Page 7 of Reject Him

CHAPTER THREE

Logan lies in bed, staring at the swirls along the ceiling. He traces them with his eye, following the dips and curves with little interest. He listens to the party still raging below with no inclination to rejoin them. He’s never enjoyed parties. People tend to sweet-talk him, especially the females.

He still smells like her. Like Eme as he’s heard everyone refer to her. Every time he breathes in, he can smell her scent, that of budding roses and fresh-cut grass. He isn’t sure if it’s her natural scent or a body wash of some sort. Either way, the aroma calls to his wolf, who stirs restlessly inside him.

His canines still prick from where they had protruded. No matter what he thinks about, it all leads to her. Her body. The way she talks. The way she fucked him. But for the life of him, he can’t figure out why she stopped the mating. He wanted to—man, did he want to—but her . . . He doesn’t know what to make of it. He had given her many opportunities to back out.

His canines are a reminder of what he’s missing - of what should be his. But he won’t force anyone to do anything, especially his future mate if she’ll have him. That isn’t looking so good.

He hadn’t expected her to turn him away so blatantly. They’re to imprint. Like most wolves, he’s never found his true mate. A true mate is an instant bond, so rare that most die trying to find the other. Some give up entirely, and when they imprint with another, they forfeit their right to their true mate. That destiny is gone. Is that why she’s so reluctant? Is she holding onto the dream that someday she’ll find that special someone? It can’t possibly be anything else because he’s done nothing to deserve such hatred.

But the sex . . . the sex was good. More than good. It felt right. It felt amazing. She was amazing, and he wasn’t afraid to tell her so. If only she let him get to know her, things would get better. If only she let down her guard to get to know him, she would see that he’s not a bad guy. At least, he doesn’t classify himself as such. He’s always seen himself as someone fair and just. But she doesn’t seem to care.

Feelings stir inside him, and he doesn’t know what to make of them. What to call them. Hurt perhaps? Rejection? He’s never been rejected before.

He supposes he’ll just have to take his time with her, give her the benefit of the doubt and room when she needs to be alone. He just hopes it doesn’t take forever because, in order to hold up his part of the alliance, he has to mate with her and soon.

The next morning, with her luggage in the trunk, Eme follows the Brook Mountain Pack’s SUVs up the side of the mountain. The sun peeks over the horizon behind her, glaring across her rearview mirror. The higher they go, the colder it gets, and the more the road weaves and turns. It’s slow going, and she finds herself nervous about this new, unwanted adventure.

Last night, she had thought about her rejection. She knew it wasn’t fair of her, but she can’t help the way she feels. Her body wants him. Her wolf wants him. But she can’t fathom the idea of giving up on her true mate. Perhaps she’s blind to the truth of the matter, but she’s stubborn enough to ignore that fact.

Ahead, tucked between towering and thick snow-capped evergreens, she spots a rusted green sign that states “Brook Mountain” and, below that, a crooked yellow sign that states, “CAUTION: WOLVES.”

Her heart skips a beat. They’re almost at the unfamiliar pack lands.

This move won’t be so bad, she reassures herself. A new start, a new life, a new . . . mate. She shivers at the thought. She’ll just have to get used to the idea.

It isn’t long before they pull into the village. The village consists of cabins on both sides of the roads sandwiched between trees, some large, some small. They drive past them, past the peering eyes of a few men, women, and children walking about in the shallow snow, and head toward the end of the road that leads to a larger cabin that can only belong to the Head Alpha.

The cars that once led her find parking spots in front of their own cabins, but she keeps driving to the alpha’s house and stops on the right side of Logan’s vehicle. She takes a deep breath before parking the car and peers out at the log house.

Drifts of snow and the backdrop of trees create this hugging feeling inside her, a reluctantly comforting feeling. She ignores the feeling, but from inside the car, she can smell the pine and evergreens and the snow.

Her wolf urges her to get out of the car and sense out the territory. She mentally squashes her down because getting out of the car means talking to Logan.

Exhaling loudly, she pulls the handle on her car’s door and plants her feet on the gravel peppered with snow. She shivers slightly, stands, and pulls her coat tighter around her.

Logan exits the passenger side and grins broadly at her. “Welcome home.”

Home. It feels foreign in her thoughts, but she doesn’t voice that aloud. Voicing it aloud might make her seem fearful, and that’s the last thing an alpha female needs to be seen as.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

His smile falls and he pinches the bridge of his nose. “Does anything satisfy you?”

Yes, she thinks. Just not you.

He drops his hand and sighs. He slides his hands inside his coat pocket and tips his head toward the alpha house. “This is where you’ll be staying with me. You’re free to roam, of course.” He nods to the second-largest house on the right of the alpha’s house. “That’s Wayne’s house, my beta. You’ve met him already.” At the mention of his name, Wayne, the shorter, stockier man from the party last night, comes around the side of the car and stops by Logan’s side. “The other houses are the rest of the pack’s. You’ll meet them all soon, I imagine. No one here is shy.”

“And the property?”

“It’s the largest territory there is. As long as you stay on the mountain, it’s yours to explore.”

Eme looks around as if she can see everywhere past the trees. “What’s past the mountain?”

“The rogue territory is at the Eastern base,” Wayne says. “But don’t worry about them. They may not be friends of ours, but they’ve left us alone for the most part.”

“Because they know what’s good for them,” another man says. Eme turns to the sounds and finds a man opening the trunk of her car. He reaches forward and extends a hand. “I’m Draven, the pack’s enforcer.”