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She walked down the alley, going to her apartment, and with him so close, she couldn’t handle it. She stopped, spun around, and folded her arms across her chest. “Stop it.”
“Misha, we need to talk.”
“No, we don’t. You need to back off.”
“I had no idea you were a virgin,” he said.
She couldn’t stop herself as she brought her hand up and slapped him around the face. “How dare you!”
She’d slapped him.
Her mate.
Her alpha.
Misha shoved her hand into the pocket of her skirt and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
“I deserved it.”
She liked to pretend she could be a violent person, but the truth was that any physical pain sickened her. “Leave me alone. We’re not on good terms. I don’t want to talk to you, and right now, I don’t want to see you.”
She hated how weak she sounded. Her eyes filled with tears, and a hollow pain remained in her chest. She turned her back to him and started to walk.
One step. Two steps. Three steps. On the fourth, she stopped and looked over her shoulder. “On my first transition, I knew you were my mate. I had to stand in front of the whole pack while you rejected me. For three years, I’ve had to deal with you treating me as something you couldn’t stand, and I did that with a little hope. I saw the way you looked at me, especially when you didn’t think I was paying attention. You want me. I know you do. I sense your wolf on every single full moon, and it’s one of the many reasons why I have never given up hope. The single men within our pack don’t show me any attention. You think I haven’t noticed the occasional black eye? Or, and this is my favorite, if they show interest in me, you’ve got to talk to them, and the next thing you know, they don’t want to talk to me. They avoid me.”
She shook her head. “So the fact you have to even think and wonder as to why I was a virgin is laughable. There has never been anyone else, Decker, and I can’t believe you even doubted my loyalty. That’s sickening.”
Those were her parting words.
Decker didn’t follow her to her apartment.
She let herself in, closed and locked the door, and went straight to the bathroom. Running the water, she put some vanilla-scented salts into the tub. Then she stepped inside, sinking beneath and letting the warmth soothe her aching body.
Alone, in the bath, she let the tears fall. No one was watching her now. She didn’t have to be strong.
“What is wrong with me?” she asked the empty room.
She tried not to think about her past. The lonely girl with no parents, no history, nothing. She used to watch families, wondering how hers could have just abandoned her. Misha tried not to delve too deep into the emptiness she often felt.
Covering her face, she let go. This was her time.
She sobbed into her hands. The years of rejection from Decker. The loneliness from years of staring out of the window, wondering why her parents dumped her with this pack. There were no answers. She’d never know the truth. This was her life. Her punishment, and there was nothing she could do about it.
****
Decker wanted to punch something.
Anything.
There was nothing strong enough at his home, so he settled for the nearest tree. The moment his fist connected with the hard bark, the fullness of the tree shook.
After drawing his fist back again, he struck. He did this three times before moving on to the next tree.
Each time he struck, his fingers got a little bloodier.
The only problem was at the sight of the red, he was reminded of what had been covering his cock the previous night.
What kind of mate tore through their woman’s virginity and left?
He was a fucking monster.
Seeing Misha today, she had looked … shattered. She never looked like that. In all the years he’d known her, she possessed a smile, and whenever he pissed her off, she wasn’t afraid to use the bite of her words. Misha gave as good as she got.
He’d hurt her. There was no going back from it.
“I cannot believe you’re taking it out on those poor trees.”
“What are you doing here, Dad?” he asked, gripping the tree in his palm. He took several deep breaths, trying to ease the anger in his body, but nothing helped.
“A hunch.”
“You should go home. Take care of your new wife.”
His dad sighed. “No, I need to take care of my son. You think I don’t know what you’re going through?”
Decker laughed. “Believe me, I know you don’t know what I’m going through.” No one would know what he was going through. Rejecting mates was rare. Taking a virgin mate and leaving her without completion was even rarer.
