The dismissal stings more than I want to admit. I swallow hard as shame starts to make my entire head feel hot. “You want me to—”
“Now.” He doesn’t give me any chance to speak.
I look between him and Lydia. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to fight, to demand answers, to claim my place as his mate.
But I also have pride. And I’m not going to beg in front of an audience.
I walk to the door with my head held high. As I pass Lydia, I catch her eye for just a second and see the conflict there—pain battling anger.
I step into the corridor and shut the door behind me. For a moment, I just stand there, frozen. My throat tightens.
He threw me out. In front of her.
The humiliation I feel is sharp with pain. My wolf is snarling, the insult too much to bear.
He kissed me! I’m his fated mate! He humiliated his fated mate for another woman?
I’m not going to stand here in this hallway feeling sorry for myself while they have their private conversation. I start walking back toward my room.
Is it her? Is she the reason why he keeps rejecting me?
The thought twists like a knife. Maybe the mate bond doesn’t matter to him because he has already chosen someone else. Someone who isn’t me.
I reach my room, let myself in, close the door, and lean back against it. My hands are shaking. I press them flat against the wood, forcing myself to breathe.
I knew this wouldn’t be easy. I knew he was running from something. But I didn’t expect it to hurt this much. I didn’t expect to feel this small.
I bite my tongue when my eyes burn with tears.
Like hell I’ll cry for that jerk. Screw him!
Chapter Seven
Lucas
It’s too early for alcohol, but here I sit, alone in my office, staring at the cup of coffee I dosed heavily with liquor but haven’t touched.
I didn’t sleep last night, and even now, my thoughts are heavy. Every time I close my eyes, I see her. Feel her hands fisting in my collar. Taste her lips. Hear her voice drop to that provocative tone that shattered every defense I had.
Seeing her with another man made me snap. So much for my legendary self-control. I kissed her before I even realized I was moving.
I didn’t intend to. I fought against it with everything I had.
But that woman is so forward, so demanding, so relentlessly confrontational that she continually leaves me in shock. I was sure she’d back off once she realized I was not interested in her. I underestimated her persistence. I don’t know why I’m surprised; female shifters don’t like the word “no.”
I groan. I knew I shouldn’t have let her come here.
I could taste the champagne on her tongue. Her scent was overwhelming, filling my senses until I couldn’t think straight. Iwas already on the edge of going feral, and seriously considering banning everything citrus and jasmine from the territory…And then, she said those infuriating words…
The kiss was everything I’d been denying myself since the moment I first set eyes on her. Her mouth, soft and demanding under mine, her supple body pressed against me, the mate bond pulsing between us like a living thing.
And then, Lydia walked in, and reality crashed down on me.
Once I got my senses back, I panicked. Not because Lydia had seen us—though that was bad enough—but because I was terrified of what I might see when I looked at Sienna.
She didn’t notice how distraught I was since she was looking at Lydia, but I desperately scanned her body while she was distracted, searching for any sign of harm. Any indication that kissing me, touching me, had triggered something.
But there was nothing. No marks. No changes. No sign that physical contact had harmed her at all.
