Page 20

“I, Kaelen Vance, heir of Fenhall,” he said. His voice carried cleanly across the courtyard, loud enough that everyone could hear him. “I reject you.”

The pain hit before I even understood the words.

It began in the center of my chest, exactly where I had felt that strange vibration at dinner, but this wasn’t anything I could mistake for emotion. Something inside me seemed to tighten all at once, buried deep beneath my breastbone, and then the pressure tore outward through my ribs.

My knees gave way.

I hit the wet flagstones hard enough to sting my palms. For several seconds I couldn’t get air into my lungs, and the sound that came out of me was raw enough that I barely recognized it as my own voice.

Through the blur of pain, I looked up at him.

For one heartbeat, his expression changed.

The coldness disappeared. Something exposed and almost frightened showed in his face, and for the first time I had the impression that whatever was happening to me was hurting him too. His hand twitched at his side, the one with the scratch across it, as though he had nearly reached for me without meaning to.

Then the moment was gone.

His face closed again, and he turned away.

He walked across the courtyard without looking back, while the crowd parted for him and closed again once he had passed.

Nobody came toward me.

They stood around me in a loose circle, watching. A few people whispered to each other, and one of the new Fenhall boys let out a nervous laugh that died almost as soon as it started, as if even he wasn’t sure whether any of this was supposed to be funny.

I stayed on my hands and knees, my glasses slipping down my nose, while the pain in my chest slowly began to ease. After a while, I could breathe properly again.

The worst of the sharpness faded, but it left a heavy ache beneath my breastbone that refused to disappear. Even then, I noticed that something was wrong with the way it lingered. I had expected the pain to stop once whatever had caused it was over, but instead it settled deeper into my chest and stayed there.

Tamsin dropped to her knees beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

“Breathe,” she said. “Come on, babe. Just breathe. That’s it.”

I dragged in another breath. “What was that? What did he mean when he said he rejected me? Rejected me from what?”

Her expression tightened.

“He rejected you as his mate,” she said quietly. “There was a whole section about mate bonds in the packet. Not every shifter has one, and even the ones who do don’t necessarily meet theirs, but sometimes a shifter meets someone and their beast just knows.” She hesitated. “I think that’s what happened when his eyes changed at dinner. Did you notice anything when you first saw him? A smell, maybe?”

I stared at her. “What kind of smell?”

“Anything unusual. Something that seemed stronger than it should have.”

I thought back to the dining hall.

“Cedar and snow,” I said. “Why?”

“And did you get the feeling your body recognized him before you actually knew who he was?”

Heat rose into my face. “Something like that.”

Tamsin nodded slowly. “Then that was probably the Pull.”

“The what?”

“The Pull. It’s part of the bond.” She swallowed. “And apparently you can only reject someone who really is your mate.”

I stared at her.