Thorne long enough to get an audience with the Alpha.

If I pass out I look weak. And if I look weak then I can kiss my shot at proving I’m valuable to the Alpha bye-bye.

I shake my head and give myself a mental slap.

Do not pass out, I order myself. My wolf is there.

She’s helping as much as she can, but even that’s not much right now.

We’re both running on fumes. My legs feel like overcooked noodles and I almost slip as we approach the massive castle in front of us.

It’s more intimidating up close and I have to fight to keep running.

Not from tiredness but because I want to get a better look at the beautiful structure.

It’s like something out of a fairytale. This moment isn’t like I daydreamed about all the times I thought about coming home, it’s not even close to what I dreamed while escaping Frostclaw.

It’s so much…better. I cannot ruin it by giving up just because I’m tired.

New directive: Do not faceplant in front of the fairytale castle.

I grit my teeth and keep up as best I can.

The burst of energy I had earlier is gone but I keep my legs under me.

When we finally stop at the massive doors leading to the castle I have a stitch in my side and I’ve had to force down my urge to be sick.

It’s then that I notice we’re alone. The Defenders and the hunters are gone.

When did that happen? I start to look behind me for them but Thorne’s voice focuses my attention back on the doors.

“This is Bloodstone Keep.”

“It looks like a fairytale castle,” I tell him honestly. “Straight out of a picture book.”

To be expected, the big shifter grunts in response as he walks to the side of the door and pulls on a chain there.

A bell sounds overhead. Once, twice, it rings before there’s a creaking sound and the doors open in front of us with a lurch.

I watch as they slowly move but my escort barely waits for them to open enough for him before he strides through them.

I follow behind him but I’m not running anywhere anymore.

Besides, if I don’t run, I can finally take my time and look around.

I make sure to walk extra slowly to get a good look.

Bloodstone Keep is breathtakingly beautiful.

Now that we’re past the doors I finally understand the beauty of it.

It’s not so much a moonstone fairytale castle but a collection of buildings in a circle.

In front of us there’s open space, grass and trees dot the open area like a park of sorts.

It’s pretty. Calming in a different way from the forest. The forest is wild and alive, the energy of it grounds a shifter but here?

It’s tranquil.

Peaceful.

I take a step forward and inhale deeply.

The rain’s slowed. It’s just a pitter-patter, a whisper of sound on the rooftops around us and the grass and trees of the open space.

When I look up I see Thorne’s Embrace’s branches reaching sky high.

The sky settles heavy into the branches and anchors me in place.

Yes, this place is tranquil. I feel utterly safe there.

Like nothing in the world could hurt me.

Thorne doesn’t say anything but I know he’s impatient.

I can tell when I hear his footfall heading away from me that he’s ready to go.

Already on the move without me, even though I’m in his charge.

I take another deep inhale and then turn to follow him.

All the the while I keep looking and taking it all in.

Stone buildings of varying sizes rise up around the clearing with the biggest of them all in front of us.

It’s what made me think it was a castle in the first place.

Two towers flank it like sentries. The building's doors are thrown wide open. Warm firelight dances in the doorway and beckons us forward. I bet it’s warm and dry in there.

I pick up my pace at the thought and silently pray that once we go through those doors we’re staying put until the morning.

I want to ask Thorne how much further we have to go but I don’t dare signal to him that I’m tired.

I wrap my arms around myself as weariness rolls over me and every step I take feels like I’ve got cement blocks strapped to my feet.

I look down at my feet and frown. They may as well have cement blocks on them.

They’re caked in mud. No wonder they’re so heavy.

I stomp them on the ground in the hopes of shaking loose some of the mud.

A little falls off so I do it again. I’m so focused on my feet that I nearly crash into my escort.

He’s stopped walking and turned to face me.

Probably on account of my stomping. That means I end up with a face full of his well-muscled chest. Memories from the meadow come alive the second we touch. Oh no.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to.” I fight back a moan and try to jerk away but I don’t go anywhere.

I frown and twist but it’s no go on getting space from Thorne.

I raise my hands to push myself away but all that does is give me two handfuls of muscle.

It’s only then that I realize he’s been holding me…

and well, now I’m holding him too, so there’s a lot of holding.

Thorne smirks at me and drops his hands. I take the opening and leap back with my hands up in the air like this is a stick up.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t…you know,” I say and motion towards his chest with my cupped hands.

I drop them to my sides and blush beet red when I realize what I look like.

“I just-I’m sorry.” He chuckles, the sound is low enough that a rumble of thunder nearly drowns it out but I hear it. I look up at him in surprise.

“It happens. Let’s get you inside.”

It happens? What the hells does that mean?

How many times has he had his chest fondled for it to ‘happen’?

My wolf stirs, I can already tell she’s got a possessive streak a mile long.

She doesn’t much like the idea of anyone else touching Thorne and neither do I but it’s illogical for me to feel this way.

I have no proof anyone has ever done that and even if they have… he’s not mine.

Mine, my wolf snarls because she’s a world champion at ignoring me.

I shrug her off and follow after Thorne who in the midst of my mental breakdown at grabbing his chest already went inside and left me behind.

I hurry forward to follow him but I don’t miss the way curtains shift or the glow of candles move in the windows around us.

We’re being watched. I hesitate in the doorway and look back out at the windows.

I wonder how I look to them. Soaked from the rain and dirty from the mud and grabbing two handfuls of Thorne’s chest.

Not a great first impression at all.

Dang it all.

I pull my hood lower over my head and keep my eyes on my feet as I duck into the building after Thorne.

I’m going to keep it classy. Very respectable.

From here on out I’ll be a model pack applicant and omega.

I make a face at the omega part. Bowing and scraping to stroke alpha’s egos in hopes of being chosen doesn’t sit well with me but you have to work with the hands you’re dealt.

Once I get accepted into the pack maybe I can move myself somewhere like Maud had.

At the edge of everything where I can take care of folks but have my own space and not be bothered with alpha’s or what they think an omega should be like.

I can see it now, summers spent down in the forest, exploring the river system down there.

Maybe I can get that car and drive on into Oak Fast to meet with Jenny and Clara.

Summers spent planting and falls foraging enough for winter.

I’ll be well prepared by the time the snow falls.

I might not even have to deal too much with the pack if I work it right.

I smile at my plan for my future in Bloodstone Pack and begin rehearsing exactly how I’ll pitch it to the Alpha because like Maud always said, “If you want an Alpha to do anything, you have to make him think it’s his idea first.”

Thorne is halfway down a hallway by the time I come back from my daydreaming. He stops and gives me an exasperated look that has me jogging after him. “Sorry, sorry.”

“Stay close, Omega.”

Omega.

A thrill runs through my fingers to toes when he says that.

The low timbre of his voice, the rough way his lips and tongue form that word.

Hells. It’s like I’m kissing him again. Before I can go down memory lane another time, I force myself to stay coherent and follow after Thorne, just a step behind as he walks.

I sigh with relief as feeling comes back to my fingers.

I wiggle them, grateful for the gift of feeling.

My feet still feel like I’m dragging weights but they’ll warm up soon enough.

Thorne keeps going down the hallway and we take a right before we stop.

Thorne knocks on the door and a second later a slot in the middle of it opens with a snap.

“Who’s it?” A female voice asks. There’s a teasing tone to it that tells me the shifter on the other side of the door knows exactly who they’re talking to.

“Thorne.”

“What’s the password?”

Thorne sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose. “Open the door, Clover or I swear by all that-”