Page 38 of The Enforcer’s Rejected Mate (Red River Rejected Mates #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

CORDELIA

T he Bloodstone Alpha just gave me a freaking cottage. A whole cottage just for me.

“Thank you,” I get out between barely held in check sobs.

I don’t know what to say. I didn’t think this was how the dinner would go.

I thought…I don’t know what I thought would happen but it wasn’t this.

In my head, I imagined I’d have to prove myself, maybe demonstrate my knowledge of herbs and healing.

Hells, if they had asked me to river dance to their favorite song I would have done it for a chance to stay in the pack.

That’s so not what happened.

All I had to do was say that I wanted to stay here and work as their healer and Ronan made it happen just like that.

So casually that all the worry and fear I carried with me since I left Frostclaw seemed silly.

Trivial. Why was I holding on so tightly to it when it could be this easy for me?

I really don’t know. Maybe because it was familiar or what I thought I deserved but now I can see the glimmer of something different.

Something real that doesn’t look anything like what I’ve known.

I look up at Ronan and swipe at my tears. “Thank you. You won’t regret this, I promise.”

He smiles at me. It’s kind and open, warm, an expression so like what I always dreamed of seeing when it came to the thought of my mother that my tears come back in a fresh wave.

“I know I won’t,” he says, “I only hope that I can say the same for you after you’ve spent a full season with the pack but for as long as you want it to be, this pack and this place will be your home. You don’t have to earn it.”

I don’t have to earn it.

That sends me into a full on crying fit.

I burst into tears and give up all pretense of looking calm.

“T-thank you. I-thank you.” I’m ugly crying now and the men have no idea what to do with me.

Clyde looks like he wants to run from the room while Ronan and Thorne are looking at each other like they’re willing the other one to handle it first. I try to stop crying but it’s no use.

I just end up with a fresh wave of tears.

In the end its Thorne that ends up reacting first.

He puts a hand on my shoulder. That’s all the Enforcer does. I calm down the second he puts a hand on me. He squeezes my shoulder gently and somehow it's enough.

Thorne holds out a blue handkerchief to me. “I’m sorry.”

I sniffle and take the handkerchief. It’s well used from the softness of the material. I dab at my eyes with it and nod. “Thanks. I-I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I think I’m tired.”

“You had a long journey,” Ronan says. “Why don’t we finish dinner and Clyde will see you to the cottage?”

“That sounds nice. Thank you.”

The rest of dinner is good. It’s not awkward the way I think it might be from me bursting into tears and having a mini-meltdown at the table.

The three men move on from it like it didn’t happen.

There’s no shame from them for showing weakness.

Crying in Frostclaw was deemed a weakness.

Anyone that showed emotion was marked as a target by the pack.

I did my best to never give them a rise but there were times I failed.

It made me a favorite target for them, but the three males at the table don’t show that will happen to me here.

Instead of ridicule there’s laughter and stories.

I learn that Clyde grew up in Oak Fast and moved to Red River when he was twenty to help with the rebuilding efforts, that Ronan grew up with my mother and that she never failed to beat him in a foot race.

“She was like the wind. Knew every trail and path our territory has.”

I find out that Thorne’s family is big. One of the biggest in the pack and oldest too. “You won’t be able to throw a stone without hitting one of his kin,” Clyde tells me with a wink.

We talk and eat until I can’t hide my yawns.

I’m beat. So tired that it’s hard to keep my eyes from drooping but it’s nice.

I feel the way I did when I used to on the nights I snuck out to Maud’s and fell asleep in front of the fire while she read or worked.

There’s a calmness, a sense of belonging that wraps around me like a blanket and makes me want to snuggle deeper into it.

“I think it’s time we get her to the cottage,” Ronan says when I cover my mouth with another yawn.

“I’m sorry. I wish I wasn’t so tired. Your stories are wonderful.”

“There’s plenty of time for stories. You’ll have plenty more nights to hear them all,” Ronan says.

Clyde snorts. “Ronan tells the same three jokes so you’ll be looking for a way to get him to stop telling stories soon.

” That earns the Gamma a roll chucked at his head but he just catches it and puts it in his pocket.

