While Grace loved her parents, the town felt otherwise. They could not forgive June Harding for not mating with Richard Pierce and they certainly could not forget that she had done it all for a human. The wolves in town barely tolerate of the humans, let alone humans who married eligible females from the Pack. Throwing Richard Pierce over for Nathaniel Copeland, a human, had gotten the entire family blacklisted.
Grace was lumped in with the witches in town, Black Bird High School’s rivals, and the IRS. Not many people passed up the opportunity to screw with Grace. Thankfully, when Ben became Alpha things settled down. Only for them to start all over again when Jack moved to town.
Grace wasn't known for being melancholy. She tried to be upbeat about life but her wolf was confused why they weren't mated and Grace couldn’t stop thinking that it was her fault. It was the recipe for a very emotional reaction.
“Let’s go,” Anne declared getting up from the chair.
Grace wiped the tear stains off her face and put her shirt in order. Without saying a word, Grace followed Anne out the front door. Anne didn’t bother locking up, so Grace knew where they were headed.
Dale Markman’s bakery was only busy two times a day: before dawn and before school. The sun was already up and the kids were in school, so the bakery was empty. Dale was bent behind the glass display counter restocking from the early morning rush.
Dale was a thin man, thinner than would be expected for a person who made donuts all day. He was just starting to show his age too. There were crow’s feet appearing at the corners of each eye and a smattering of gray in his hair.
Hearing the overhead bell ring, Dale arched his back trying to work out a knot.
“Morning ladies, getting some work in before the day starts?” Dale smiled, his eyes wrinkling even more at the corners. Grace liked Dale. He was kind and he worked hard. Everyone else in Black Bird might obsess over gossip, but Dale didn’t pay any mind to it. He hadn’t shown favorites when Grace’s mom had married her dad instead of her high school sweetheart and he hadn’t gotten involved in the Jack Taylor fiasco.
“We sure are. I don’t know about Grace, but I could use a pick me up.” Anne rubbed her hands together excitedly. Anne didn’t even like donuts. She was here purely to drag Grace out of the dumps.
“I just put out some huckleberry filled ones.” Dale pointed to a line of fat fried dough leaking purple jam. Anne ordered two.
Grace was looking over the display, waiting for Anne to finish paying, when she heard the door open. Glancing over her shoulder, she barely bit back a groan. If Dale Markman was a saint, then Pearl Pierce was the devil. She was in her eighties and was always up in arms about something.
Last year, she had tried to get the community center shut down when they threw a Halloween carnival. Everyone rolled their eyes at the irony of a shifter thinking Halloween was going to corrupt the children but it had put a damper on the town’s celebration. If Pearl liked a person, she was vocal about it but nowhere near as vocal as if she didn’t like a person. Grace just happened to be a person Pearl didn’t like.
Pearl was also the mother of Richard Pierce. Her mom’s almost mate. From the moment Grace was born, she had been on Pearl’s shit list. And that meant that Pearl Pierce worshipped the ground that Jack Taylor walked on.
“Oh dear, they are letting all kinds of folks in here,” Pearl gasp, theatrically sniffing her nose.
Anne looked back and rolled her eyes. It was no surprise that Pearl hated Anne as well. Ever since Anne and Ben had started dating, Pearl had been going on and on about the sanctity of mates and how only loose women kept company with men who they weren’t fated for. Grace had the speech memorized since it was the same one Pearl howled at the Copeland family whenever the opportunity presented itself.
“Yeah, Dale, aren’t you worried about having bags of bones around the food?” Anne said deadpan. “The health inspector can’t condone that.”
Dale covered a laugh with a cough. Grace smiled but kept her head down not wanting to draw the old woman’s wrath.
“A home wrecker with bad manners, what a surprise,” Pearl cooed. “It’s to be expected from the town’s mutts.” Pearl smiled, obviously proud of her insult.
Grace didn’t react to the bait but she could see Anne’s hackles rise. Anne wasn’t the calmest wolf in the best situation but throw her into a closed room with Pearl and things could get out of hand. Grace stepped forward to pull Anne outside before things escalated.
“Oh, my goodness,” Pearl exclaimed, clutching her hand to her heart. “I only smelled two wolves when I walked in here. I thought we were alone.”
Grace nodded politely but didn’t say anything as she ushered Anne towards the door. Pearl stepped aside to let them pass. They were almost outside when Pearl threw back her final spear.
“The town is doing Mr. Taylor a favor by keeping you away from him.”
“Pearl,” Dale warned.
Grace felt Anne tense under her hand.
“She says things to cause problems. No one pays attention. Let’s just go.” Grace whispered, trying to push Anne out the door.
“Listen to what she’s telling you, Ms. Kane. Grace is the town expert when it comes to no one paying attention.” Pearl cackled.
Grace’s heart froze and she felt her cheeks get hot. She tugged Anne harder knowing it was only a matter of time before she started crying and she wanted to be out of sight when it happened.
Anne jerked free, fire blazing in her eyes. For a second, they shifted yellow. She took a menacing step towards Pearl. The woman had the smarts to hurry back.
“This town is full of fools too old or too dumb to do anything but ruffle feathers.” Anne pointed a clawed finger at Pearl. “Watch your tongue, you old bitch, or I might have to rip it out to teach you some manners.” With a snap of teeth, Anne turned to walk away.
Grace hurried to catch up to Anne. She could practically see the steam coming out of Anne’s ears. When they walked past Chic Chick, Grace asked Anne where she was going.
“This has gone on long enough. We are confronting that son of a bitch right now and settling this once and for all.” Anne’s voice dropped an octave while she raged.
“What are you doing?” The shock of Anne’s anger dried Grace’s tears. Anne had a short fuse but she usually only huffed and puffed. She rarely acted on her anger.
“Ben asked me not to interfere. ‘This is between mates.’” Anne imitated Ben’s voice. “But this is bullshit. We can’t have cowards in this Pack. It’s time for that man to face the music and talk to you.”
Anne’s hand shot out forcing Grace to keep up with her march down Main Street towards the diner. It was just after the breakfast rush but as they got closer, Grace could see a few people still sitting at the booths. One group in particular drew Grace’s eye.
Ben had commandeered the entire back portion of the diner. He was surrounded by his Enforcers. Grace could see him pointing at something on the table. But it was the dusty blonde hair of the man across from him that got Grace’s heart beating.
His back was to her but she could see the collar of his plaid shirt under his shoulder length hair. He must be planning on going straight to his woodshop after the meeting. He only wore his thick plaid shirts if he was going to be working. Just seeing the back of his head filled Grace with a nauseating combination of dread and excitement.
“Anne, he is going to sprint out the backdoor the second he smells me,” Grace wheezed. Her heart was beating so hard, she could barely breathe.
“I know.” Anne’s eyes narrowed. “So, let’s use that to our advantage.”
Connect with Amelia Rademaker
Thank you so much for ready Rejected, the first book in the Wolves of Black Bird series. If you’re interested in the next book or seeing other projects I’m working on, check out any of the links below.
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RademakerAmelia
Visit my website: http://www.amelia-rademaker.co
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