Page 9 of The Enforcer’s Rejected Mate (Red River Rejected Mates #1)

Chapter

Seven

CORDELIA

“ K eiran?” I take a step towards him but there’s no warmth or care now when Keiran looks at me.

The tightness in my chest tells me what’s about to happen even if I don’t want to believe it.

My wolf howls when I move towards him. She snaps her teeth, ears flat down to her skull as she takes in the scene in front of her.

I know what I look like in front of the pack that’s now gone silent.

Pathetic. Weak. Worthless.

I wish I had enough pride to care. Everything I’ve ever wanted is so close, I can’t just let it slip away. I can’t. I’ll beg. I have to. How can I survive without my mate?

Keiran shakes his head and points a finger at me. “You and that witch did this, didn't you?”

I shake my head. “What? No! I-I didn’t do anything.”

Keiran looks back at Maud. “What did you do to me? And triggering her heat? You think this whore is going to tempt me from my duty to the pack?”

My eyes sting with tears when Keiran calls me that word.

He’s never called me anything like that.

Not like the others in the pack. Everything I’ve ever done with Keiran comes rushing back to me and I want the ground to open up and swallow me.

Take me and bury beneath a mountain of rock and soil until I’m somewhere Keiran can’t touch me ever again.

“I did nothing the moon did not will into place, pup.” Maud crosses her arms and narrows her eyes. “You think you’re better than your moon blessed true mate? What you do tonight can never be undone. Do you hear me? Never. Unforgivable.”

Maud’s ‘Never’ lands like an avalanche. We all feel it.

He takes a step back and looks between Maud and me, Keiran looks uncertain, but it’s fleeting and my stupid heart stutters like a flickering flame trying to stay alight in a rainstorm before it goes out.

Keiran makes his choice and turns his back on me. My hope dies.

Alpha Ashford rounds on Maud with a roar. “You think you can do this to me and mine, witch?! That you would drag this bitch in heat here and steal my son from me?”

My wolf wants to tear his throat out for yelling at her. She’s ours. Part of our pack. Our Elder, the one that raised us until we were strong, and we will never let him disrespect her.

“Don’t you yell at her!” I scream at Alpha Ashford and instantly the pack turns on me. Fur sprouts and canines get longer while growls rumble in their throats even while Alpha Ashford stares at me bug-eyed and silent like he’s swallowed his tongue.

“Get away from her,” I order him. I’m not afraid. The pack doesn’t scare me. They’re threatened by me though.

Scared of me.

I can smell the fear in the air and I bare my teeth. It’s useless to hold my wolf back. I’ve never been one to fight back, but my wolf? She’s a fighter. I can feel it when she snaps her teeth at Alpha Ashford and growls. She’s sized him up and doesn’t think much of what she’s seen.

Kill.

I should try and push down the urge but I don’t.

If I want to have any hope of staying in one piece tonight it’s not going to be without a fight, but Luna, I don’t even know how to shift.

I’m so fucked. Two wolves approach me from the left.

I’m too scared to do anything but let my wolf take over.

She’s not shifting, not yet, but she knows exactly what to do.

I let her instincts take over and drop down into a low crouch as the wolves keep approaching.

“I’m going to hurt you. Every last one of you,” I whisper.

I can see it in my head. How it’ll go. My wolf is big, she’s strong and fast. So much more than me and she’s more than the two wolves can handle.

I glance out at the pack that’s watching us intently.

Maybe she can’t take the whole pack but she’ll take more than a few with her.

One of them spits at me. “We’ll see about that, you cursed bitch.”

I bare my teeth. I’m going to rip his throat out first. The wolves tense and so do I. They move to leap at me but freeze when Maud’s voice cracks like a whip.

“Be still!”

The wolves stop advancing on me but they answer Maud with a growl. The Elder narrows her eyes at them.

Maud points a finger at them. “Silence, pups.”

The two Alphas fall silent, everyone does.

I don’t even think anyone so much as breathes but then I hear angry footsteps.

I don’t have to look to know it’s Alpha Ashford.

If this was yesterday, hells, if this was even an hour ago, I’d drop to the ground and show my neck. I’d submit and pray for mercy.

But now?

I want him to come.

My wolf wants him to come. She bares her teeth and the claws on my hands lengthen. I’m going to slice him into ribbons. I’ll make an example out of him before I let him hurt me or Maud.

“Cordelia!”

