Rejected Mate, page 10
They were meant to be together.
He felt it. He had to have her. There was no doubt about it in his mind.
Whatever intervention had occurred that had put her within Tanner’s path, it had only been the necessary journey to bring her to him.
They were bonding. He felt it. The connection to her. The need to constantly know where she was. Even now as her pussy tightened around him, there was no breaking what they had built together.
Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over to the sofa and laid her down gently. He stared into her eyes, no longer fucking her.
Gage took his time making love to her, wanting her to feel every inch of his cock, but going deeper than that. To feel the possession he felt of her. The need to make her his, to mark her, to claim her as all his.
He kissed her lips, biting down just a little.
The wolf within him emerged, taking his breath away. Gage jerked back enough to look at her.
Mark her.
Bind her to us.
He pressed his face against her neck, breathing in the sweet scent of her, filling his senses with all that she possessed.
His teeth elongated, the wolf needing this. Not wanting to give her up, but sensing the risk that another could take her away.
Ours.
Take her.
You want her.
He struck, sinking his teeth into her flesh, marking her in a place so that the whole pack would know who she belonged to. As he marked her flesh, it was like her body went into overdrive. Her orgasm flooded her body, and her cunt squeezed him tightly, begging for his spunk. Much to his surprise, he gave it to her, coming hard and deep within her.
Her body milked him of every single drop.
He felt the connection. Before this, it was a thin thread, easily breakable, but now it felt as strong as steel. They were bound together, not just through wolf and pack, but united together as mates.
Tanner had no claim to her. He had no right to her.
Connie now belonged to him.
Gage let go of her neck, licking at the wound and healing it with his alpha saliva. He lifted up enough to stare into her eyes, and he saw tears there, but he couldn’t quite read her expression.
She had a right to be pissed at him. He’d taken the choice out of her hands. He had acted like a selfish asshole.
Neither of them moved, staring into each other’s eyes, waiting.
“You’ve … mated to me?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“That means I now belong to you, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She didn’t know?
He opened his mouth to say something just as there was a slam within the house, making them both jerk.
“I’ve got to go and take care of this,” he said. Gage knew what was happening.
She nodded.
Tanner had been in the house. He would have felt the severing of the mating. Being the mate to reject rather than on the receiving side of it, he would feel the loss where Connie wouldn’t.
Quickly buttoning up his pants, he helped Connie, putting her dress into place, aware his cum was right now spilling out of her pussy. All he wanted to do was push it back in.
He held himself in check. It was next to impossible to do, but he did so.
Cupping her face, he stroked her cheek. “I will be back.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
He smiled at her but took off, going toward Tanner’s room where he found his son on the floor at the base of his bed. Knees drawn up to his chest, covered in sweat.
“You don’t need to tell me what happened. I felt it.” He rubbed at his chest. “Why am I feeling this way? I didn’t fucking want her. Even when I needed to be around her, I hated myself. I was disgusted with my obsession. I don’t fucking want her.” He jerked his foot out, shattering the chair that had been a few inches from him. “Fuck. It shouldn’t hurt like this. I don’t want her.”
Gage closed the door. The wolf wanted to attack to tell his son what an asshole he’d been to let her go. To think for even a second that she wasn’t worthy of him.
Connie was a keeper, and now she belonged to him. He was under no illusion that the difficult part of their mating was over. He knew they were only getting started. Connie would doubt his intentions, and he had to reveal the reason he mated with her was because he loved her.
“This is the consequence of your choice, Tanner. I have warned you time and again you will have to deal with the actions of your choices. This is merely one of them.”
“It hurts.”
“I know.” He reached out and put a hand on his son’s shoulder. Even now, he wanted to protect him. He did love his son, so very much.
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” he said.
Gage pulled his son into his arms. “I’ve got you, Tanner.”
His son burst into tears. This was the first real pain his son had ever felt. He didn’t care that his mother had left. Years ago, he tried to have the conversation with him, but Tanner hadn’t cared. He had once said that the woman meant nothing to him because she couldn’t even be bothered to send Christmas or birthday cards. He didn’t care about someone who clearly felt nothing about him.
Gage had wanted to give his son everything, even the love of a mother, but that was never going to happen. “I’m sorry,” Gage said.
“Do you love her?” Tanner asked.
“Yes. So very much.”
“Then I don’t care. You love her when I couldn’t.”
He held his son, knowing one day he would be okay.
Chapter Eleven
“Well, I had heard through the town gossip that he had marked you, but damn, you have got yourself one possessive alpha!” Lana’s hands were on her hips as she gave her a wink.
Constance touched the spot on her neck. She had seen the mark last night. Gage hadn’t come back to her. She’d gone to her own bedroom, waiting to see if he arrived, but nothing.
Tanner had needed him last night.
Part of her felt a little guilty for being jealous. Tanner was his son, and of course, he’d need his father, but she was a little confused.
Gage had mated with her.
He hadn’t waited.
He had taken her.
