I didn’t imagine any of my mates to be like Grayson. What were the Fates thinking?
“That can be fixed.” He stepped closer.
My body jerked forward to meet him, but I forced myself to take a step back. I didn’t want to touch him.
Even if it meant rejecting the bond of the only mate I may have.
“Fix it then, Grayson.” I lifted my chin up and met his glare with my own.
Surprise flickered over his expression before anger took over. “Just like that?”
“Just like that. I don’t want to be mated to anyone who would look down on me the way you do.”
He started circling me like I was his prey, the cold air whipping around us. “You’re stronger than I thought you’d be. Not my usual type, but…”
I stepped forward into his path and turned to face him. He stood maybe ten inches taller than me, but something about him didn’t intimidate me. Maybe it was because he was my mate.
We were less than a foot apart, and the bond was pulling us toward each other. Grayson was struggling visibly from closing the distance.
He leaned in and sniffed my hair before growling. “Why do I smell a fae male on you?”
Fear stilled my heart. We weren’t supposed to contact any fae around the area, and I’d been breaking one of the bigger rules of the village by doing so. “You’re mistaken. Do you want to accept me as your mate or not?”
The muscles in his jaw bunched up before he shook his head. “No. I’d never want to share my mate with anyone. Foxes take multiple mates. It cheapens the matebond for me.”
A stab of heat pierced through my chest. “Cheapens?”
He shrugged, leaning in farther until his mouth was beside my ear. “I reject you, Wren Clearwater.”
Pain shot through me, rippling down my tendons. Rejection pressed against my soul. I winced, screwing my eyes shut, so I didn’t have to look at him. “I reject you, Grayson Haven.”
He groaned, stumbling back from me. I could hear his bones pop as he shifted into his wolf form.
By the time I opened my eyes, he was gone.
TWO
Wren
“YourejectedAlpha Haven’s son?” Alice’s voice went up a few octaves, and her red-painted lips parted.
“Technically, he rejected me first, but he’s a rotten wolf, Alice. The things he said to me.” I pulled my bag over my head and set it on my creaky twin bed.
She drew in a few steady breaths before laying her palm on her weathered cheek. Her white-blonde hair was pulled up in a bun and the crow’s feet next to her eyes creased as she squinted in concentration. “But Wren, he’s going to be Alpha. Rejecting the bond probably isn’t the best way to maintain your status in this pack. The Alpha already has issues with you being—” She clamped her hand over her mouth and glanced toward the dark wooden door halfway off its hinges.
Another painful twinge throbbed through my chest, spreading to my arms. I wasn’t sure if it was the effects of the rejection or being an outcast from the village I knew as home. “I get it, Alice. It doesn’t matter if Mom was from here. I inherited the fox, not the wolf. I’m an outsider.”
Her lips pulled into a frown as she sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to do right by you like Holly would’ve wanted.”
My heart clenched at the mention of Mom’s name.
She would’ve been proud of me for rejecting someone who would speak to me in the manner Grayson had.
“Rejecting Grayson’s going to have consequences.” She ran a hand down her face, and her tired brown eyes met mine. “I don’t know what will happen. Alpha and Luna will be furious.”
Kicking off my boots, I padded over the chilly wooden planks to the small closet in the room’s corner. I stripped out of my wool coat, scarf, and jeans, which left me clad in my tights and tank top.
“Wren, do you know what that means?”
