Talons

Chapter 114: The Regret

Colton's POV

Rhea is fast, I've known that since we were young, so in the few seconds it took me to shake Holly off and order Mandy away, she has gotten far, but I have always been faster than her. 

I can feel Orlin's urge to shift, but we aren't in an area where it’s appropriate, and if we do, he may end up hurting her. I'm angry, livid even, but I still want her alive.

I close the distance between us, and as my mate’s tainted scent hits my nostrils, I push forward, sending Orlin to the back.

I know what he wanted to do and forcing our mark on Rhea is not an option. I want her to choose me, and even though I don't plan to let her off easily, I won’t cross that line unless I absolutely have to.

Crashing into my mate’s back, the force of my impact causes us to tumble to the ground, and the scent of the male she was with begins radiating off her in waves. I can barely contain my rage as I pick her up by the back of her shirt and throw her into the backseat of my car.

Carter was smart enough to bring the vehicle to us, but I ordered him out because right now my mate and I need to be alone. Her scent is embarrassing to me, especially since she hasn’t let me touch her in an intimate way since we found out we were fated to one another.

I don’t even know how, but I got back to the packhouse in what felt like a few minutes and judging by the way my mate was holding on for dear life, I know I must have driven recklessly. 

I open the back door and grab my mate's ankle, pulling her toward me as she continues to sob, but she hasn’t spoken one word of an apology and that is driving me up the wall.

I know she doesn’t care about me, and I know she doesn’t want to be with me. If I hadn’t shown up, she probably would have f*cked that warlock and put my entire pack in danger while doing it.

Pulling Rhea into my suite, I drag her toward my room, and she finally finds her voice.

“W-what are y-you d-doing?” I pull her into my chest, squeezing her cheeks as I hold her close to me.

“This is what you like right?” I mock, opening my door and pushing her inside. She stumbles back, but I catch her before she falls, then press her into my bed. “I tried to trust you and what did you do?”  Straddling my still sobbing mate, I force her to look at me by pinching her chin.

“D-don't,” she whines, but the fear in her voice only makes me more upset because I know I’m the only man who elicits that reaction while others have already taken what should have been mine.

“Do you know how patient I've been? Do you even care? Maybe I should just f*ck you into behaving? Isn't that what s*ts like?” Once again, the smell on Rhea’s body irritates my senses, so despite my words, I couldn't get it up if I wanted to. 

Pulling her into the bathroom, I forced her into the tub, turned on the water and poured shower gel on her, scrubbing vigorously as I desperately tried to wash away the scent on her body. 

The only man she should smell like is me, and I don’t even realize how rough I’m being until her clothing starts to tear.

“Please stop,” she whimpers in distress while trying to keep her tattered shirt from falling away from her breast.

“Why, so you can bask in that f*cking warlock’s scent?!” I shout, but I’m soon frozen in place, blinking rapidly as my anger makes way to regret.

Rhea’s POV

When Colton pressed me into his bed, I knew he was going to hurt me, and I hate that there's nothing I can do without killing my parents in the process.

“Just submit, it'll be over soon, and we'll get through it together.” Sylvia has also given up hope that we will come out of this ‘relationship' unscathed, and when Colton starts calling me a sl*t, all hope is lost.

He suddenly picks me up and puts me in the shower, furiously scrubbing me in such a rough way that the camisole I was wearing tore.

I can feel my skin becoming raw as his nails scratch me, and I start hoping that he loses whatever control he has left and slices my throat.

“If he kills you, Lark will retaliate against him.” Sylvia and I don’t want a war to ensue between Colton’s pack and my brother’s pack, but we know that even if he hides the true cause of my death, Lark will not allow things to rest. The alliance they are in is already spread thin and my death will shred it.

The worst part of all this is that I don’t even know what I did wrong. Sure, the man at the bar was a little close, and I actually understood Colton’s jealousy, but the rage he is displaying is way out of proportion.

Not even his own cousin and beta female thought the male was a threat because they stayed glued to the phone the entire time he and I played darts together.

