Page 63 of The Enforcer’s Rejected Mate (Red River Rejected Mates #1)

“Her old mate.”

That rocks my shit. A mate?

“Who?” I snap. “Who is he?”

“Some foolish fop who didn’t know what he had when he had it. Traded Cordelia right in for a spoiled little princess that will only bring him misery. Can you imagine doing such a thing?”

I shake my head. “No.” It’s true, I can’t. Cordelia is…she’s fucking starlight. Beautiful and pure, untouchably perfect. “I can’t.”

“That’s because you’re a smart wolf. Her mate,” my wolf snarls when she says that so she holds up her hands in placation, “my apologies, her ex-mate, as stated earlier, is not smart like you. He made that deal and he’ll live to regret it for the rest of his days but he doesn’t know that yet. Neither does the Moonshadow Pack.”

“What do they have to do with the Frostclaws?”

“Why everything, dear Enforcer. Her ex isn't just any wolf, he’s the Alpha’s son.”

“Fucking hells.” Cordelia was matched with Keiran, the traitor’s son?

I vaguely remember him, a blond-headed little shit that was always underfoot.

Even if I didn’t, I’d know him from studying that pack backwards and forwards.

Keiran was born in Red River with the rest of us.

He's younger than me, Cordelia’s age, and had left the pack with his parents and the rest of the dissenters in the first wave when we thought it was going to be a peaceful split, before we realized what Ronan’s brother was truly after.

“As the Alpha’s son, an engagement to the Moonshadow heiress made good sense, because remember me saying he wasn’t smart?

Well, neither is his father. When they made the alliance with the Moonshadow Pack no one knew they didn't have two cents to rub together. Still don’t and they never will with how they manage finances.

Old Alpha Wayne is not getting the empire he thought he was but the fates haven’t revealed that yet. Soon, though.”

“What does this fucking have to do with Cordelia?”

“He won’t marry her without Cordelia which means….” her voice trails off and she lets me put the pieces together.

“The Moonshadow Pack wants her or they stay broke.”

Jazzy snaps her fingers. “As smart as you are handsome. How lovely the universe blessed Cordelia with a mate of quality,” she pauses before she adds, “she’s gone through a lot, you know.”

She’s gone through a lot is the understatement of the millenia. Cordelia grew up with our enemies, with her kidnappers. She’s gone through hell.

I sigh. “I’ve gathered.” I walk into the clearing and then hold out a hand to Jazzy. “I’ll take that smoke now.”

“That’s more like it, Enforcer.” Jazzy takes out a cigarette and when I put it to my lips, she snaps her fingers to light it. I’m not even phased by magically lit smoke.

I just nod my thanks. “Obliged.” I take a drag and stand in silence with the witch. Neither of says a thing, we just smoke our cigarettes in fucking peace.

Jazzy breaks the silence. “When a bond is forced, a soul is owned. An owned soul is a broken one, don’t you think?”

I frown. “What the hells does that mean?”

She flicks ash off her cigarette. “We both know who I’m talking about.”

“Cordelia.”

“The orphan come home.” Jazzy starts to hum, it’s a tuneless sound rises, falls, and ends abruptly when she starts speaking but there’s something wrong with her voice. It’s a lower pitch, like it’s coming from some place beyond her, beyond us.

“ Frost fallen where fire once bloomed, her bond broken before it binds, born from a wound most sharp. When she marks her claim, her heart will shatter once, then twice, love and ruin. ” Chills run up my spine. What the seven hells is happening right now?

I take a step towards the witch. “Jazzy-”

She points at me, the cherry butt of her cigarette glows in the evening light. “ You will kneel and she will rise. Her inevitable end bought by two, not one heart. ”

I fall back a step. You. She means me. The she can only be Cordelia. Her inevitable end? ‘

Jazzy blinks and then gives her head a shake. “Oh shit. I was in a trance, wasn’t I?”

“What the hell was that?”

“Did I start humming?”

I nod. Take a pull on my cigarette and run my hands through my hair. “Yeah, sounded like you weren’t you. Like you had a damn robot in your throat.”

“Yeah, that’s the Beyond.”

“The what?”

“The Beyond. The magic that makes us all tick,” she says, tossing her cigarette down on the ground and stomping on it.

“Sometimes it has a message and sometimes I’m the one that delivers it.

Kind of annoying because I know what it is so there’s no real reason to possess me the way it does !

” She shouts the last part out at the night sky.

I don’t question it. Witches are curious creatures and this one just told me some bullshit.

“What did you mean I’ll kneel and she’ll rise? Her inevitable end?”

“That part is pretty interesting, huh?”

“ Jazzy ,” I growl.

“Listen, I don’t know, okay? It’s a prophecy and those are tricky things.”

“Then what’s the fuckin’ point of a prophesy?”

She shrugs. “Free will? Listen, if I could tell you I would but I can’t. It’s against the rules. Magic and the Beyond doesn’t work that way. Witches can’t interfere with your free will.”

I stare at her. I don’t get what she’s going on about but it’s big. “Speak plainly, witch.”

“I can’t. That’s against the-

“The rules?” I wave her off. “Fucking shit. This is fucked. Talking to me about my mate’s end in a damn riddle?

I don’t have time for this. I’ve got Moonshadow fuckers to track, no time for your cryptic witch shit.

” I stalk across the clearing, think about shifting but I don’t.

I’m at the edge of the clearing when Jazzy calls after me.

“So you’re claiming her, then?”

I stop. I’ve thought of Cordelia as mine, even though I’ve tried not to, made a bargain with myself that now just isn’t the right time but soon…soon I’ll find the right time. In all of that I’ve never actually claimed her.

Not like this.

There’s no hiding that she’s mine. Not anymore after this. Fucking witch prophesies.

“Yeah, I guess I am.”

“You heard the prophecy then?” She asks. “Her inevitable end bought by two, not one heart.”

“Couldn’t forget it if I wanted to,” I mutter and then because it’s easier than this, I shift.

My plan to try to make it back to the pack meeting tonight is out the window.

I can’t see Cordelia now. I need time to think.

I run down the hill and speed towards the quarry.

I’ll head off Lucian and the others, have him send the extras back to Red River before we continue on.

I make it to the base of the hill when I catch the scent of Lucian and the others.

They’re downwind from me. Not far off. I bet they just arrived at the quarry.

“Do right by your mate, Enforcer! When the time comes you’ll have to decide. And don’t forget, Soul Ties go both ways. What happens to you, happens to her.”

Jazzy’s voice echoes through the trees. It bounces off the rusted old bulldozers and off the quarry walls. There’s no escaping it but that doesn’t stop me from trying anyways.

What happens to you, happens to her.

Fucking hells.