Page 50 of The Enforcer’s Rejected Mate (Red River Rejected Mates #1)

Chapter

Thirty-Four

THORNE

I didn’t expect Cordelia to recognize who the portrait was.

Mostly because I’d forgotten about it in the first place.

The portrait has hung there since I was a pup.

It was put in after the Blood Moon Days.

For as long as I’ve been bent on revenge, the portrait has hung on the wall as a reminder to Ronan of what we lost.

It’s his woman.

Cordelia’s mother.

She haunts him the same way the girl they took haunts me. I watch as Cordelia steps forward with her mouth parted in a silent gasp. She raises a trembling hand like she’s going to touch the painting but then at the last second snatches it back with a shake of her head.

“Why is my mother here?”

“I….” I want to tell her but it feels wrong. That’s Ronan’s story to tell. When I don’t answer her right away Cordelia takes in a shaky breath and then does reach out and touch the portrait. Her hand touches her mother’s hand.

“You know what’s been the strangest thing about coming here?”

“What?”

“Knowing that everyone remembers her better than I do. I didn’t even know what she looked like until now.”

Fucking hells.

We stand in silence for another second before I step up behind her and put my hand on her shoulder. “You’re home now,” I remind her. “We’ve only been keeping her memory safe for you. When you want it, ask any of us and we’ll help you remember her.”

Touching Cordelia wasn’t a smart idea but I’ve never claimed to be a smart wolf. Touching her is like grabbing hold of a live wire. Cordelia turns and when she looks up at me there are tears shining in her eyes.

Fuck. I said the wrong thing.

Again.

But then she throws her arms around me and hugs me tight. The feel of her body against mine nearly makes me lose my footing. My knees feel weak but I somehow stay standing. Hells, don’t think about the Meadows. Do not think about the last time you held her. Now is not the time .

She turns her face and presses her cheek against my chest. “Thank you,” she whispers.

I pat her awkwardly. “Of course.”

I let her hold me and everything in me screams to touch her. To hold her like I did in the Meadows but that wouldn’t be right. If I touch her I don’t know if I’ll be able to let her go. I stay still and Cordelia hugs me for another minute before she lets me go and steps away with a rueful smile.

“I’m sorry,” she says and swipes at her cheeks. “I-I’m not normally this emotional but this place. I just-I don’t know who I am anymore. I kind of feel like I’m turning into someone else.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

She frowns and looks back at her mother’s portrait. “I don’t know.” She sounds thoughtful. Thoughtful is better than sad. I’ll take it.

“Bloodstone Territory has a way of reminding you of exactly who you are,” I tell her.

It’s true. There’s been a few of us that have tried to leave but it’s never for long.

I tried to leave when I was eighteen but it didn’t take.

Every second I spent away from my home felt wrong.

I know I’m not the only one that’s felt that way.

We’re all called back to the land our ancestors lived and died on.

This place is the only place in the world that feels right.

When I’m here, I remember exactly who I’m meant to be and why.

The Blood Moon Days.

Crimson War.

The Crimson War is what the fucks in Frostclaw call it.

No doubt to give themselves an overinflated sense of importance.

It wasn’t a war. It was a slaughter. A blood betrayal that runs deep.

My anger comes to life at the sight of Cordelia’s teary eyes.

Frostclaw is to blame for the way Cordelia feels, why she doesn’t have her mother here with her now, why the omega at my side grew up in enemy territory.

Our home is haunted and Frostclaw created the ghosts but and others would see sadness and heartache.

We don’t.

Bloodstone Pack sees memories. Proof that our loved ones lived and loved their whole lives before they fought alongside us.

We know the truth of it. They’re not gone.

Thorne’s Embrace holds them here and binds us to them.

Frostclaw wanted to break us but the only thing they did was make us more committed to this place—to each other.

After what we’ve been through together the pack is stronger than ever. Bloodstone Pack wasn’t always this unified. We used to be split, fractured, it’s what gave Ronan’s brother the followers he needed to challenge for Alpha.

