Page 48 of The Enforcer’s Rejected Mate (Red River Rejected Mates #1)

“Cordelia! Wait up!” Clover comes running down the path from the Keep. She’s got a basket in her arms and an excited smile on her face. “I’m so glad that I caught you. I was hoping to make it to your cottage before you had breakfast but I got held up.”

“Clover!” I rush forward and throw my arms around her in a hug.

Seeing her hits me in a way I didn’t expect.

It’s only been hours since I saw her last night, twelve hours more or less but still.

She’s my friend. I have a friend and I get to stay in the pack.

I pull back and look her over. She’s so happy to see me.

No one but Maud was ever happy to see me.

I feel so normal here. My eyes start to water so I hug her again so she can’t see me almost cry at the realization that I will be normal here.

“I’m so happy to see you,” I tell her.

Clover hugs me back. “Oh, me too. It was boring without you in the Keep last night. I already miss you. That’s why I was coming to see you this morning, and look, I made scones.

” She pulls back the fabric covering on the basket and shows me scones inside.

They smell amazing. “I made strawberry and blueberry. I thought we could have a little housewarming for you.”

“That’s so thoughtful. Thank you, Clover.

I’d love a house warming.” Thorne moves at my side and I remember where we were going.

“Or I would…I’m sorry, we’re on the way to the Keep for me to get a look at the Healer’s Rooms. Can you bring the scones with us?

” I ask her. Even if we can’t have a housewarming, I do want to spend time with her and there’s always room for scones.

Clover makes a face. “Wait, you’re working on your first day here?”

I can see that she doesn’t like the idea of me working so I try to explain it to her. “I thought it would be good for me to get settled in and get to work right away. Alpha Ronan said I could stay here as the healer and I want to prove to him that he made a good choice.”

Thorne makes a sound. It’s not a growl or a groan, it’s something in between. Clover and I both look at him. “What did he say about you earning your place here?” he asks when he has both of our eyes on him.

Clover crosses her arms. “He would never say that.”

“And he didn’t say that. He said the opposite,” Thorne says and Clover drops her arms to her side.

“Ohhh, I see what you were doing there. I’ll stand down, cousin.”

“Thanks, Clo.” Thorne looks back at me and I want to dig a hole and bury myself in it. “Now, what did he say?”

I look between him and Clover. There’s no help coming from her on this. She’s looking at me with the same expectant look I see on Thorne’s face. “I, well, that I could stay here for as long as I wanted.”

“And?” the alpha prompts.

I grit my teeth. How did we go from him suspecting me of being a spy and a stare off to this? “And that I didn’t have to earn my place.”

“And because he said that and you understand that, it’s best if you head on back with Clover to have that housewarming, don’t you think?”

I frown at him. “But you said you’d take me to the Healer’s Rooms.”

“And I will, just not today. She’s right. It’s your first day in the pack. There will be plenty of time for work later.”

I want to argue with him. For a week I haven’t done a thing and I’m restless.

I’m used to working. My time reading yesterday was the longest I’ve ever gone with nothing to do.

I don't know if I can handle another day of it if I’m honest. I don’t get to get a single word out though because Clover hooks her arm through mine and hugs Thorne with her other arm.

“Thank you for talking sense into her. I’ll see you for dinner!” Clover tells him before she skips off towards my cottage, dragging me behind her.

“No arguing with the Enforcer,” Clover tells me when I look back at Thorne. He’s standing right where we left him and watching us.

“I wasn’t going to,” I lie to her.

“And I’m a rabbit shifter,” Clover crows and pokes me in the ribs. “You were too. Arguing to do work. I never heard of such a thing.”

“I’m just not used to not doing anything. I was always busy in my old pack.”

“That’s because they worked you to death,” she points out.

“True,” I agree and then smile when she bumps her shoulder against mine. “Okay, I’m glad you rescued me and now we can eat scones. There, are you happy?”

“That's the spirit! And yes, I am very happy. I cannot wait to see your place. I only saw the cottage a few times but the garden. Ohhh, that garden is gorgeous, isn’t it?”

I nod excitedly. Clover’s energy is infectious and by the time we reach the lane back to the cottage I’m skipping along with her.

“It’s stunning. I can’t believe it’s all mine.

” I start to tell Clover about my cottage when I see two women ahead of us.

They’re huddled together whispering and watching us.

They look familiar. I watch them for another second before I realize why they’re familiar.

They were two of the people I tried to say hello to this morning.

“Who are those women?” I whisper to Clover.

She looks up from her basket and groans. “Annie and Ceelie. The pack windbags.”

“The what?”

“Windbags. You know? They gossip like their lives depend on it,” Clover tells me.

She lowers her voice and leans close to me as we get closer to them.

“Ceelie is Annie’s daughter. They work in the school and I think it has gone right to their brains because they act like they’re still in school, you know what I mean? ”

I remember the females with rank and how they liked to throw their weight around. They were tight with one another, always on the lookout for someone to gang up on. Ceelie leans her head close to her mom and laughs. Her eyes are on Clover and I. She reminds me of Bella.

“Yeah, I get it,” I tell Clover.

“Best to just keep it moving. Don’t even talk to them. Anything you say will be around the pack by mealtime, so avoid them at all costs.”

I survived in Frostclaw. I can avoid two shifters with big mouths. “Got it. Avoid them like the plague.”

Clover and I keep walking and we pass Annie and Ceelie without so much as a backwards look.

I let out a relieved sigh when we round the corner and continue on to my cottage out of sight of the two women.

The rest of the walk to my cottage is nice.

Clover and I chat about everything and nothing.

She fills me in on her plans for the week and what she thinks we might have for dinner and I tell her about my dinner with Ronan the night before.

When we get to my cottage we end up breaking into the scones with a pot of fresh tea that we take into my back garden.

We spend the rest of the morning there chatting and soaking up the sun together before we head back down to the mess hall for lunch.

I’m not surprised when I see Thorne’s familiar figure waiting for us in front of the building.

If Clover thinks anything is strange about her cousin meeting us for lunch unannounced she doesn’t say a word about it or the fact that he once again serves me my meal.

The three of us eat together with Clover chattering and Thorne interjecting every so often when he isn’t forcing the other shifters to steer clear of our table.

I definitely don’t go to the Healer’s Rooms or think of them for the rest of the day and as far as lunch goes it’s one of the best I’ve ever had.