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My eyes are watering by the time I’ve got myself under control, a few stray tears pressing out from behind my eyelids. “I’m sorry, what?” I gasp out, one hand pounding my chest, even though that never actually helps with anything.
Aurora arches a brow and tilts her head. “The younger Pack Werth doesn’t have an omega. Yasmin Forsyth is bonded to a pack on the east coast, has been for almost five years now. You really never thought to look them up in the pack registry?”
I lean back in my chair, looking away from her. “I didn’t exactly want to see it in black and white. Not to mention…” Not to mention if they registered any children to the pack, I think I would have jumped off the nearest cliff at the undeniable proof that they were moving on without me. That it really was over.
I don’t say that to Aurora, though. It’s far too vulnerable. I’ve barely admitted to myself that I moved so close to them because I wanted them to find me. Hell, that’s probably why I was willing to come here, why I didn’t fight Aurora when she said I’d need to stay in town. Or Cody, when he said I had to be here to oversee the remodel.
Even though they hurt me, broke me beyond repair. A huge chunk of my heart wants them to fix it.
I sip my coffee while looking out the window. “They made me feel like I mattered. Like I was the most important person in the world to them. They told me we were going to be a family. Promised to bond me into their pack. I gave them everything that I was, Aurie. Everything that made me me was theirs, interwoven with them. I thought those threads were unbreakable. I thought there was nothing they wouldn’t do for me, but then…”
“But then they announced they were inviting Yasmine Forsythe into their pack.”
I nod, looking back at her. “It broke me, Aurie. Really, truly broke me. If they did it again, decided that I’m not good enough for them, that they didn’t want me, after I gave them a second chance, I doubt I’d recover.” I shake my head. “I know I wouldn’t.”
Her frown deepens. “I’m sure it feels like that, Vee. But you know that’s not true. You would survive. It would hurt like hell, but you’re stronger than that.”
My teeth sink into my lower lip and I stare at her hard. Do I trust her with this? Can I tell her what amounts to my biggest secret? I know she’s friends with Davis. Will she tell him?
It occurs to me I don’t really care if she does. Maybe some part of me wants them to know, wants them to realize how much they actually fucked me up.
“I’m not actually.”
She frowns, bracing her forearms on the table and leaning forward. “What do you mean?”
I blow out a breath and meet her eyes. “Have you heard of Rejected Mate Disorder?”
Her eyes widen, but that’s the only reaction she has before she says slowly. “I’ve heard of it… but it’s super rare. Only fated mates can get it. It makes them sick if they…”
“If I’m away from my mates for too long. If I try to date another pack. If I even try to have a one-night stand. I spend most of my time sick, Aurie. Because I haven’t been with my mates for years. Suppressants help, because they keep my omega nature under control, but…”
Her eyes are wide as the realization hits. “But if they rejected you again, it would literally kill you.”
I nod and look out the window again. “Yeah. I think it would. Maybe not right away, but the disorder would eat away at me. Kind of like a wasting disease. Eventually I would die.”
“What the fuck?” My eyes slip closed at the angry, shocked voice. I feel Aurora stiffen across the table from me. Hear her suck in a sharp breath and I know my ears aren’t playing tricks on me.
I take a deep breath in through my nose and let it out before opening my eyes and twist to look up at the alpha pumping pheromones into the coffee shop. “What are you doing here?”
Rule 15: Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward
What are you doing here? That’s all she has to say to me after I overhear her telling Aurora that she’s fucking dying. Aurie leans across the table, her expression contrite. “I’m sorry, Vee. I didn’t- Davis begged me to set up a meeting between the two of you. I didn’t know—And, fuck.”
Vee reaches across the table and pats the beta’s hand. “Don’t worry about it, Aurie. It’s fine.”
“No,” I growl our hands fisted by my sides, it’s taking everything I have not to drag her out of her chair right now and back to our pack house where I can put her in bed and call about a million doctors to demand that they fix her, fix whatever is wrong with her. “Its not fucking fine.”
Vee lets out a weary sound and then looks around the coffee shop, her cheeks going pink. I don’t give a fuck if everyone else is on edge from my pheromones, tinged acrid with smoke, because I’m freaking out. My alpha is pressing against me like he needs to take control, tear apart the world to make sure nothing happens to Vee.
At least, nothing beyond what has already happened. Ford told us in the early hours of the morning what Sylvie told him, about how a feral alpha almost raped her when she presented. We’d all agreed right then that we’d do anything to prove to her she’s ours, she belongs with us. To make sure she never experiences something like that again.
They sent me today to help break down her walls with a little harmless flirting, while also reinforcing that we don’t want her to go anywhere, that we’ll follow her if she does. And then to tell her the truth about Yasmin.
Once she’s heard that, the hope is she’ll meet with all of us and actually hear us out. We know it did it wrong last time in Topher’s office.
But now I’m losing it. They would have been better off sending Asher. He’s the calm one. Though I’m not sure even he could stay calm in the face of Vee dying.
Vee pushes to her feet and scoops up her iced coffee, before pressing a hand against my chest to get me to back up. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”
