Page 53 of The Enforcer’s Rejected Mate (Red River Rejected Mates #1)

Chapter

Thirty-Six

THORNE

S he’s in league with the fucking fairies.

“If you’ll see yourself out.”

The switch in Cordelia from the shy and nervous omega to the one with enough steel in her spine to sass Cassidy and toss me out on my ear within minutes isn’t lost on me. That’s not normal omega behavior.

Something’s not right about her.

“Oh, I’ll see myself out all right,” I mutter. I walk down the hall, power-walking past everyone and everything without a second glance while I turn over the last few minutes with Cordelia. What happened back there?

“She’s going to leave.”

I say it outloud because I need to hear it but I know I sound like I’m moon-touched or suffering from bondrot to the group of Defenders with the way I’m talking to myself.

“Are you all right, Enforcer?” Lucian asks. Fuck. It’s not good when Lucian looks worried. I must look like shit.

“Is there anything I can take care of?” he asks, voice lowered enough that it’s just between us.

I almost tell him no but then I nod and motion for him to follow me.

“Walk with me.” Lucian and I have known each other since we were pups.

We grew up with each other, shifted together for the first time, we’ve hunted and feasted together for years.

There’s no one else I trust to have my back but him.

When I was appointed Enforcer it was a no brainer on who I was going to pick as my second.

Lucian has always been the more easygoing one out of the two of us, the opposite to me with his shaggy blond hair and cool grey eyes that are more often than not dancing with mirth.

We balance each other out when it comes to leading the Defenders but it also helps that Lucian is as big as I am, more than enough to keep the peace if anything were to happen to me.

Lucian inclines his blond head to me and looks back at the rest of the Defenders.

“All right, head on to the training rooms. I’ll be there shortly.

Tori, you’re in charge while I’m gone.” I bite back a smile when he picks Tori.

She’s the newest out of all the Defenders but she’s the sharpest. Great instinct and a natural when it comes to leading but I’ve seen the way Lucian looks at her.

The idiot is falling in love and he doesn’t even know it yet.

“Nice choice,” I tell him when the recruits are on the move.

“Shut the hell up,” he says but it’s with a smile on his face.

‘I don’t know why you haven’t asked her to dinner.”

“Because there’s nothing there.”

“Sure.”

“This isn’t about me. You’re the one talking to yourself like you’re haunted.”

I scowl. “I’m not haunted.”

“Seems like something someone who’s haunted would say but sure, sure.

Why don’t we focus on one crisis at a time because I’m assuming this has everything to do with that doe-eyed little number from the Meadows.

You’ve been trailing her like a lovesick pup.

” A growl rises in my throat when Lucian says that and he laughs.

“And that is what we call a direct hit.”

I jab him in the ribs so hard he doubles over. “No, that’s a direct hit.”

“Worth it,” Lucian wheezes and tosses his head back with a laugh when he’s able to stand again. “Now, you want to tell me where we’re going? Because I got to tell you this pace is telling me it’s urgent.”

He’s right. We're practically jogging down the hall.

I clear my throat and force myself to slow down.

If he’s noticed then others have too and I’m not keen on anyone asking questions before I’ve had time to sort out my head when it comes to Cordelia.

I feel for the Soul Tie between us. It’s there.

Everything feels fine so I let it go and focus back on my conversation.

“Maybe it is about the new healer,’ I admit.

“We’re lucky she showed up when she did. I thought we’d be without another one for another three years at the rate it’s been going.”

“You heard anything about her lately?”

“No, why would I?” he asks.

Thank fuck he isn’t listening to whatever bullshit Ceelie and Annie are spreading in the pack.

I clap him on the back. “This is why we’re friends.”

“Because I don’t know anything?”

“Annie and Ceelie have been making the rounds in the pack. Good to know they haven’t poisoned your mind yet.”

“Okay, this is an instance I’m proud to be ignorant.

” He groans and shakes his head. “Those two need to get a hobby. You know I’m never one for human activities but they do this thing called Extreme Ironing that looks quite challenging.

I bet we could get them hooked if we put our minds to it. I don’t even think I could master it.”

“Extreme what?”

“Listen, I don’t have the time to enlighten you on the finer points of a well-ironed shirt.”

“I swear to Luna. I’m taking back what I said about us being friends.”