“Snack for later, thank ya, thank ya. Now come along, Cordelia. I’ll show you to the cottage. ”

I rise to follow him but hesitate. Thorne is still sitting.

I look his way and that’s when he rises.

The second that he stands I wish he was sitting again.

He’s so much taller than me, towers right over me like the trees I climbed as a kid and he even smells like them too.

Pine and fresh rainwater, cedar, all of my favorite scents come rushing in when I linger too long near him.

I fought the entire dinner to not pay too much mind to how good the Alpha smells but now that I’m exhausted it’s useless fighting it.

I take in a deep breath and then another before I jerk back with a hasty step. I probably look like a freak right now. Huffing in as much air I can around Thorne, like I can’t get enough. I turn to face Clyde with a tight smile.

“Lead the way, I’m ready to go.” I pause to tell Ronan goodnight. “Goodnight, Ronan and thank you for dinner. It was amazing. One of the best nights I’ve ever had.”

The Alpha inclines his head and gives me a slight bow. “The pleasure was all mine. Goodnight, Cordelia Fireheart.”

My stomach clenches and then does a flip flop of happiness. Fireheart. I have a name. Finally. Something that’s all mine no matter where I am. No one and nothing will ever take that name from me. I’m practically floating on air from happiness behind Clyde when Thorne speaks.

“Sleep well, Cordelia,”

I realize then I didn’t tell him goodbye before I tried to make my hasty escape. I pause in the door behind Clyde to look back at him.

“You too, Thorne. Goodnight.”

I jerk back around to get out of the room so fast that I almost bang my head on the doorframe but I don’t let that stop me.

I keep walking and so does Clyde. I don’t pay attention to the route we take out of the Keep.

I’m too scattered by the way Thorne smelled, the sound of his voice when he told me to sleep well.

Honestly, I’m in a daze from him. It’s only when the cool night air hits my face that I snap out of it and realize we’ve left the Keep and are on our way down a new path I’ve never seen before.

We’ve properly left the Keep and the courtyard that I spent my day in.

I can see Red River spread out down the hill from us. Its lights twinkle in the night and it looks even more beautiful than it did from my window last night. A picture perfect town just waiting for me.

I hesitate before I follow Clyde down the path. “What about Clover? I shouldn’t just go without telling her first.”

Clyde gives me an understanding look but waves me forward. “She already knows.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I sent word before the dinner was over that you would be relocating to the Healer’s Cottage. She’s already had your things brought over as well, there’s no need to return to the Visitor’s Quarters now.”

I consider pushing to go see Clover anyhow, but Clyde must sense my hesitation because he reminds me of the time next.

“It’s past midnight. She’ll be asleep by now but she knows exactly where to find you. I promise. I bet she’ll come visit the very next time she’s free.”

That does the trick. I don’t want to wake Clover but I feel a lot better that she knows where I am.

The journey to the cottage is longer than I expected but that’s because the Keep is further than I realized from Red River.

It’s hard to tell the distance when you’re perched so high up on a hill.

The route we take brings us close to Thorne’s Embrace.

I can’t help but stop when I see the tree soaring up above us.

Funny how I forgot it was there holding up the world all on its own while I was in the Keep.

It’s even more impressive now that I’m lower, right at its base.

There’s no escaping its power here. The roots rise up from the ground as big as cars, some bigger than that, as big as the bus that I rode here.

I feel so small and insignificant next to the ancient tree that I almost fall to my knees.

I have to put out a hand to steady myself against a tree root to gain my bearings.

Luna. What’s happening? I’ve never felt this way before.

Clyde notices my staggering step first and slows to look back at me. “So you feel it then?”

I nod, my words come out a choked sound. “Yes.” I don’t know what the it is but it’s this tree. Thorne’s Embrace. There’s no escaping the way I feel pulled towards it or the way my world narrows down to its branches and roots as they pull the world together for me.

I steady myself and walk forward to place my hand on one of the exposed roots. It’s waist high and curves into a C before it vanishes back into the earth. “I feel like this is the only place I’ve ever been meant to be.”