If something were off, they would have warned me; especially Mandy, who is marked and mated. She wouldn't have wasted time to tell me that I was doing something that Colton wouldn’t like, solely because she doesn’t want to see me get hurt.

I struggle internally as I try to come to terms with pleading with Colton for my life. I’ve begged him in the past, and he showed no reaction, so I have extremely low expectations.

The man hates me, he always has, and he always will. It's painfully clear that not even the mate bond can change that fact. If it could, Colton wouldn’t be able to hurt and embarrass me like this, but here we are.

“Please stop,” I whimper. Despite knowing that my words won’t help, they have somehow managed to push their way to the surface because in all honesty, I don’t want to die yet.

“Why, so you can bask in that f*cking warlock’s scent?!” Colton starts tugging on my pants, which rip away easily and I panic before I shout at him.

“I can’t smell!” His grip loosens with the reminder, and I slide down the wall, trying to keep whatever’s left of my modesty. “Please, reject me,” I beg. “I can’t live like this.”

Colton's POV

I just stared at my soaked mate as she cried in the tub. Her clothing is in tatters, and she is trying her best to keep the pieces that are left in place.

I don't know how I could have forgotten something so crucial about the person who's supposed to be the most important to me.

She may have aroused the warlock, but she didn't have a clue. She was simply playing darts and now that I think back, there wasn’t even the slightest hint of arousal on her, meaning she wasn’t interested.

I shut the water and try to scoop my mate into a hug, but she starts frantically waving her arms around to stop me, so I pull my hands away from her.

"What have we done?" I say to my wolf, who has gone silent. He also knows that we’ve f*cked up and may have lost our mate in the process.

Rhea's arms are covered in red marks that will either become welts or bruises before they heal, and all I want to do is kiss them away from her body.

I had allowed anger and jealousy to fuel my wolf without even giving her a chance to explain and now, I understand why she'd rather die than to be with me; I'm toxic for her.

"Rhea, please stop crying; I forgot… Okay?" My mate doesn't respond to me, and the last words of that damn warlock are playing in my mind over and over again.

I sit at the opposite end of the tub and hold my head in my hands. I don't see a way back from what I've done, and I'm not sure I deserve another chance.

"We can't lose her. She is our fated mate. We can make this up to her."

I ignore Orlin and I then feel an intense pressure on my block. One of my betas is trying to mind-link me, so I stand, casting a sorry glance at my heavily breathing mate before leaving.

As soon as I open the door to my suite Mandy and Holly are standing outside with complex expressions on their faces.

Mandy doesn't even wait for an invitation as she pushes past me shouting Rhea's name. For now, I'll let her tend to my mate, but she has lost my trust almost entirely.

My mate may not have been able to smell, but she could, and I don't know why she didn't say anything.

"We need to talk," I say to Holly, who follows me to my office. 

"What-" we both start to speak at the same time, but Holly yields to me.

"What were you thinking when you allowed that warlock to cover her in his scent?"

"If you had listened to us back at the bar you would've known this already. That wasn't just a warlock, I've only heard of them in myth, but he was also an incubus."

"How do you know?" I ask, sitting up in concern. Any sort of demon is unwelcome among humans and super-naturals alike.

"I was aroused by his scent, but because I was enthralled by his spell, I couldn't take my eyes off the phone."

I raise a brow at my cousin, unsure what her arousal has to do with the man being an incubus before it hits me that in all the time she's been in the U.S., she has never been interested in men.

"Please Colt; just tell me you didn't hurt her," Holly suddenly says, and I look down in shame. 

"I thought she wanted him." She scoffs before standing. 

"Colt, you should just reject the girl. She really deserves better."

"Like whom?" I question, "One of the men who've f*cked her and left?" Holly makes a confused face before shaking her head at me. "You didn't see how close they were," I add.

"You really don't know a thing about your mate. She's a virgin Colt." I chuckle  mockingly at her.

"Virgin? Holly, have you looked at Rhea?"