I don’t know who yells. Maybe it’s Maud, maybe it’s Keiran, or maybe it’s the last shred of my sanity begging me to stand down.

My name echoes in the village square when Alpha Ashford lunges at me with a snarl.

I step forward to meet him but the Alpha doesn’t get another step towards me.

Keiran grabs his father’s arm and pulls him to a stop.

Shock hits me in the chest and I stop. I can’t move. Why did Keiran stop his father?

I watch along with the pack in stunned silence as the two Alphas circle each other. Alpha Ashford shoves Keiran back but he can’t break his son’s grip. The pair of Alpha’s lock into a challenge.

“You don’t go near her,” Keiran’s voice is rough, deep. A roll of pleasure moves over both my wolf and I. She wags her tail, pleased by the turn of events. Our mate is doing the right thing. He’s protecting us.

“Are you moon touched?” Alpha Ashford snarls at Keiran. “She’s trash. A blight on our pack.” He flings a hand out towards me. “You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing in those woods with her?”

Oh Luna.

Keiran releases his father’s arm. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Alpha Ashford smiles. It’s a mean smile but all of his smiles are that way.

He looks from Keiran before his gaze comes to me.

“I know you’ve been rutting that slut for years.

I don’t blame you. She’s easy on the eyes, so why not put her to use?

” He pauses and then aims that mean smile at me like an arrow.

“I mean, the entire pack has been fucking her, so why not you? Isn’t that right, boys? ” he asks, looking out at the crowd.

There’s a few whispers and shuffles in the crowd before one of Keiran’s friends steps forward. Ben. He’s an Alpha that I avoid like the plague. He stinks like sulfur. “That’s right. Nearly every night.”

It’s a lie. No one has touched me but Keiran.

It doesn’t matter though, not when another Alpha steps forward and a second later another Alpha joins them and then a beta does.

Another and another and another adds their claim.

It doesn’t stop until every available male has spoken.

I look around the pack. The males leer at me and laugh, the females sneer or shoot me a mix of pitying and disgusted looks as they hold their young close, at the way the other Elders are staring at me like I’m worthless.

It feels like the air has been punched out of my lungs. I shake my head and look at Keiran. He’s looking at me like he doesn’t know me.

“It’s not true,” I whisper. The heat in my body is rising still, I can’t talk any louder, the lump in my throat is too big. “It’s not true. It’s only been you.” I will Keiran to understand. To believe me because how could any of it be true?

I’ve been with him so many nights, more than I can count. There was never any time for anyone else. He knows that. He has to.

My voice breaks but I try again. “Keiran.”

“Don’t you ever say my name again, you slut.”

My heart breaks. He believes them. My wolf howls, the sound claws its way out of me even though I try to hold it back. My legs give out and I hit the cobblestone with a thud. When the tears come I don’t have the strength to stop them.

Alpha Ashford stalks forward. “Disgusting filth.”

The fight in my wolf is gone and I’ve never been a fighter. I don’t move as he advances on me. I should run. I try to move but I’m a puppet whose strings were cut. I stay right where I am, broken and ripped open. Alpha Ashford stops in front of me and reaches down to grab me.

“I’m going to make sure you never see another sunrise.”

A sob wracks my body at his words but still I don’t move.

Alpha Ashford grabs me by my shoulder and jerks me forward.

My palms hit the ground with a slap, barely saving my face from hitting the cobblestones when he drags me towards the bonfire.

Oh hells. Is he going to throw me in the fire?

Fear spikes through me and I start to fight but I can’t stop him.

My wolf is gone. She’d hiding, silent and fearful.

I can feel her sorrow bleeding through every inch of me. She’s broken just the same as me.

I’m on my own.

“Tonight I will finally rid our pack of this filth!” Alpha Ashford’s shout makes the pack cheer. He walks faster and the stones slice into my hands and knees.

“Let go of me!” I scream and kick. I lose my shoe when he doesn’t stop and end up busting my knee wide open on the ground.

Blood smears across the cobblestones with each step the Alpha takes.

We’re so close to the bonfire that I can feel the heat of it.

I turn to try and get my bearings and lock eyes with Keiran.

He’s nearby, the woman is back by his side, delicate hands wrapped around his bicep.

“Keiran!” I scream. “Help me!”

He doesn’t do anything. Just moves back another pace and puts an arm around Bella. Somehow, seeing him with her like this hurts more than being shamed and dragged in front of the entire pack.

“Get out of the way, witch.”