My knees smack into the floor, my hands flying out to cover my fall.
I blink. The room is silent. In the distance, muffled laughter sounds.
“No.” The rasp comes from behind me. “Not possible. It can’t be.”
Twisting again, I reach for him. For any of them.
My mates. Sudden, desperate hope floods my chest.
I could survive this.
I lift my eyes, that noise sounding in my throat again. I don’t even care that everyone is watching. That people are laughing.
It doesn’t matter. Nothing else matters but this.
My hand is shoved roughly away. “No.”
I let it drop to the floor, bracing myself. My body begins to shake, the warmth draining away and replaced by a rapid coolness that spreads across my skin, pebbling it.
My fingers curl into the lino as understanding filters in. Clarity.
When my face lifts – when I force it up – I know what I’m going to see. But it still feels like a punch to my solar plexus.
They stand together, shoulder to shoulder. All four of them stare down at me.
And between us, between each of us, I can almost feel it. As if it were a physical line, stretching between us. Pulling me toward them.
A mating bond.
Not complete. Not yet. But it could be.
And gods, if this is only the beginning – what would a full bond feel like, with their bites in my skin and mine in theirs? I shuffle forward, unable to resist that pull. Jake shifts, but Oscar’s hand lands against his chest.
Stop.
I force myself into stillness.
Get up. Don’t let them see you cry.
Because I am crying. I can feel it, feel the moisture gathering in the edges of my eyes, trickling down my face.
Ineedthem. I need them like I need air.
But they don’t move. Their faces are set like stone.
And around us, everybody is watching the show. Getting a front view seat to a mating bond rejection.
My shoulders stiffen.Get up, Kenny.
I push myself to my feet. And the pain returns in a sudden, almost blinding rush of breathless agony that makes my already foggy head swim as I stagger upright. But there’s a new layer, a shooting stab that thumps inside my chest.
As if I can feel their rejection with every pulse of my heart.
I face them, and their judgment. My chin lifts. “I need to get back to work.”
Oscar opens his mouth, before he closes it again and glances at Theo.
He’s still staring. “You’re not our mate.”