He lost. No fucking surprise there. Ronan was and still is one of the best fighters I’ve ever seen. But from that loss came the betrayal, a fucking coup that nearly destroyed us. Wayne meant for it to kill us off.

He lost at that too.

Fucking loser.

We’ve never been this unified or powerful.

We’re supposed to enter into talks with Moonshadow Pack and Goldbriar Pack.

They’re both desperate to get in our good graces due to the money coming in from Red River Builds.

At least that’s the case with Moonshadow.

At the last meeting we had with them we got a clear picture of Moonshadow: they’re broke as hell.

Their money was spent long ago living above their means and now they’re ready to do anything for quick cash.

Any status they had is smoke and mirrors.

They even offered up the Alpha’s daughter to Ronan as a bride.

He turned them down flat. They tried to pawn her off on me to forge an alliance but I followed right after Ronan and declined the offer.

I’ve got no time for a mate. The pack comes first. I look at the omega walking beside me.

My reasons for why I don’t have time for a mate feel thin all of a sudden and I know why.

Cordelia. I frown and force myself to look away from her.

She’s the bane of my fucking existence and the worst part is that I can’t run from her. Not really. Not with the Soul Tie.

It’s only a matter of time before nature kicks in and I’m fucked.

Still, I’m not going to help it along. I pick up my pace and put distance between us.

Cordelia doesn’t even seem to notice the distance.

She’s quiet while I lead her to her rooms. Head down, eyes on the floor.

I last about thirty seconds before I slow back down and walk alongside her while I take a mental inventory of the state of the Healer’s Rooms. Everything should be in order.

The rooms are nice, better than nice really with the new remodel Jo oversaw.

She made sure we would be prepared to handle a growing pack.

Bloodstone has been blessed with more than our fair share of new births and the new members that have joined us from other packs has become a steady stream.

We won’t be done building in the valley for a while yet.

“You’ll want to be prepared. Not scrambling to meet the need.”

Jo delivered just about everyone in the past three generations and she’d pushed for us to renovate the Healer’s rooms entirely because she shared Ronan’s vision for the future of the pack.

The Healer’s Rooms were the first rooms we completed when we started the renovations in the Keep.

“A healthy pack is a happy pack” was Jo’s saying of choice and I half expect to hear her say it when we arrive at the Healer’s Rooms. She’d be happy Cordelia has returned to take her place.

If she was here I have no doubt she’d take Cordelia under her wing as her apprentice.

Before long there would be two of them lecturing me about how a healthy pack is a happy pack.

I open the door for Cordelia and step out of the way so she can enter the room ahead of me.

She hesitates, eyes scanning the hallway.

I clock the movement before she forces it away and flashes me a quick smile.

I make sure to give her plenty of room while she steps past me.

There’s something not right about her. I might not have known Cordelia for a very long time, days at this point, but I’ve come to recognize when she’s off.

Right now she’s definitely off.

Her movements are jerky, steps quick and short like she’s not sure if someone will come up behind her and she’ll have to switch directions. She darts into the room like she thinks someone is going to swing at her.

What happened to her in Frostclaw?

My gut twists because I can tell it wasn’t good. I knew it wasn’t good before, just from the fact that it was Frostclaw. I know what their brutality looks like. We all do. What would it do to someone to have all of that ugly focused on them?

No one would have gotten out of that okay, but Cordelia seems more than okay.

She’s skittish but open and trusting. That’s proof someone had her back in that pack.

A healer would have some protection even if they weren’t liked.

It’s not like the humans and their doctors bound together by the exchange of money.

There’s not a formal school for healers to attend which makes healers hard to come by.

Everything she knows was passed down to her carefully.

In all those years of study they had to have grown to care for her.

Even in the worst of it all Cordelia had one person in her corner.

That’s the only thought that grounds me while watching the way Cordelia moves.