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A man of few words, Rex doesn’t say any more than that, just waits. I grunt and nod sulkily, absentmindedly picking a dry leaf out of my hair. I wince as my fingers brush across the quickly healing cut on my head. There’s a nasty lump there, too. That will take longer to disappear.
Maya. My sweet Maya. Although she wasn’t so sweet when she was drop-kicking me across my bedroom and into the wall. I thought it was all going so well. Until it wasn’t. Even though I’m hurt and annoyed, I’m strangely proud of how well she can defend herself. There aren’t many wolves who could do that to me.
“Did she reject you?”
He asks bluntly, knowing damn well she didn’t. If she had, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to him. I’d be writhing in agony just like he was after Stacey rejected him, just because he had no desire to become the next Alpha of the Grey Ridge pack.
“No,” I mutter, knowing he’s trying to force me to get some perspective, but what happened sure as hell didn’t feel good. Can I not be left to wallow in my humiliation for a little while? I pick a smooth grey stone and fling it into the distance, enjoying the satisfying sound of it crashing through the leaves and branches.
"Did she say she’sgoing toreject you?”
Pausing, I need to think about that one for a moment before I can answer. Did she say that? No, in fact, she didn’t. I had taken one look at her horrified face and panicked. I ran before she could.
“No. She says I’m not her mate, though. She freaked out when I went to mark her.”
Rex’s brow slams down in confusion. I know the feeling, brother.
How can she not know I am her mate? Is she only saying that because she doesn’t want me? But I was literally inside her. I could feel the connection. The attraction was mutual. Every cell in my body is electrified by her presence and her scent drives me wild. There is no mistaking exactly what she is to me. There is no way to deny that pull. Nothing about this makes sense to me.
“She agreed to be marked?”
Rex continues to stare down at me where I wallow in self-pity on the forest floor and, feeling like a fool now, I pick myself up, brushing the dust and debris off my bare skin.
“Well, yes. Or, well, no. I mean, she said she wanted me, but I didn’t exactly ask. I did, but not in those words. I was… you know… and my teeth came down and…”
I stop babbling when I see his thunderous expression. His clenched fists tremble with rage. He pushes away from the tree and stalks closer, his face growing red with anger and a vein bulging in the side of his neck. Even though he is the only person I know with personal experience of rejection, I wish Cooper was here. He’d be less likely to kick me when I’m already clearly down.
“Is this not the first thing we teach adolescent wolves?! That they must ask first! It is for life, Nathan. There is no room for assuming anything!”
Shit. He’s right. I got so caught up in the feeling of having her with me, so relieved that she was even talking to me, let alone wrapped in my arms and naked in my bed, that I forgot the golden rule drummed into us all by my father. I rack my brain back over all my conversations with Maya, but I never explicitly mentioned mates or marking. It felt like she was agreeing, but now that I think back, I never said the actual words. Groaning loudly in frustration with myself, I shake my head. Shame washes over me, but then I lift my head again and meet his eye, indignant.
“She still said I wasn’t her mate. Okay, she might not have kicked my ass if I had asked to mark her, but she was genuinely stunned when I called her my mate. She had no clue.”
A fresh wave of anguish washes over me when I recall her terrified expression. My mate was afraid of me. She should never have had to react like that, to me, of all people.
“Did you ask why?” he enquires sensibly, and I groan again. That would have been the clever thing to do. I shake my head and he scoffs, scrubbing his hand over his tightly cropped hair. This man has no patience. It’s easy to judge, but he wasn’t exactly Mr. Smooth when he was wooing Leah. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to remind him of that right now, though.
“It doesn’t really matter anyway,” he says eventually. His anger seems to have dissipated, and he studies me.
“How the fuck can it not matter?” I snarl, stepping toward him. I am incredulous. The mate bond is precious, and he knows what it’s like to lose it. All wolves long to feel its touch, to be blessed enough to find the one meant for them. For most of my life, I never thought it would happen to me, and for a long time after I saw how Rex’s first mating turned out, I didn’t want it to. But after experiencing it for myself, I want my mate to feel the same all-consuming need and desire for me. Not fear.
“Leah didn’t feel the bond the same way I did. She chose me without it, and she chooses me every day. There is something extraordinary about that.”
His eyes shine with love and affection. They have something special. Even though Leah is human, they are happier than many of the fated mate wolf pairings I have seen.
“But Maya is a wolf. It’s not the same,” I argue, and he lifts his eyes to heaven in exasperation.
“Why not? Even if she can’t feel the bond, do you still want her as your mate? Or would you let another wolf claim her because it isn’t exactly the same for her?”
“She isMINE!” A snarl rips through me and I bare my teeth in anger. No other man will touch Maya. Just thinking about it threatens to send me into a violent rage.
“Well then, Nathan, convince her tochooseyou, regardless of the bond. She clearly likes you, for some bizarre reason. You’re halfway there.”
I tilt my head to the side and study Rex closely. His logic is so simple, yet so wise. He’s right. After she saw Faye leaving my room, I expected to have to win her over the hard way. I was so relieved when all seemed to have been forgiven that I didn’t question why, but it makes more sense now. She was able to move past another woman in my bed, because she doesn’t feel the bond the same way I do. Instead of putting in the legwork to get her to forgive me, I’ll have to get her to accept me as hers.
“Or do you think you can’t win the heart of your mate? Like Cooper and I had to. Do you only want it the easy way?”
Narrowing my eyes at him, I recognise the challenge he’s laid down for what it really is. Both of my brothers have human mates and couldn’t rely solely on the mate bond. Even though I know he’s trying to goad me, something about what he is saying appeals to me.