Her body responded to the sheer alphaness of it, but at the same time, what did this mean? Did he want her? Was he bored?
She couldn’t help the insecurity that plagued her. Even as she hated herself for thinking it, she couldn’t help but wonder if Gage had done it in order to stop spending time with her.
She rubbed at her temple, feeling the start of a headache.
Lana wanted to hear the details of what happened, but Constance avoided it by dealing with the library books. She seemed to be the only one who enjoyed putting the books back on the shelves, and so for the first part of the morning, that was exactly what she did, she restocked the shelves with the books.
All that time, she thought about Gage.
She was aware of the bite to her neck. Every single person she had come into contact with had pointed it out as if it was some beacon. Hiding it had been the last thing on her mind, but now she had to wonder if she should.
Would people hate her for picking Gage over Tanner?
After finishing the trolley full of books, she headed back to the main reception to see Lana on the phone.
“Okay, I’ll tell her.” She put the phone down. “That was for you. Gage wants you at the building site.”
Constance frowned. “He does?”
“Yep. It’s urgent, apparently. Don’t worry, I’ll hold down the fort here.” Lana winked at her. “Go and have fun.”
There was a time she would have enjoyed talking with Lana. Then she’d been fired after the Tanner thing, and since then, well, she hadn’t exactly been enjoying much fun with the librarian.
Nothing like getting her heart broken and hurt to see people in a different light.
Grabbing her bag, she took off and walked toward the building site. Even though it was busy, no one stopped her as she made her way there. No one was there.
She knew Gage had told his friend and the guys to stop work on the new houses until he dealt with the supply problem. He hadn’t told her the full details of what was going on, and she only knew what she heard.
Constance went to the door and saw the chain unlocked. Entering the building site, she went straight to the office. No one was there either.
She glanced around and saw a note on the desk.
She read it aloud. “Come to the second floor.”
“What is this about?” Leaving the main office, she looked at the building site and saw the scaffolding entrance.
After gripping the handle, she moved toward the second floor, entering one of the buildings. It felt sturdy under her foot, and she spun around.
“Gage? Hello? Are you here?”
Had Lana heard the wrong information? Why would Gage want to meet her at a building site?
“I have no idea what he sees in you.”
Constance spun around again, and there was Tiffany standing behind her, holding a knife. A rather large knife.
Her heart started to race when she also saw the anger in the woman’s eyes. The amber gold of her eyes as she stepped forward.
Connie felt sick.
“Tiffany, you’re with Tanner. You have nothing to do with Gage.”
“This isn’t about Gage. You think I don’t know what Tanner did to you? How he bit your neck? How he intends to claim you as his own and me, I’m nothing. I’ve given my whole life to him. Let him do whatever he wanted to me. He even begged me to wear a wig and let him call me fucking Constance as he fucked me. I did everything for him, and now he’s going to pick you over me. The ugly, fat wolf who doesn’t deserve him.”
“You’re angry.”
“You’re not going to take from me, Constance. You were never good enough. Your parents saw that. Everyone sees that but Tanner and Gage. You’ve got the alpha at your beck and call.”
“Tanner didn’t give me this mark,” she said. “Gage did. I don’t want to belong to Tanner. I never loved him. I never found him attractive. I only ever wanted Gage.”
“You’re lying.”
“No. I’m not lying. I swear. I have no reason to lie to you. None at all. I don’t love Tanner. I told you this before.”
Tiffany wasn’t listening to her. She struck out with the knife, and Constance screamed as it sliced her arm. She tried to ward off the blow.
She did miss a couple of strikes of the blade, but in doing so, she moved to far to the edge.
Glancing behind her, she knew there was nowhere for her to go. Panic filled her.
“Tiffany, please, stop this. I don’t know what has gotten into you. I would never take Tanner from you. I know you love him. You will always love him.”
“I will, and I will love him when you’re gone. I will make sure everyone believes you have run away. You’re pathetic, useless, and no one will miss you.”
Tiffany struck out, and Constance couldn’t keep her balance. She screamed as she fell from the ledge to the ground below. A spike was sticking up. There was nothing covering it, and Constance fell onto it, feeling it tear through the flesh of her leg. The impact knocked the wind right out of her.
Looking up, she saw Tiffany looking down. “You’ll die quickly.”
Tears fell thick and fast as she watched Tiffany go.
The building site was off-limits. No one was going to come to save her.
She couldn’t move. The wolf was hurt. She didn’t have the strength to turn, and she knew she didn’t have a lot of time before she died with her blood leaking out of her. Someone needed to rescue her soon.
She wanted Gage so badly. To at least tell him once that she loved him. That she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.
Whimpering, she tried to move her leg, but the pain was too much.
“Help!” She began to yell at the top of her lungs. Each movement sent another shockwave of pain through her entire system.
“Please! Help!”
No one came. No one was around to answer.
Her heart broke for the chances she wouldn’t get to take. She loved Gage so much. She wanted to be his mate, and she would never get the chance.
How could life be so cruel to her?
