Filed To Story: Alpha's Regret: His Wrongful Rejection
I approach the raised booths where the members of the five families sit.
Cadoc notices me—I feel it—but he doesn’t acknowledge me until I’m standing on the floor right beneath him. Seth Rosser sits with his back to the room, facing Cadoc. Seth scoots aside, crowding Teagan Roberts and opening a direct line of sight between Cadoc and me. He can’t ignore me anymore.
The dining room goes silent except for clinks and coughs and creaking chairs. And the usual yips from the scavenger tables.
Cadoc’s face is a mask. No surprise. No interest. There is nothing in his steely gray eyes. Nothing.
I feel stuck again, trapped, stretching with all my might for something just out of my reach.
I bow my head, clasp my hands in front of me, try to look like the lesser nobs when they come to him with all due respect. He always waits a beat, but then he says speak.
I wait for the word.
Silence.
A nervous laugh.
A clatter of dishes from way back in the kitchen.
Oh, shit. Say something. My throat is too tight, my mouth too dry. I peek up and beg him with my eyes.
Say anything.
I’m dangling in mid-air.
His jaw tightens, and he scowls over my shoulder at nothing.
He’s not rescuing me.
I lick my cracked lips and cough to clear my throat. Brynn titters and whispers to Lowry behind her hand.
How is it possible that my skin can get hotter? Now it’s radiating heat like a sunburn.
I shove my hands into the pockets of Nia’s hoodie.
“Well?” Seth Rosser prompts. The word is a warning. Turn around. Abandon mission.
I would if I could, but I’m as stuck as I was between the water fountain and the wall.
I wish I could run.
No. Mate.
My wolf plops down on her hindquarters. She’s going nowhere.
“You have something to say?” Finally, Cadoc rests his fork on his plate and lowers his blank eyes to mine. A goose walks over my grave. “Speak,” he finally orders.
My throat swells all the way shut.
Is it possible that both my wolf and I are wrong about him?
My eyes sting, the scent of salt in my nostrils.
Lowry snickers. Brynn bats her arm to shush her, leaning forward, her green eyes glittering with malice. She’s too civilized to bare her teeth, but I read her meaning. Tuck tail and go back to where you came from or else.
My wolf hears her too, loud and clear, but she doesn’t give a shit. She’s one hundred percent focused on Cadoc.
Waiting.
“Another defective scavenger,” Brody Hughes sneers. His friends snicker.
What do I do?
I glance over my shoulder. The scavengers are standing or kneeling on the benches, craning their necks to see over all the gawking nobs.
I have to say something.
“I—um.” I squeeze my eyes shut, rock once on the soles of my rubber sneakers, and look back up, blinking, praying.
But Cadoc is still there, scorn in the lift of his lip. He taps the table impatiently.
My tongue is numb.
“What do you want, thief? Here to apologize?” Brynn snorts.
The tension has thickened the air, the scavengers’ anxiety mixing with the nobs’ bloodlust. They’re anticipating a show. Everyone except Cadoc is on the edge of their seat.
He’s above the drama, above it all.
“I—uh—” I suck down a ragged breath and plow ahead. The only way forward is through. “Can I talk to you? Somewhere else?”
I summon every last ounce of courage and look Cadoc straight in his eye, begging him to remember the pup that he rescued, or at least the decent male he was back then.
My skin is seconds from combusting. I’m going to leave a black ring on the polished oak floorboards.
Cadoc blinks once, a flash of silver there and then gone, and he says, cold and final. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
“I—“
He raises his eyebrow, and I lose what I was going to say.
“You don’t belong over here. Go take your seat.” He nods toward the back of the room.
My wolf whines in confusion.
“But—” I try again. Maybe I’m mistaken, and he doesn’t feel it yet. Whatever, I’m here. I can’t just tuck tail and run, even though there’s nothing I’d rather do. “I have something private we need to—that I need—“
He straightens, broadening his shoulders, expanding his chest. It’s a show of dominance. A warning, the final kind. The room holds its breath.
With slow deliberation, Cadoc reaches for his water glass and sips, taking his time swallowing. “I have no business with you, scavenger. Go back to your kind.” He jerks his chin toward the back tables and picks up his salad fork.
I stand there, throat spasming on air, beads of sweat trickling down my spine.
Mate. Tell him.
My wolf prods, undaunted, unafraid, and a little impatient.
I’m a shivering, sweaty mess, and my brain is on the fritz.
What do I do now? If only there was a hole I could jump into.
I open my mouth to say please—I can manage please—but before I can, Cadoc nods at Seth Rosser.
Seth rises to his feet, moves to my side, and grasps my upper arm in an iron grip, turning me so hard my rubber sole squeaks.
“Take her back where she belongs,” Cadoc says to my back, and Seth propels me forward, steering me past table after table of rubbernecking nobs and gawking humans.
I let him, and my wolf complies. She’s dumbfounded, at a complete loss.
I take a deep breath, trying to soothe us both, and I inhale a mouthful of rotten eggs. Dear Fate. It’s coming from Seth. I gag.
Seth tightens his grip, and my wolf rumbles a warning, rattling my ribs. She stretches against my skin, and my stomach rolls. His touch is like a slither. Like a squelch. I shrink from him, and he squeezes harder.
Behind us, at the front where Cadoc sits, there’s the sharp crack of splintering wood. A few females gasp, but I don’t look back to see what happened. I can’t. I can only put one foot in front of another.