“Give her to me right now!” I snatch Jessie from the stranger’s arms.
He hisses at me, eyes turning red and scaring the shit out of me.
I take a step back with Jessie in my arms.
I sat down for ten minutes because Luna Gianna made me. I came out for some fresh air to find that Lorcan had passed Jessie off to a stranger. Now they’re all looking at me like I’m in the wrong!
How do they think I’d react?
I’m too shaken to acknowledge my wolf yelling ‘Mate’ inside my head. Goddess, I hope this stranger isn’t my mate; he’s scary!
“Hand back my child, girl.”
Oh, Goddess, even his voice is bone-chilling!
Wait. . . “Your child?” I look from the stranger to Jessie.
She cups my cheeks and giggles. “This is my daddy, Mel.”
“What?”
Jessie kisses my cheek and then reaches for her father, who takes her with a smile.
“Melinda,” I turn to look at Lorcan. “This is Adam, my cousin and your mother’s mate.”
I look closely at Adam, realising that he’s the handsome stranger who swept my mother off her feet.
A growl so low it’s threatening has everyone turning to the man I tried to ignore.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Leander snaps.
“Move away from my mate,” He growls.
Everyone looks at me, then my mate, and my stomach is churning.
Why did this have to happen now?
I have so much going on that I can’t deal with a mate as well. I don’t have the headspace for any of this; I feel like I’m going crazy!
My mate takes a step towards me, but I take one back. I shake my head at him because I don’t want this; I have no room for a mate. He wouldn’t want me if he saw the mark on my skull. Mike made sure to tell me no one could ever love me.
Why should I believe this man would be any different?
My mate cocks his head to the side, confused by my reaction.
“Stay away from me.”
“Why? I’m your mate.”
I look to Lorcan. “My Alpha, I’m not ready for this. Please, don’t make me go with him, I’m not ready. I just can’t deal with all of this right now; I need to be with my mother.”
Lorcan tips his head. “This is the way of things, Melinda. You can’t fight fate.”
I close my eyes and breathe deeply through my nose.
When I open my eyes, I look at Leander. If my Alpha won’t help me, perhaps his brother will.
Leander must understand how I feel because he tips his head. “Take Adam to your mother; I’ll deal with this.”
My mate growls so loudly Jessie whimpers.
“Jai!” Leander yells, allowing me to hear my mate’s name for the first time. “Calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down! How dare you keep my mate from me?”
My eyes widen when Jai’s flash a darker shade of charcoal. Mike aside, I’ve never seen anyone look so angry.
Jai’s claws begin to grow, and I can tell he’s seconds away from allowing his wolf to take over. If that happens, his wolf could do all sorts to me!
“Please don’t be angry,” I all but whisper. Though Jai and his wolf hear me because they suddenly stop moving towards me and blink. “Let me go,”
“I will never let you go!” Jai hisses.
Lorcan and Leander sudden grab Jai and pull him away from the house. I feel like crying because I know it’s not Jai’s fault that he reacted the way he did; it’s nature. However, he frightened me, and that’s the last thing I need right now.
“Let’s go,” Adam takes my arm and turns me away from the scene unfolding outside.
With Jessie still in his arms, I lead Adam to the infirmary. I can’t believe he’s here right when we are, and I wonder if he felt my mother’s presence.
Is that what brought Adam here?
Could the mate bond really be that strong?
I know they say everything happens for a reason, but what are the odds of Adam being here with my mate?
It’s like the world is conspiring against me!
The Goddess knows that I have always dreamed about finding my mate. I imagine him holding me tight, kissing me softly, and loving me endlessly.
I knew it was nothing more than a dream because who could love someone like me?
My mum used to say that Mike was lying, that there would be someone out there for me. All I had to do was keep the faith, and one day, we’d find each other.
I would chuckle and shake my head, knowing that it could never be but secretly hoping it could be at the same time.
Now here I am, having just found my mate and wishing I hadn’t.
Why does everything have to be so complicated?
Why couldn’t I have had the fairytale?
I wish, more than anything, I could have met my mate under different circumstances. Sure, I’ve always been terrified of being rejected by my mate. But I still wanted the dream, the same as everyone else.
No matter how many times I call her name, Cece won’t speak to me. My wolf is angry with me for not immediately running into Jai’s arms.