****
“I don’t think going to lunch is a good idea,” Tanner said.
“It’s the perfect chance. You and Connie need to mend fences. You’re my son, and there’s a chance you could be friends. For me?” Gage asked.
“Dad, we weren’t friends in high school.”
“Son, Connie is important to me.”
“I know.”
“No, I mean, I am in love with her. This is not some pity scenario. I am in love with Constance and I want to make her my wife. I want to spend the rest of my life with her. To have wolves, to guide this pack together. You are my son, and I want you to be part of that, but I don’t want to hurt you.”
He looked at his son.
Tanner’s mouth was open. “Have you told her any of this?”
“No, I just mated with her instead. I was hoping action would help me along.”
Tanner shook his head. “Yeah, I got a feeling that Constance isn’t like that. And hey, you totally called her that rather than Connie. Why do you call her that, anyway?”
Gage smiled. “Because I am the only one who does. No one else calls her anything else.”
“It’s a pet name?”
He glared at his son, who held his hands up. “Look, I’m just trying to put it all into perspective here. I’m doing my job.”
They entered the library and he saw the main reception desk was empty. No sign of Connie or Lana.
Leaning against the counter, he looked at his son.
Last night had been rough on Tanner, but this morning, waking up, his kid looked … relieved. “You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked.
“Dad, I know you’re worried, and I get it. Last night was rough. I felt it. Rejecting Constance was my choice. I deserved what I got last night, but today, I feel … free. I feel like I can be myself. I don’t have to pretend with anyone. I’m not hurting anyone. Constance is going to be looked after, and I’m free.”
He nodded at his son.
Gage had read the books, knew the consequences his son was going to have to deal with in the event of him mating with Connie. In the beginning, he intended to take his time and to allow it to be a slow process, only he’d become impatient.
Mating with Connie, feeling his wolf, it had all felt right, and he didn’t regret a thing.
He didn’t have to wait long before Lana appeared.
“Alpha, what are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to take Connie out to lunch. Where is she?”
Lana looked at him and Tanner, who gave her a smile and a wave.
“I’m confused. I had a call saying that you wanted to meet Constance at the construction site.”
Gage frowned. “Why would I want to meet her there? I haven’t called anyone.”
Lana glanced at the phone. “Tiffany said she had a direct message from the alpha. Constance was to meet Gage at the construction site. I … you didn’t call?”
“The mark,” Tanner said.
“I gave her the mark.”
“But if someone has told her I did?” Tanner asked.
Gage took off, running out of the library. He had to get to the construction site.
“Dad, I’ll grab the car.”
“No time.” He called upon his wolf, shedding his skin right there in front of the pack. He didn’t even care if there were any humans close by. He needed to get to his woman.
The moment his wolf was upon him, his senses went on hyper-alert, and he heard everything.
“Help. Please help.”
He heard his mate. She was hurt. There was no time to waste.
He took off, running in her direction. He needed to get to her. The wolf didn’t hold back. Charging forward, determined to get as close as possible to their mate.
Have to protect her.
Keep her safe.
Gage sensed his son was close as well. Ignoring all distractions, he went straight to his mate, breaking out in speed as he ran, getting to the clearing and close to the building site. The door that had been locked was now open, swinging in invitation.
A growl emitted.
After going through the gate, he felt the ground beneath him, sensed her close.
Changing back into human form, his wolf wanted to come back out, to get her, and then exact his revenge.
He kept a firm grip on his wolf, knowing if he allowed him out, there would be nothing left of Tiffany.
Connie’s screams hit him in the core. Panic seized, and he followed the sound, finding her in one of the pits with a spike protruding from her leg. The scent of blood was heavy in the air.
Rushing toward her, he cupped her face as she breathed a sigh of relief.
“You found me.” Her tears turned into full-on sobs.
“I’ve got you. I’m here.”
“I don’t think it’s good, Gage. I’m so sorry. I thought you had called.”
“I know what happened. I’m here to take care of you.” The damage was bad. “Fuck!” He could lift her off the spike, but right now, it was helping to stop the blood flow.
“Please, get me out of here.”
He cupped her cheek. “I need you to turn. I need you to let me bring the wolf.”
“I can’t.”
“Connie, if you don’t, you’re as good as dead, and I can’t have that. I love you, baby. You hear me? I love you, and this is not how it ends. Not for us. You’re going to be my wife. You’re already my mate, and I did that because I lost patience with waiting. I want you, always. Don’t leave me. Trust me.”
She gasped. “You love me?”
“Yes. I love you so damn much. Didn’t you know?”
She shook her head. “I hoped, but I thought you were getting bored with dealing with me. I didn’t know what to think.”
He kissed her. “I’ve loved you for a long time, Constance. My Connie. You’re mine. Please, trust me.”
“I love you too. That’s all I could think about. I don’t want to die here. I wanted you to know how I felt.” She sniffled. “I had the biggest crush on you, and now, this is a dream come true. I could never love your son because I loved you. Always you.”
