by E. M. Moore
Jonah settles alongside me and shifts, ending in a kneeling position right next to me. Rachel drops her rock, and her eyes round. He moves to his full height, and they all look like they’re going to shit their pants until Jesse moves into view. “Dude. You growled at my girlfriend?” He puffs his chest in true alpha fashion.
“They were ganging up on my mate.”
Jesse laughs. “Please. They were only having some fun.”
“Respectfully,” Jonah snaps. “They were being bitches.”
“Well, you should see this,” Laura says, trembling. She brings out her phone, and my heart sinks. A fake sob erupts from her throat. “We were on our way to the lake when we saw Kinsey lure Jesse this way.” She finds the picture and tilts the screen toward him.
Jonah drops his head. “Don’t bullshit me.”
“It’s true!” she shrieks. “She came onto him. I’m telling you, there’s something wrong with her, Jonah. She doesn’t feel the bond. She doesn’t care.”
One of the braver girls says, “Yeah, it’s because she’s not from a mated pair.”
Jonah reaches his hand down, and I place my own in his. He helps me to my feet and then wraps his arm around my shoulders. “If you’d paid any attention in school, you’d know that mated pairs can feel each other’s emotions. I felt what was going through her, and it wasn’t that she wanted to seduce the alpha. Nice try, though.”
Laura drops her hand. She sighs as if lying is no big deal to her. She’s been lying all her life. “We were just trying to get her to shift. Damn, Jonah. Forget it.”
A rumble emanates from my mate’s chest. His angry stare flicks to Jesse, and his friend’s presence grows bigger under his scrutiny, his own growl ripping from his throat. “You four, leave,” he commands. When the four girls don’t go anywhere, he bellows, “Now!” They cower under the weight of his words. Even Laura’s shoulders hunch as she cringes. Apparently, she isn’t big enough to withstand the future alpha’s commands either. They walk away, the Queen Bitch herself peering over her shoulder to administer her final dirty look, but I don’t take the bait. She’s a petty cunt.
Jonah squeezes my hand as Jesse approaches. “You told them about Kinsey not being able to shift?”
Jesse has the decency to look a tad grieved. “I may have let it slip.”
“You wouldn’t let them hurt my mate, would you?” Jonah asks. His body vibrates in anger. I can feel the tension gathering in him from here, but I also catch the steady clip of his words. He’s trying to keep himself in check in front of the future alpha. No one is allowed to go against him. Not even a friend.
“No,” Jesse snaps. “Of course not. Laura said she had a way to get Kinsey to show her true colors so that you would know whether to let her out of the Rejected Mate Academy. I would never hurt your mate.”
I scoff, and the future alpha turns daring green eyes at me, but I don’t cower. I don’t refute him either, though. I’m actively trying to fight against going Feral.
“Again, with all due respect, that sounds like a bunch of bullshit. I’m surprised you would fall for it. I know my mate better than anyone, and I don’t need someone else’s help in deciding what’s best for the two of us.”
“Fair enough,” Jesse offers, raising his arms in true diplomatic fashion. “Let me go get you some trunks, and we’ll forget this happened.”
Jonah rubs his fingers up and down my shoulder. “No, we’ll be leaving.” He turns to me, so much apology in his eyes. “Ready, Kinsey?”
“Jonah, come on. They were only having a bit of fun.”
“I don’t find anything about what happened here fun, funny, or helpful. I saw a bunch of wolves who know better pick on someone who’s done nothing but try today.”
Jesse sneers. “Sometimes it’s too little, too late.”
“And if this is how she was treated, can you see why she didn’t try before?” Jonah snaps.
“Watch yourself,” Jesse warns.
“I plan on it. Which is why we’re leaving.” He turns, and instead of taking the path to the house, we hike through the woods. Footsteps leave in the other direction, and when they’re out of earshot, Jonah says, “I’m shifting. You’ll ride me to where we’re parked.”
