Page 52 of The Enforcer’s Rejected Mate (Red River Rejected Mates #1)

Chapter

Thirty-Five

CORDELIA

W hat the hell am I thinking saying what I am? Who am I right now? It’s like watching someone else say it and I just can’t stop no matter how hard I try. I’m temporarily possessed by a bitchy poltergeist, that’s the only answer.

For a second, no one says anything. The ‘you’ I uttered in a fit of lunacy hangs heavy in the air like an anvil right over my head. Right now, I’m the cartoon coyote the pups used to watch at the community center when they were dropped off by their parents on moon runs.

The girl Thorne called Cassidy is pretty.

She looks every bit like the All-American advertisements I saw on the Winthrop billboards advertising perfume and holiday getaways.

She’s suntanned with green eyes and a heart-shaped face.

Her long blond hair falls straight and smooth down her back.

She looks young though, too young to be Thorne’s mate.

I slap the thought down as suddenly as it comes.

It’s none of my business if she’s his mate or not.

Cassidy narrows her eyes and takes a step towards me.

“I know that you’re new here, so you don’t know that my mom’s the Beta.

I wouldn’t call that basic at all, would you?

” I can hear the unspoken threat in her voice.

Keiran and the other children of the Frostclaw Elders used to throw their weight around all the time to intimidate anyone that stood up to them.

I used to hate it. Always at the mercy of others because of who their parents are… it never was fair.

Anger burns hot in my chest and in that moment it isn’t Cassidy that I’m talking to, it’s every asshole that took a shot at me in Frostclaw and hid behind their parents rather than facing me on their own.

My wolf snaps her maw. She wants blood. She knows we could rip this girl apart if I set her free but I keep hold of her.

I got this. I have to be the one to handle this.

If I let it start now there will be no stopping it in Bloodstone.

I don’t give a shit who Cassidy’s mommy is.

I have no intention of trading one prison for another.

I will be fucking respected in my mother’s pack. Or die trying.

“Are you going to run and tell your mommy then? Is that what you’re saying?

” Cassidy stops walking towards me and falls back a step like I slapped her.

I take the opportunity to step forward. “You tell anyone calling me a stray that they can have the decency to say it to my face like you did. At least you did me that courtesy.”

Cassidy’s face flushes and she looks away, down at her feet. “Listen, it’s just a joke,” she mumbles.

“I don’t care to be the punchline of your joke . I’m the healer here, this is my mother’s pack and if I hear any more jokes about me being a stray, I’ll leave.”

Cassidy looks up at me in surprise. “You can’t. We haven’t had a healer in years.”

I don’t look away from her the way my entire body is trying to make me do.

In Frostclaw, I would have shown my neck, tried to keep my head down and stay out of a fight.

Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve got my wolf now that I don’t do either of those things.

Instead, I cross my arms in a mirror image of Thorne and stare the other She-wolf down.

“Then I suggest you take care with your words when you speak to me.”

Cassidy nods. “Yeah, okay. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, I- it’s not funny.

“ She looks at Thorne. “I’m sorry,” she says and I feel my wolf stir.

It doesn’t like that she’s looking at Thorne like he’s the one to fix this and make her feel better for saying something shitty. Why the hells is she looking at him?

I roll my shoulders and point towards the door. “Apology accepted. Now if you don’t mind, I have a busy afternoon getting set up here.”

Cassidy takes off like her feet are on fire.

“Of course. Goodbye.” The blonde is out the door a second later and only then do I let myself take a breath.

I sag against the counter and lean over it to catch my breath.

I feel like I’m going to puke. I’ve never stood up to anyone.

Oh Luna, what if I have to do it again? How does anyone do this and survive?

“You okay over there?” Thorne asks.

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Well, you’re in the right place for that, I guess.”

I burst into laughter and cover my face with my hands. “Stop. You did not just say that.”

“Tell me I’m wrong,” he says. I hear the tease in his voice. It lightens my mood some.

“You’re not.” I lower my hands and smile at him. “You’re right.”

“Exactly. Good that you’re learning that early.”

A shiver runs up my spine and I fidget under his attention. I turn and grab a jar of moss to inspect.

“So, who was she?”

“Just some dumb kid.”

Relief hits me so hard that I almost sigh from it. She’s not his mate.

“Really? I thought she was… you know. ”

“Thought she was what?”

“Your mate…or girlfriend? She smelled pretty human to me.”

“That’s just because she’s always in town. She’s been away at college, about to head back out,” Thorne tells me. “Cassidy is a lot of things but she’s never been anything to me. I keep it civil because of her mother.”

For the second time in as many minutes relief washes over. I let out a visible sigh of relief to which Thorne raises an eyebrow. Ohhhhh no. He noticed that. I turn away from and walk to the collection of herbs Jo left for me.

“I can’t smell you,” Thorne says.

