Talons

Chapter 116: The Lists

Colton’s POV

My mate offering her body to me as a tradeoff for a rejection was almost a little too much for me to ignore. If what she told Holly is true, then she’s offering me a part of herself she can never get back, and I’m not sure if I should be flattered or hurt by it. 

I nearly gave in and agreed to her offer, telling myself that she would want me more than once, but that was the year of celibacy talking, not logic. Besides that, I don’t want to reject her. I want a real relationship with Rhea, so I ask her for help.

“H-help you?” Rhea questions. She then started to remind me of the many times she helped me. With each word my heart clenches. I hadn’t even known about Brit, but it made sense why the girl went ghost shortly after our encounter.

We were told that she’d chosen to be homeschooled, but now that we are adults; I know that her parents literally kept her locked in their basement. It was a huge scandal in the pack she was from, and the girl was so weak when she was found that she required emergency treatment.

It sparked a giant divide within the counsel, who while all devout, have different interpretations of urges and s*x. At the end of the day, the girl ended up being fated to someone good for her, and last I heard, she was already a mother of three.

Rhea continues with her rant, and she finally mentions something I don’t want to be reminded of and never wanted to hear from her lips.

I treated the twins well, but not because I liked them; I was under the impression that one of them would be fated to me, so I felt like I had to. All the time and effort I put into them was wasted because the woman I should have been spoiling with gifts was the one I treated like sh*t.

I remember thinking I was stealing birthday present ideas from her when she would 'accidentally' drop pieces of paper with a list of items she had written out for her sisters, and because I was a d*ck to her, I never gave it back.

She would always stare at me with those big eyes of hers, expecting me to hand over her property, but I would pocket it as my own.

It’s only right now that I realize she was doing it on purpose all along. While I thought I was getting over with an extremely detailed list, complete with prices and locations on where to find them, Rhea was just making sure her sisters weren’t disappointed by me. 

My mate then reminds me of the secrets she kept for the sake of peace, and because of that, I can still inherit the title, once again, thanks to her kindness. She could’ve had me executed after I forced her into a premature shift, but she didn’t, and no matter the reason, I’m still grateful for her display of mercy.

“My life isn’t a dislocated shoulder or a broken rib Colton. I can’t come back to life and cover for you after you kill me.” I wince before calling out my mate’s name, wanting to explain why I was so jealous, but she cuts me off. “Stop calling me that name.” I’m confused, so I switch to B, but my mate isn’t satisfied. “No! Don’t call me that either. Go back to what you’ve always called me.”

My beautiful, and usually docile mate, starts calling out foul names I’ve called her in the past. She must know that I would never call her any of those things now, but the word sl*t hits me like a hammer since I called her that just hours before.

“STOP IT!” I shout, and Rhea jumps in fear, retreating from me as she seems to have only just realized how she was talking to me. “I’m not rejecting you Rhea. You can either do what I asked, and help me get better, or we live like this forever.”

My mate’s lip quivers before she completely loses it and goes from crying to laughing. I want nothing more than to hug her right now, but I don’t even deserve to touch her, so I leave.

Rhea’s POV

The word forever coming from Colton’s mouth was more painful than any physical injury I have ever received from him. He’s so adamant on keeping me around that he may refuse to reject me, even if I win an appeal, and out of spite, he may force his mark on me if my rejection gets denied again.

I don’t want to be bound to a man who doesn’t respect me, but I don’t know what else I have to give. I've already put my body on the line, so the only thing I have left is money, but I’ll need it to take care of myself long term.

For now, I still have plans to help rogues like myself rehabilitate, so I can’t give away too much of my money without hurting my future career. I haven’t even been able to see how my product is doing because I don’t have access to my phone and can’t get to the business platform we use.

Fortunately, I emailed the board telling them I had a family emergency and may be unavailable for a few weeks to a month before arriving at the council house, so I’m sure no votes to have me removed have been called, but businesspeople are predators, and I’m almost positive that they’ve already started a countdown.