It’s as if he’s human one second, then fur sprouts and bones break simultaneously before he drops to all fours and regards me with the specks of green illuminating his eyes. He nuzzles me, nipping playfully at my hand, and then I do what anyone would do in this moment: fulfill my fantasy of riding my mate through the forest.
What? Doesn’t everyone have that fantasy?
18
Once we’re at the car, I climb off, and Jonah shifts to his human form. I’m sure my hair and face are dirty, not only from the ride but from the altercation in the clearing, but Jonah backs me against his truck anyway. “Are you okay?”
Inside, my wolf is still at the ready, waiting for something to happen. I soothe her until she settles down. “Peachy. Why wouldn’t I be?”
His lips thin. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of Jesse, but I felt your fear. It’s why I came running.”
I shrug. “It’s what I’m used to.” As I’m sitting there talking to him, my walls start to close. I watch it happen, numb. When Jonah peers quizzically at me, I really have no idea what to say to him.
He reaches over me and into the trunk. Joggers drip from his hand when he brings his arm back. He steps into them, and my heart beats harder in my chest. Only, I know this reaction isn’t coming from me, it’s coming from Jonah. “I, for one, am fucking pissed.”
My teeth clench. I hate that I’m so connected to him right now. These are the moments when I don’t want to feel anything, and yet, I’m standing here feeling his emotions. “They’re catty bitches.”
“They wanted me to believe you hit on the future alpha, Kinsey. They wanted you to shift. All those things end with you in a place I can’t think of right now.”
I level my breaths as his increase. “It’s pretty much par for the course for me. They’ve been telling me I was better off going Feral since I was little.”
“Kinsey,” Jonah grinds out as he stands in front of me. “You’re breaking my heart right now.” His naked chest reflects the moon. If he were a movie poster, he’d definitely be some sort of werewolf god.
He reaches for my hands, but I set them on my hips and glance away. I don’t know what he wants from me. I already explained this to him. I could’ve predicted most of what just happened. Well, maybe not the Jesse part. That was interesting, but they tried to cover it up so well, didn’t they?
He tips my chin up so I can meet his eyes. “What do you need from me?”
“Just a ride to Greystone, I guess. I mean, they didn’t get me with anything, so I’m probably still welcome there. You’ll make sure the photo doesn’t go anywhere, right?” I cringe thinking of what that would do to me. Lydia already tried to take me down with the film of me and another wolf in the woods, I can’t imagine what a posed picture with the future alpha shirtless would do.
“Fuck!” Jonah shifts again. The rip of bones settles in my head before he bounds off through the forest. Luckily, his truck is unlocked, so I climb into the passenger seat and wait. If this is how normal Lunar Pack parties are, I’m glad I was never invited. I was much better off being alone in my room watching movies or tending to my little flower garden.
A few minutes later, a huge beast of a wolf lands in the rear bed of Jonah’s truck. I spin to find my mate grabbing another pair of joggers and changing before jumping to the road. He throws his car door open, the hinges protesting, then he slides in, clenching the steering wheel as if he could rip it out. “Her phone is now in the bottom of the lake.”
I smirk, but that’s about as much feeling as I can muster. Serves the bitch right. The only thing that would’ve made it better is if he shoved it down her throat.
Jonah starts the car and turns it toward the way we came. Instead of settling in for a long ride b
ack to Greystone Academy, he turns left into the public parking for the lake. He pulls over to the side and shuts the engine off. We sit there for a moment until my heart pinches. I reach up to rub my chest, wondering if it’s my own pain threatening to come out. His next words clue me in to its origin. “I owe you an apology.”
I grind my teeth together. “You can’t control them.”
“But you tried to tell me.”
“Like you said, maybe if I’d attempted to befriend them earlier—”
“Forget what I fucking said,” he seethes. “I heard some of what they said to you. I don’t know if it was through you or my wolf hearing, but I wanted to rip their heads off for it.”
“I’m glad you know I wouldn’t have come on to Jesse. Respectfully, he’s a jackass.”