“Easy come, easy go.” Lucian waves his hand. “And besides, you can’t threaten me. You need me. Who else would put up with your whole brooding thing? Me. That’s who. Now what is going on with the healer?”

“She’s a witch.”

Lucian stops walking and looks at me, all traces of his earlier jokes gone. “What do you mean she’s a witch ?”

“Not just a witch but a fairy.”

“Oh hells. She’s a fairy? How do you know that?”

“That’s the thing. I don’t.” I hate saying it. I feel no better than Annie and Ceelie gossiping about Cordelia but something isn’t adding up. A fairy makes the most sense with what I’m working with.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“First, I can’t smell her. She has no scent.”

“That’s interesting but that doesn’t make her a witch. I did hear she’s one of the orphans from Ronan,” he pauses and I understand why, we all do, “that she’s Amara’s daughter.”

We all know what it makes her if she’s Amara’s because it makes her equally Ronan’s.

“She is,” I say. “I took her to the Healer’s rooms today and she told me she was raised by a witch. That the witch taught her everything she knows about being a healer.”

Lucian raises an eyebrow. “Did she really say that or are you jumping to conclusions.”

I pause because now I can’t remember.”It doesn’t matter. I know she was raised by a witch. She said Jazzy was her teacher’s sister.”

Lucian’s eyes go wide. “Seven hells. The fey witch in Oak Fast? That Jazzy? ” He looks nervous and I get it. Jazzy is powerful. Any shifter worth their salt knows to steer clear.

“One and the same. She was asking about meeting her.”

Because she’s going to leave my brain screams at me.

“That doesn’t make her a spy,” Lucian says. “I’d rather she be connected to the fey and a witch than a spy.”

“How do you mean?”

“She was with Frostclaw, can you imagine being trapped with those monsters? She grew up there, and if a witch was the only kind face she had to lean on in a place like that…” he lets out a whistle and shakes his head.

“I don’t think there’s any among us that would have not fallen in with the witch.

Besides that, you know how the fey are. Did she even know the witch was a fairy? I bet you she didn’t.”

I hesitate. Cordelia’s face flashes into my mind. She looked confused when I told her Jazzy was a fairy.

“She’s fey?”

“I didn’t know.”

“No, I swear I didn’t know, I-”

“I…well, she…”

Lucian looks up at the ceiling and comes to a full stop with a sigh. “You didn’t listen to her, did you? You let your temper get the best of you. I know it.”

“She’s planning on leaving us.”

He looks down from the ceiling to me. “That is undesirable but shifters are free to come and go from our pack. Why would it matter if she stays a day or a week? She can go where she pleases.”

My wolf growls low and sits up at the thought of Cordelia leaving. She can’t leave us. She’ll be unprotected. The omega isn’t safe outside of our territory. The thoughts from my wolf are quick and fast but I agree with him. We have to be the ones to protect her.

“It’s not safe,” I settle on. “If she’s dealing with fairy witches, she has no business on her own, and besides that, she’s an omega.”

Lucian narrows his eyes. “Is she now?”

“She is and stop looking at me like that.”

“No, I don’t think I will,” Lucian says and crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m guessing when you made your wild leap about her colluding with fairy witches that you didn’t listen to her for even a second because you were already thinking about the fact that she might leave you.”

You.

She might leave me.

I stiffen at his words. I’m lucky we’re alone in the hallway, the quiet around us is a gift with the way my wolf has started snarling. He bares his teeth and pushes to take our skin but I force him back.

“Thorne…”

“Maybe you’re right,” I admit.

“Of course, I’m right. I’m your best friend. I know how you get when you think someone special to you might be in danger.”

“And what gives you the idea that I think she’s special?”

The words taste like ash in my mouth because even I’m not delusional enough to convince myself that Cordelia doesn’t feel special to me.

omega, or not, she’s special. The restless feeling that drove me to patrol the borders until I came across her in the meadows wasn’t by accident.

It couldn’t have been, not if it started when she left Frostclaw Pack.

I knew she was coming, didn’t I? I know it in my bones now that I’ve had a day to settle into Cordelia being here. The Soul Tie is proof. It was destined to happen, everything already set in motion before I even stepped into the Meadows. She called me to the Meadows.

And why do you think that is?

