Page 5 of The Enforcer’s Rejected Mate (Red River Rejected Mates #1)

Chapter

Three

CORDELIA

“ W hen we go to the moon run, you hang back,” Maud says.

I open my mouth to protest but Maud clucks at me.

“No, Cordelia. You go near the front and they’ll go right for you.

You know they will and…” she pauses and puts a hand on my shoulder, “I think you’ve had a hard enough day, don’t you?

To the back with you, do you hear me?” She’s right.

They will go right after me with the way the pack is hyped up for the moon run.

On a normal night, I might get some stares and a wide berth but tonight?

I’m the lowest member of the pack. I’m fair game.

Easy prey. A dangerous thing to be in a pack of wolf shifters on a full moon.

If it wasn’t for my hope that my wolf will come in during the full moon ceremony, I wouldn’t look forward to the moon runs at all.

They’re okay mostly. The attention I’m prone to get is from the males that think I’m fine enough looking to burn off some energy with.

I only tried that one time with one of the younger Wilsons. Keiran saw us going off together and caught the Wilson by the scruff and dragged him off into the woods with a growled ‘Stay’ to me. I never had another male approach me again after that.

“I’ll stay out of sight, I swear,” I promise her even if out of sight is impossible in a place like Frostclaw.

We’re walking together down to the village square.

Everyone will gather there around the bonfire they’ve been building all day.

Frostclaw Village is nice enough, and it’s downright cozy when the bonfire for the moon run is lit.

I could almost enjoy the moon runs, even with having to watch my back if it weren’t for one thing—the Remembrance.

As the leaders of Frostclaw, Alpha Ashford and Luna Thalia will lead the pack in the moon rites and what would the moon rites be without the Remembrance?

Every pack has a history all its own, something for the members to be proud of but our pack history revolves around the Crimson Winter.

I wince just thinking about the Crimson Winter.

That’s the official name for the war with Bloodstone Pack—my true pack, or at least my mother’s pack.

I’ve heard others in the pack whisper about it behind Alpha Ashford’s back.

The ones who were old enough to be there when it happened call it the Blood Moon Days.

I wish I was brave enough to ask them why but I don’t.

I know better than to bring it up. A beating is all I would get for sticking my nose where I shouldn’t, so I keep quiet and suffer through the Remembrance in silence.

But when I do, I daydream. I let my mind wander to the fantasy that I might one day find the Bloodstone Pack and leave this place.

I wrap my arms around myself and smile bitterly.

Silly, stupid fantasy. I don’t know the way to Bloodstone Pack or Luna knows I would have tried to find my way there.

Even though I’ve listened to the Remembrance over and over again, the Alpha never says anything useful enough for me to find my kin.

It’s not by mistake that Alpha Ashford never tells where or how to find the Bloodstone Pack on account of the twenty reasons he has keep Bloodstone Pack’s location a secret.

I wasn’t the only orphan taken from Bloodstone.

In all, twenty of us were taken as children, but I am the only wolf-less one.

The only worthless one. The others were able to move up rank wise when their wolf came in.

When we were young, I remember we stuck together, but the second they shifted they chose to become part of Frostclaw.

Over and over they picked the wolves that ripped our families apart until there was only me.

I’m the only one left behind, the only one the pack whispers about just loud enough so everyone can hear.

“Dirty orphan. Can’t even shift like the others.”

“We went to war and brought her back?”

“Lost a lot of good wolves for such a useless soul. Only the witch will have her.”

“No wolf? The moon goddess cursed her.”

The last one I’ve heard too often. I’m cursed.

My hands curl into fists as I walk and I jam them into the pockets of my cardigan.

The only curse on me is being forced to live here in this pack.

I square my shoulders and hold my head up high when Maud touches my arm and motions for me to head to the back of the clearing.

I do as she says and take a deep breath of the cool evening air.

I tug at my cardigan, I feel too warm all of a sudden.

I fan myself with the edges of my cardigan and pray for the breeze to pick up.

Anything to cool me down. I’m so nervous that I’m starting to sweat.

I fan my face and blow out a deep breath. “Stay calm,” I whisper to myself. Tonight it’s my turn to become someone else other than the dirty orphan the moon goddess turned her back on.

I’m going to prove to them all that I’m not cursed once and for all.

I look up at the sky and keep my eyes on the moon as the village square starts to slowly fill.

I hold my breath while I count the seconds and scan my body for changes.