Instead of glaring at me, Jonah smiles. He actually fucking smiles. It lightens his face. It’s so breathtaking that I almost forget to breathe.
“He can be, and in this situation, he definitely was. Laura’s a ringleader who has him so pussy-whipped. She can basically do anything she wants. She can make anyone the enemy and he’ll believe it.”
“I’m so happy I’m in her sights, then.”
“Would you please say something? Anything?” he pleads. “I’m getting this closed-off feeling from you, and that’s the last thing I want.”
I peer out the windshield at the moon that hovers over the lake, thoughts flying everywhere. If I could just pin one down, I might have something to say, but I’ve found that sometimes, it’s better not to feel.
He reaches out, plucks a leaf from my hair, lowers the window, and drops it outside. I chuckle. “I’m a mess. I hope Mrs. Graves doesn’t get mad at me if this outfit is ruined.”
“Your Etiquette teacher?”
I nod. “She bought me all this, put it on the classroom supplies tab.”
He blinks at me, then rubs his hand over his jaw. “I never stopped to think that maybe you didn’t have anything to wear to the party.”
“Well, unless holey jeans with my Live, Love, Plant shirt would do, then no. I didn’t have anything appropriate. I was worried she’d make me wear the school uniform for a hot second there.”
Jonah threads his fingers through mine. “I put a lot of blame on you, and I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”
His apology is a shroud that hovers over my shoulders, but I don’t let it in. “Words are so empty sometimes,” I tell him. “Not saying yours are. I’m not even saying you owe me an apology either. I mean, maybe you do for not believing me, but can I really blame you for believing that your friends would treat me like your mate? No. That actually sounds logical. It’s just that I know them. I figured they would do something like this.”
Jonah turns my chin so I’m looking at him. “Will you get mad at me? Do something? Say something?”
“We’ve been arguing for damn near a week. Now you want me to get mad at you?”
His answering growl fills the truck. Reaching over, he unbuckles my seatbelt, then grabs my thighs, drags me over the seat, and spins me so I’m straddling him. “I have to elicit some emotion from you.” With that, he wraps his fingers around the nape of my neck and tugs me toward him. He meets me in the middle, our teeth damn near clashing as he probes my mouth open, then swoops his tongue past my lips, delving inside with passion.
I fall forward, my hands resting on his chiseled chest. I’ve been to this same spot at the lake quite a few times with my parents, and in no way had I ever dreamed of making out in a car with Jonah Livestrong.
I moan into his mouth, and he praises me with a small nip on my bottom lip. The pleasurable pain shoots straight to my core. I try to shift closer, but he holds me at bay, keeping his attention on my mouth. We kiss until my lips are swollen, until I can’t think of anything but him. It’s as if he’s branded me with his tongue, teeth, and mouth; never taking it any further than fingers tangled in my hair and down my back.
When he finally breaks away, his smile has returned. “Now that’s feeling.” He lowers his palm to my chest, placing it just above the swell of my breasts. My heart practically sings. “Do you accept my apology, mate?”
My throat closes at his choice of words. “I accept that you didn’t understand, but you need to trust me from now on. Okay? Accept that I might know something you don’t.”
“I can do that for you,” he breathes, clutching my shirt in his fist, my necklace twisting between his fingers. “You’ll have to deal with them, you know?”
I know what he’s saying—if we’re to be mates, I’ll be surrounded by that same group of people my whole life. “You’re right.” I grimace. “Maybe you’re not worth it.” His eyes round, and I shift forward, kissing his despair away. “Kidding.” I bite his lip, pulling it between my teeth before it pops free.
“That was evil.” He settles his grip on my hips. “I mean it though. I’ll always protect you, but I won’t be with you all the time.”
I wrap my arms around his neck. “I’m glad you get it now,” I tell him honestly. That’s the one good thing that came from tonight. I’m not saying I’m blameless in turning my back on the pack, but at least he sees that I had a reason, and that I’m not some anti-social, freak wolf. “I know it doesn’t change anything, and I’ll still have to see them and be cordial even though I want to rip their throats out, but at least you see it now.”