I push the thoughts away and focus on Lucian’s smug face. “I’ve seen you doting on her at meals. I also know there’s not an alpha here that hasn’t been stared down by you when they try to approach her.”

“I don’t trust them.”

“They’re pack,” Lucian reminds me.

“I don’t give two shits about pack. Those alphas aren’t strong enough to protect her.”

Lucian’s eyes light up. “You like her. I fucking knew it. Had your scent all over her in the Meadows for a reason then. Claimed her the second you could.”

“I don’t like her,” I lie. “She’s newly returned to the pack and needs protection. Besides, I need to keep an eye on her to make sure she’s not a spy or a fairy or whatever the fuck she is.” I’m scrambling to come up with reasons why I need to watch Cordelia. I know it. So does Lucian.

“Now I get why you scent-marked her. Why your wolf has taken a liking to her when no one else has been able to turn your head. Luna knows Cassidy tries her best.”

My eyes narrow when he brings Cassidy into this. “She’s on thin fucking ice after the way she spoke to Cordelia today. Morgana is getting a visit from me today, just like Annie and Ceelie.”

“You mean from us.”

“I got it.”

“The hells you do. I let you go see the Beta and those two hens on your own and more trouble than it’s worth is going to find you, which,” he pokes me in the chest, “I don’t fucking need. One more thing to keep an eye on with the patrols you’ve been going on.”

“The border has to be patrolled. You know something is coming.”

It’s true, the ferals have been riled and there’s been noise about Moonshadow Pack making a play for trouble after we refused to partner with them.

They’re to the North of us and usually they’re keen enough to keep to themselves but their alpha has been on a power trip lately.

No idea what the hell has him pushing to expand past the traditional borders.

“Trouble might be brewing but you’re obsessed. We all know it and see it.”

“I keep the pack safe.”

“No one blames you. We were too young to stop what happened.” He means the fire. The orphans Frostclaw took. I see the girl then, the memory springs to life in front of me. The way she was so unafraid when I couldn’t move a damn muscle.

“I’m not too young now. I’m not letting shit happen in those woods.”

“There’s talk of you turning feral.”

I scoff. “The only pack member that would believe that is Annie.”

Lucian shakes his head. “It’s not just the gossips. You’re gone too long, you stay in your wolf too long, you need…” his voice trails off and I’m grateful he doesn’t say what we both know he almost does.

An omega.

I need an omega to take the edge off of the behavior he’s claiming the pack is seeing from me.

An omega would even me out, make me more in tune with the calm that gets more and more elusive by the fucking day.

I’m old enough that I should have taken a mate but no one has felt right.

None of the omegas in the pack have held my attention long enough to pull me away from my duties to the pack.

As much as I want to tell Lucian he’s full of shit, I don’t. Ronan’s made some noise about it even if I ignored it. “You’re a hell of an Enforcer but it’s good to settle down. Even if you lose it, at least you’ll have had it. Not everyone lives long enough to get a taste of peace.”

Peace.

I haven’t felt peace in so very long.

“You know I’m right. You need something more.

” I grunt but don’t say anything which suits Lucian just fine.

“That means you don’t pay anyone a visit without me there, and that sure as hell means no going to the Alpha until we’ve figured out the new healer more.

She’s not dangerous, she’s not a spy. She’s just a girl who was raised in hell. ”

Hell.

If I were to think of where and what hell would be, Frostclaw Pack would be the first place I think of.

“Who knows what she went through there. What the others that are still there are enduring.”

Lucian’s right. My gut twists and I want to turn around and go right back to Cordelia. Shame burns in me because I don’t know what she’s been through. I didn’t ask her but I do know what Frostclaw is capable of. All of us do.

Except we only endured one day with them. She lasted years.

“Fuck,” I rasp.

“Fuck is right,” Lucian mutters and then jerks his head in the direction of where the training rooms are.

“How about you blow off some steam with the recruits? They’ve been a little too lazy for my liking.

You’ll scare them into shape so we’re ready for Moonshadow or any other pack that thinks they’ve got what it takes to challenge us. ”

The idea of letting loose in the training rooms is a bright spot in the shame and anger that I feel about how things went with Cordelia today.

I might not know how to keep my head around the omega but I do know how to do this.

I was made to be a weapon, so that’s exactly what I intend to do.

It’s the only time the world makes any sense.

“Lead the way,” I tell Lucian.