"Three months Rhea; we only have to survive that long. Colton isn’t as bad as General, if we are careful, we can do it."

I understand Sylvia’s optimism, but at least with General he would tell me what I did wrong so I could avoid it in the future, other times I could guess, but with Colton, I still don’t even know what I did to trigger him.

Not wanting to waste time thinking about mysteries I may never get the answer to, I lock the door and climb back into bed. I’m tired, and I can think better after a good night’s rest.

Colton’s POV

The buzzer in my room continuously goes off and I growl as I spring out of bed, intending to kill the person waking me up at 7AM on a Saturday. I typically don't get to sleep in, but my betas are always up early because of their daughter, so they volunteered to keep the pack safe while I rest.

Surprisingly, Mandy wasn’t as angry with me as I thought she would be, and while she did give me an earful last night, she also understood that my aggression was misplaced, and she was more upset with herself.

“What?!” I shout while swinging open my door, and a stiff punch lands on my jaw. It hurt enough for me to know it was my brother who hit me, and when I look up, his eyes are red rimmed.

I’m too tired to fight him right now, and based on the strength behind his punch, so is he.

“I actually care about my mate, and your sh*t has been putting a strain on us. I don’t know what the hell happened last night, but you better fix it.”

“Who told her?”

“Who do you think?” I sprint toward my mate’s room and push open the door, slightly panicked when I see that she isn’t in bed. “Relax, she’s with Miracle.”

“You don’t understand, if it were your mate, you would have done the same thing.”

“Yes, I would have, but B doesn’t even know what she did wrong.”

“What do you mean?” My brother rubs his face exasperatedly before pushing into my suite and plopping on the couch.

“Do you try talking to her at all?”

“She doesn’t like to be near me.”

“Which makes sense; I saw the bruises you left on her arms; you were out of control.” I don’t like how Dolton is judging me right now, so I explain what I thought I was seeing, hoping to sway him back to my side. “She doesn’t strike me as that kind of girl,” my brother adds. “And it sounds to me that you're projecting that Jessica person onto your mate.” I gasp in horror at the thought, and my brother chuckles.

“My mate is nothing like Jessica,” I reply, and I find myself confused by my own words. Truthfully, I don’t know anything about B other than the fact that she’s nice to people, smart and beautiful. 

“All I’m saying is that you wouldn’t have reacted the way you did if you knew anything about the girl and weren’t projecting the actions of other women onto her.” I sigh in defeat because Dolton is right. 

B hasn’t even expressed a desire to be with Jack, in fact, when I scrolled through their text message conversations, it was mostly about Raven.

“Do you believe my mate is a virgin?” I suddenly ask, scared that my brother was going to laugh at me, but he doesn’t, which is more shocking. 

“That doesn’t surprise me considering who her mother is. Do you remember when she told us that our d*cks were going to fall off if we used them too much?” I burst into laughter at the memory and so does my brother. “If she said that to us, imagine what she may have said to her own children?” Dolton has a point, but I’m still on the fence.

“Then why would she offer herself to me in exchange for a rejection?”

“Why are you asking me? You should be asking your mate bro. A lot of sh*t between you two could probably be explained through a normal conversation. Which brings me back to the reason I’m here.” My brother stands and stretches his body before turning back to me. “Fix this; I don’t care if you have to serenade her butt naked with the whole pack watching.” I know it's weird, but I seriously consider my brother’s words.

“Do you think something like that would work?” I ask, and his jaw drops with my question.

“Look, I can try to figure out what B likes through Miracle, but I can’t make any promises Colt.”

At this point, I’ll take whatever I can get, so I’m oddly excited when my brother leaves. A few minutes later, he links me with more information about B than necessary, but only one of them sticks out to me.

Rhea likes children, I could already deduce that from her interaction with Crystal, and once again, I’ll exploit that weakness.