Jonah tugs at my hand until it frees from behind him and places kisses over my knuckles. “You could still change their minds. We should get a preemptive DNA test. We can prove to them that you’re exactly the wolf you should be.”
My chest tightens. “Would that stop them, though?”
He shrugs. “It couldn’t hurt. We wouldn’t even have to tell anyone but at least we’ll have the proof if anyone decides to bring it up. You could just drop it and leave.”
“Like a mic drop? I like the sound of that.”
“It would be a bit more epic than a mic drop, but sure, we’ll go with that.”
I squirm on his lap. There’s something I don’t like about that idea. Getting the test could solve a bunch of problems, but it also means we felt the need to do it. No one else in Lunar has ever had to prove their parentage like they’re some sort of freak. “I’ll think about it.”
“I’m not pushing,” he says. “You can do whatever you want.” He pulls me forward again, sealing our mouths together. My lips are tired at this point, but he makes it all worth it. Unfortunately, he stops us a few minutes later. “I need to get you to the academy before I do something we shouldn’t.”
“Does it involve touching me? Because I really want you to touch me.”
He groans, shifting so our foreheads touch. “It involves that and so much more.”
We breathe in each other’s air before he carefully maneuvers me to the other side of the truck. Reaching around me, he grabs my seatbelt and clicks it into place.
When we have these moments together—when he says things like that—I want to ask him if he’s going to save me from Greystone. I mean, he calls me his mate. He tells me I’ll have to deal with the bitch squad. I know that technically the decision is out of his hands since the Council is involved, but I want to know what he’s thinking. That means more to me than a bunch of middle-aged shifters with bugs up their asses.
I’m too chicken to ask, though.
The drive to Greystone is solemn despite my puffy lips. Other mated pairs are settling in at university or they’re back at their packs together. They’re discussing their futures, but with us, things are still up in the air.
“How did you keep from shifting?” Jonah asks.
I shrug. “I locked her away like I always do.”
“You should be careful,” he tells me, frowning. “You don’t want to do that too much.”
“Well, once I get myself out of this ridiculous punishment, I’ll be happy to let my wolf out and devour all those bitches.”
He snickers. “That won’t be good PR for the Livestrong name.�
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“Probably not,” I agree. “You mean, I can’t ever put them in their place? Maybe once? You can give me one time, right?”
He shakes his head. “I’ll have you take your aggression out on me. That sounds like a much better use of our time.”
“What did you have in mind?” I ask, my belly tightening at his words.
He squirms on the seat. “Things I can’t think about right now or you’ll be late for curfew. And we don’t need to give anyone else a reason to take you away from me.”
My lips part at his words. I stare at him, but he makes no comment or acknowledgment about what he’s just said. My heart pounds in my chest all the way back to Greystone.
He drives through the gates at 11:58 p.m.
Pulling to a stop, he peers at the formidable building. “I suppose walking you to your room is against the rules?”
I nod slowly. “No shifters of the opposite sex in rooms after 11 p.m.”
He turns and grabs my chin. “You better get in there, then, Little Mate.” One solid kiss later, he releases me, and I almost fall out of the truck, except he’s come around the other side to help me to the academy’s entrance. He leads me all the way up the steps and then stands there as I slip past the huge, wooden door. He watches me with a saddened expression. “I’ll text you.”
I nod, walking away in a dream-like state. He said he didn’t want anyone else to take me away from him. That sounds promising.
I climb the stairs with his words in my head, and even my wolf agrees that’s a positive sign. For some reason, all the kissing we’re doing doesn’t register as important. Not that it isn’t, but the physical bond is inherent in our natures. If we can have more moments where we actually talk without wanting to kill each other, that will be better.
I slip into my room and pull my phone out. I promised Mia I’d text her, so I send her a quick message to tell her I’m home safe and that I’ll tell her all about my date in the morning.