My wolf doesn’t understand my fears; when she’s the only one who should. I love Cece, she’s part of me, but we have very different ideas regarding mates.
How can I not think Jai will reject me?
Mike forever told me that those who carry the figure 8 could not be loved. Those people are the scum of the earth, not meant to have been born, but for some reason, are. The Moon Goddess does not favour those poor souls, and Selene ensures their lives are forever miserable.
Mike said that nothing would ever go right for me. I will always be the person who is bullied and looked down upon, and if I ever did find a man to take me on, he’d do nothing but hurt me.
I believed him because I had no reason not to. Everyone hated me; no one ever so much as asked me to go for a walk with them. Then there’s the fact Alpha Lorcan and Luna Gianna stayed away from us. I only remember seeing them speak Mike less than a handful of times in my life.
I wasn’t offered a position within the pack like most others were. No one would hire me to work for them, and Mike said that was because they knew I was nothing.
How am I meant to believe that I could be something to Jai when I’ve never had any experience with such?
‘You worry too much; that’s your trouble. Jai will love you because he won’t be able to stop himself.’
‘The mate bond will make him want me, Cece, but that doesn’t mean he could ever love me. That poor man has been cursed with a mate like me. But I’ll put it right; I swear I will.’
‘You’re fucking hopeless!’ I sense my wolf rolling her eyes, but I have bigger things to worry about than Cece’s attitude right now.
Adam and I arrive, and the doctor tells us to take a seat. They’re doing some tests on Mum, but we can go in shortly.Jessie has fallen asleep in Adam’s arms, and I smile to see how contented she looks.“You should give Jai a chance, you know?” Adam tells me after a moment of silence.I ignore what he said about giving Jai a chance.“What kind of a name is Jai, anyway?”Adam chuckles.“His mother liked the name. When he was growing up, people called him Jay. He’d get annoyed and tell them, ‘My name is Jai - like J-eye, like Kai, but with a J.’ People knew his name, but they liked how annoyed he got.” Adam laughs to himself.Okay, so Jai, like Kai, but with a J. As names go, it’s not a bad one; I think it suits him.“Are you going to forgive my mother?” I ask instead of replying to what Adam just said.Adam sighs. “She rejected me, Melinda.”“She didn’t want to,” I admit. “Mike is not a nice man, Adam. He kidnapped my mother from her pack when she was fifteen years old. He tortured her
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I mumble while stroking her white blonde hair back from her forehead.As soon as I walked into the room, I almost fell through the floor. My beautiful mate is battered beyond recognition.I’m going to kill the motherfucker who did this!I understand now why Alison rejected me, and it breaks my heart. So much pain suffered by one woman at the hands of a madman.She birthed his child, one she didn’t even try to deny when we met. I wasn’t angry with Alison; it’s not like I haven’t had my fair share of women in the past.But if she’d told me about her life with Mike back then, I would have saved them both. I would have loved Melinda as though she were mine.Then there’s the fact Alison had my cub without my knowledge. But I couldn’t be angry with her when she had no way of getting away from Mike.How would she have been able to seek me out?Sure, she could have gone to Lorcan. But I understand that if Mike had found out, he could well have killed my Alison b
It’s been two days since we arrived at Greenrock pack, and Mum is back to full health. Thanks to Adam and Mum taking back her rejection, she’s finally happy.Jessie is beyond happy to have her Mummy and Daddy together. Yet I’m still worried that Mike will find us. Adam swears that Mike can do nothing to hurt us and that he’ll protect us all. But I’m still scared.Mum informed me this morning that they’d be moving to Dalgaard Mansion, where Adam lives. We’ll be safe there with Adam’s parents, siblings, grandparents, and even great-grandparents, not to mention the King and Queen of wolves. Then Mum laughed and said that she shouldn’t have said that. Mum knows about Jai, thanks to Adam telling her. Mum said that as she knew I’d be staying with my mate, I best visit often.I hadn’t the heart to tell Mum that I still hadn’t spoken to my mate. I haven’t once seen him since that first day.Of course, I’ve wondered about talking to him. I need some closure, and so does Jai; I know that. I mul
“Are you for real?” Melinda asks while snatching her arm from my grasp. “I haven’t been avoiding you, Jai; you’ve been avoiding me!”She’s right; I have, but only because Dad told me to give Melinda time to come to me. But Melinda didn’t seek me out, and it’s finally driven me mad!I run my hand through my hair.“I gave you the space you wanted, Melinda. I thought you’d calm down and come to me, but you didn’t. I got sick of waiting,”“I was coming to talk to you, Jai; I just needed time. So,” She folds her arms around herself. “How do we do this? Do I just reject you, and you accept? Or do we reject each other? I’m not quite sure how it all works.”I think I’m in shock.I stare at my little mate and wonder why the hell she doesn’t want me. I thought she just needed time, but it’s clear that it’s me she’s itching to get away from.I don’t think I can breathe right now!“Why the hell would we reject each other? You’re my mate!”Melinda rolls her eyes to the sky while shaking her head.