The others have described their wolf waking up like discovering you have another sense, an entirely new limb that you had no idea existed from one moment to the next.

Maud says it’s becoming whole, fully in control of yourself.

I can’t wait for such a luxury. Carefully, I catalogue every heartbeat and breath, every little movement and muscle twitch.

I’m desperate, I know, but moon goddess willing tonight will be my night and I want to be prepared.

I try not to be disappointed when there’s no change.

The only thing that’s constant and different is the too hot feeling I have.

Sweat beads on my back and makes my dress stick to my skin.

At this rate I’m going to be soaked through by the time the moon run officially starts.

I fan myself and blow out another deep breath to steady myself.

More and more of the pack arrive, their chatter and laughter fills the air.

The sound of the pack makes me feel alone.

Reminds me of what I don’t have but tonight, I push away the loneliness.

I will shift tonight.

I have to and when I do everything is going to change.

I won’t be alone at the back of the village square before the moon run.

Another wave of warmth rolls over me. I fan my face but it’s no use.

I’m so hot. How can I be this warm? I know it’s summer but it’s nearing the end of it.

Almost fall but not quite with the crispness an autumn evening brings with it.

I’m not sick am I? Except…no, I’m not sick.

Hope blooms in me. Oh goddess, what if this is it? What if this is what I’ve been waiting for?

I press my hands to my chest and squeeze my eyes shut.

I reach for my wolf but there’s nothing there, at least I don’t think so?

How am I supposed to call my wolf? Does she come to me or…

? I frown and try to grab hold of my wolf again but there’s nothing there but rising heat.

The need to get out of the village square crushes me like a building and I lose the battle with myself to not show my discomfort.

I end up leaning over to brace myself with my hands on my knees while I flap the edge of my cardigan to get more cool air on my body.

My hair sticks to my forehead and sweat drips down the side of my neck and I wipe it away with the back of my sleeve.

“What is wrong with the freak?” A pair of girls in front of me look back with a sneer but I barely pay them mind.

I don’t even care because I know the heat I’m feeling is going to make everything right.

This isn’t the way that I thought the change would happen for me, not the way I’ve heard the others describe their bodies waking up, their wolf waking to claim them, forcing every part of them into oneness with the magic that made us shifters.

The bonfire is lit now, I can tell from the way everyone goes quiet.

I force myself to stand back up. It’s a battle to pretend that I don’t feel like I’m burning up from the inside right now but fake it till you make it, right?

I get more than a handful of ‘what the fuck?’ looks which tells me that I’m not exactly making it but there’s only so much I can do.

Thankfully, Maud steps forward with the rest of the Elders and signals the start of the moon run.

That’s enough to do the trick and everyone around me forgets about me and how I’m melting into a puddle. Thank goddess.

Alpha Ashford steps forward and holds his hands out in greeting to us.

“It’s a pleasure to see my pack healthy and strong.

I am honored by your presence! Frostclaw pack began in a time of chaos when humans encroached on our lands.

They hunted us, killed our young, they burned our villages to the ground but we refused to break.

We brave few chose to preserve the old ways and left the old territories to strike out on our own.

We looked North and knew our home lay in the strength of the mountains.

For twelve weeks we lost our skin and let our wolves guide us to our new home.

” Alpha Ashford pauses and I know why. He does this every moon run for dramatic effect and every time someone howls.

Right on queue there’s a howl, and tonight is extra special when the entire town square howls in support.

I bite my lip, glad that I’m at the back like Maud said.

If I was up front and not howling…yeah, it wouldn’t be good.

Without a wolf, the most I could manage is a strangled yodel, and right now with the way I feel probably not even that.

My legs feel like overcooked spaghetti and I sway where I’m standing.

The world flickers around me, like someone’s turning the lights on and off but it’s gone so fast that I think I imagined it.

I rub my eyes and shake my head. It must have been the bonfire light.

Maybe I’m imagining things or is this what happens when you shift?

“Through hostile lands and the harsh elements did we fight our way to find this paradise! Join me, Frostclaw. Raise your voices now. Call down the moon to our home! This place is ours!” Alpha Ashford’s shout makes me jump.

I forgot about him for a split second. A feat considering I’ve spent my entire life afraid of him and now here I am, oblivious to his presence during the moon run rites.

I sway and stagger back a step. Something isn’t right.

This can’t be my shift but if it’s not, then what is it?