02

Carrie

“I don’t need a mate,” the beautiful man before me said in a low, terse voice. His words stabbed the same part of my heart that had cracked when Asshole Dane had dismissed me like worthless trash. I wasn’t sure it could survive another blow. A few shocked sounds from the onlookers echoed the distressed cries of my own wolf in my mind.

Even though I had not been looking for him, I could not help but want him on some instinctual level, and his words made me nearly break down and cry. But not quite. I wasn’t giving up my dignity for this unworthy bastard.

I’d waited so long for this male, so long I had given up hope, and here he finally was, but he didn’t want me. I spared a glare at the moon that hung in the sky like a witness. If the goddess really was there, I hated her for this new rejection.

I had to get away, and now. I whirled around on my heel, the blanket sweeping around me, and began to walk away, ignoring the wolf sentries who were still guarding me from further off. I had to get back to my car and get out of here, and now, even if I had to fight my way out. I’d drive home, gather my stuff, and start somewhere new. Somewhere far away from any contact with asshole alphas.

“Wait.” His tone held an order.

Screw that. I wasn’t part of his pack and he had no actual authority over me, mate or not. I picked up speed, my bare feet digging into the dirt, with no one in my way. The other wolves seemed to have moved back even further to give my mate privacy to discard me himself. How thoughtful of them.

He growled, probably in response to my disobedience. Typical alpha. Screw him.

Maybe he would just kill me and I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this bullshit anymore. Or maybe I would fight back and kill him, and then my wolf would probably wither away until there was nothing left inside me.

Who was I kidding? My life as a rogue wasn’t that great. I managed, but it wasn’t the same as being connected to a pack. A few back in Greenwoods besides my family and friends would be sad, but they would never really know what happened either way. I should have just swallowed my pride and gone and begged my sister and her pack for help so that I never would have encountered this asshole.

His swift footsteps followed me, so I broke into a run. It didn’t get me very far, because his hand caught my wrist and yanked me to a stop before I had a chance to shift. I scowled at him.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he growled.

I scowled towards him. He was half a head taller than me and certainly intimidating, but I was too angry to care. “You already made yourself clear.”

“Did I?”

I scoffed. His lack of enthusiasm had been obvious to everyone, judging by his pack’s reaction to him saying he didn’t want me.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“So what, then I’m your prisoner?” I snapped, annoyed that the voice of this horrible male was still like a siren song to my wolf. She was so weak to him already and I didn’t even like him. “You’ve got no right to stop me from doing anything.”

His scowl deepened. “You wandered into my territory.”

“This territory is unclaimed.”

“This territory was unclaimed, now it’s mine, and you were trespassing.”

I tried and failed to yank my arm away. “You don’t even have a scent trail around the border yet. You can’t blame me for not knowing. I’ve been coming here for months. Maybe you should have put up a sign or something.”

His scowl told me what he thought of my reasonable suggestion. Typical pigheaded alpha.

“Listen, just let me go, and I’ll stay out of your territory in the future.”

“Where will you go?”

“Anywhere but here. Who cares?” I wasn’t telling him the location of my apartment, even though my wolf was pushing me to tell him anything and everything he wanted to know. She was strong under the moon and it was hard to hold my ground when the only thing she wanted was to shift back to my wolf form and get closer to him by whatever means necessary. Desperate wolf.

He frowned. “Come on. I don’t have time for this.”

“Good, I don’t either. I’ll stop bothering you and be on my way.” I had some important moping around my apartment to get to. I yanked my arm again.

His grip was like iron.

“Let me go! You’re hurting me.”

“You’re hurting yourself by fighting against me.”

I gritted my teeth. The man was like a brick wall. Solid and stubborn and stupid. “Let me go!”

“No.”

“Fine. Whatever.” I stopped struggling, because it was clearly getting me nowhere.

He released my wrist. I rubbed it and glared at him. How the hell was this my mate? It was another cruel joke in a lifetime of them.

“What’s your name?”

“Carrie.”

“Carrie… You haven’t been a rogue long, have you? You still smell faintly of pack. Which was your former?”

“None of your business.” He didn’t need to know about all the drama I’d left behind me.

He looked irritated with me all over again. I didn’t want to spend my life under that disapproving expression. Been there, done that.

I tipped an imaginary hat mockingly. “Well, it was nice to sort of meet you, but I really will be going now. Have a nice life, stranger.” I turned and started walking again.

Only to discover I was blocked in by two more towering hunks of muscle. Damn it. Apparently the guards had not backed off as much as I thought.

I whirled back towards him. “What the hell? I am so done with this!”

“I can’t just let you leave. It’s too dangerous out there.”

“I was doing fine on my own.”

It was his turn to scoff. “I can smell that. Living surrounded by humans? Do you have any idea of the dangers to a lone wolf out there?”

“Of course I do, but you can’t keep me here against my will.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. I had to get this over with. “We’ll reject each other and then your wolf will be fine if something happens to me.” My wolf pushed for control again at the miserable idea. I was sure my brown eyes were flickering gold with the struggle.

His body was tense. “It isn’t that easy and you know it,” he argued. He was wrong. It was exactly that easy, I would just reject the mate who didn’t want me and go back to my boring manageable life. He looked past me towards his thugs. “Show her to my trailer.”

My mouth opened in automatic protest, but then I snapped it closed. I was clearly not convincing him, and neither was I getting away from them through force, so it was best not to fight it. Let them think I was complying, and they would get a surprise later.

Mate or not, I was never going to be a doormat for an alpha again.