“What?” I freeze, a bottle of dried mugwort in my hand.

“Your scent. It’s not there and I’ve tried to pick it up.

Everyone has one but when it comes to you…

” I take a peek at him over my shoulder and see that he’s frowning and looking down at the floor, like the puzzle of why I don’t smell like anything will reveal itself between the floorboards. “There’s nothing there when I try.”

He’s been trying to scent me?

“I, well, I don’t have much of a scent,” I tell him and put the jar back into the slot it belongs in. I clear my throat and make a play to change the subject before Thorne asks me more about why he can’t scent me. “My teacher has a sister in the area. Her name is Jazzy. Have you heard of her?”

Something shifts in Thorne and the big alpha takes a step back from me.

It’s like someone switched off a switch and took away all the light in the room.

The big windows full of warm morning sun don’t measure up to the coldness Thorne radiates.

My friend is gone. The detached and aloof version of him is here now.

Oh no.

“Forgot you had ties to Jazzy.” Thorne’s voice is frosty. I hear the suspicion in it. Hells. I forgot he had beef with witches.

“I, ah, well it’s not that I have ties to her.

Well, wait, I guess I do but it’s just that my teacher is her sister.

I was supposed to find her if things didn’t work out here.

” I’m rushing to explain. I can’t stop myself from talking.

It’s like I have word vomit. “My teacher, Maud, wanted me to be safe.”

“Is that why you’re asking for her? You think things are going to go sideways.”

“No.” His question surprises me. I shake my head. “Of course not. I’m curious to meet her though and-”

“And what? Plan your next move? You did just tell Cassidy you’d leave, didn’t you?”

Frustration at being cut off bubbles up in me.

I put my hands on my hips and give the Enforcer a glare.

“And so what if I did? In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t exactly been welcomed with open arms. People are either staring at me like I have four arms or are calling me stray and talking behind my back.

I think it’s safe for me to have a back up plan and think about if things don’t work out here. ”

“What wouldn’t work out? We’re pack.” There’s hurt in his voice and I don’t understand it. At least I don’t until he says, “You never meant to stay with us, did you? What was this to you? A fucking field trip?”

Everything feels like it’s toppling over, crashing down and breaking apart like the time I was carrying a tub of dirty dishes back to the kitchens and the Beta ran right into me and I lost my grip on the whole thing.

The sound was deafening, the breaking and splintering of china plates I’d thought pretty at the start of dinner reduced to trash I had to sweep up and toss in the garbage.

It’s all being turned into something I don’t recognize. I have to save this somehow.

I take a step towards Thorne and will him to understand but he keeps speaking. “You would choose a fey witch over your kin? Your pack? ” Even though it’s a question, it doesn’t feel that way. It's an accusation. I fall back a step with wide eyes at his words.

“She’s fey?” I whisper in surprise. Everyone knows to fear the fairies.

There’s no limit to their magic and their tempers are as wild as they are.

Questions begin to swirl in my brain, all of it rushing and moving so fast that I can’t speak because how did I not know?

Shifters and the fey don’t mix, but Maud was an Elder.

How was Maud fey and I never knew? Is it only her sister and not her?

Did Alpha Ashford know? Is that why she didn’t tell me?

Why didn’t she trust me enough to tell me? I’d have kept her secret.

I’m definitely having my third existential crisis of the day when Thorne speaks and brings me back to Earth.

“Everyone knows she is. If you’re asking for her then you know that too. Don’t lie to me, Cordelia.”

“I didn’t know.” I shake my head. My words come out in a rush but it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t let me get a full sentence out. “No, I swear I didn’t know, I-”

“We don’t welcome the fey onto pack land. If you want to have any dealings with her or her kind you’ll have to go into Oak Fast for it. Shifters and fey do not mix ever,” he says, speaking to me like I’m a wet behind the ears pup.

“I know that,” I snap. My hands curl into fists at my side and I take a step away from him with a low growl. The sound would normally startle me but right now it feels right. My wolf is awake and alert, she sits up and snaps her teeth at him.

Rip his throat out.

Gods. I squeeze my fists tighter and tune her out. Her enthusiasm to defend me is welcome but this is not the place, even if it was attempting to take out the Enforcer of the pack, it isn’t the play right now. That doesn’t mean I can’t let him know I’m pissed though.

I hold out a hand and gesture towards the open door behind him. “Thank you for your time, Enforcer but I think I’ll see to my duties now. If you’ll see yourself out.” My voice is cold and I hate hearing it but I lift my chin and stay steady.

Thorne’s jaw clenches and his body goes tight.

The shift in him feels like a winter breeze, the scent of frost spikes and burns my nose when I take in my next breath.

Thorne doesn’t say a word to me before he turns on his heel and stalks out of the room.

And the second the door clicks shut behind him my knees go weak and I have to grab onto the counter beside me to hold myself up.