I cannot believe that fucking Lion prick made such a scene!It’s not Melinda’s fault that she was born to a man who forced himself on her mother. Goddess, I could rip Adonis’s heart out!I chase Melinda for ten minutes before catching her and tackling her to the ground.“Get off me!” Melinda screams as I straddle her, pinning her arms above her head. “Jai, let me go!”“No!” I yell. “No, I will not let you go. What he said was wrong, Mel, don’t listen to him.”“Why should I care what he said? He’s not the first person to reject me, and he won’t be the last. I’m used to it,”Then, with all her mite, Melinda pushes me off of her. She scrambles back against the nearest tree and brings her knees to her chest.My heart aches for my mate, and now I realise why she’s trying to push me away. She wanted to reject me before I did so to her.I sit down in front of Melinda with my legs crossed and sigh.“Melinda, this is why you’re trying to reject me, isn’t it? You thought you’d reject me before
Alison smiles while cupping Melinda’s cheek.No one could say this woman doesn’t love her daughter. But I have a horrible sinking feeling that something will go wrong with this mother-daughter duo.Goddess, please don’t let Alison choose her father over her daughter.I don’t even know my mate yet, but I know enough to know that it will crush Melinda if Alison abandons her. I don’t believe Alison would ever leave Melinda for long, but the fact remains that Alison has been separated from her family for nineteen years. The woman will want to see her mother, who I don’t think arrived with Adonis. At least I didn’t see her, and I’m sure I would have. No mother who lost her child for so long would have stayed away.Perhaps Alison’s mother doesn’t know where her mate is and why?It’s possible that Adonis wanted to make sure Adam was telling the truth before letting his mate know.I pray that Alison makes the right decision, including Melinda in her life. If Adonis can’t accept Melinda, then
“Where are we?” I ask as soon as we come to a stop outside a wooden cabin. When Jai pulled me away from my mother, I had no mind to stop him. It’s not my mother’s fault that her father won’t accept me; I know that, and I don’t doubt her love for me. My whole life, she has protected me as best she could from Mike while trying to show me all the love in the world. My life may have been lonely, and I may have been shunned and rejected by everyone else, but not her. Mum is my best friend, and I don’t want to lose her. But I won’t make her choose between me and the father she has longed for since the day Mike kidnapped her. Mum will be moving on soon with Adam and Jessie. They’ll be able to see Adonis whenever they want, and I won’t be in the way to cause problems. If what Jai said is true, this is my new home if I put my faith and trust in him. I want to try and be the mate Jai deserves, and I pray I don’t mess things up. Jai and I walked around for about an hour before coming upon th
“You’re wrong, Melinda. You have no idea how attracted to you I am, and it’s nothing to do with the mate bond.”“Are you reading my mind?” She gasps.I try not to laugh.“No, beautiful, I’m not reading your mind; I’m reading your emotions.”“How?”“Apart from me being part vampire?” Melinda nods. “What you’re feeling is written all over your face.”“Oh,”I take her hand in mine. “Listen to me, beautiful. Everything I do from here on in is for you. I would never intentionally hurt you, not for anything in this world. You already mean so much to me.”Melinda smiles; shyly when I cup her cheek and run my thumb over it.“I want you to take the heat suppressant.”“Why? I thought all male wolves wanted free rein to take what they wanted from a she-wolf. Having her in heat makes it that much easier because they can’t be accused of rape?”Goddess, what the fuck?Under the King’s rule, a wolf can’t be accused of rape if mating with a she-wolf while she’s in heat. That is true. It’s a wolf’s na