Talons

Chapter 115: The Offer

Rhea’s POV

I stay huddled in the tub afraid to move because I know my clothing won't survive the trip out of Colton's bathroom. I still don’t know what I did wrong, and my outfit is the only thing I can think may have triggered him.

He didn’t like what I was wearing, and he asked me to change. I shouldn’t have allowed Holly to speak for me and I should have just done what he asked because then, I wouldn’t be in this situation.

“B?!” Mandy shouts, and I look up in relief. She leaps forward and pulls me into a warm hug while apologizing to me. “We were spelled and couldn’t look away from the phone. I’m so sorry; please tell me he didn’t hurt you.” Of course Colton hurt me, just not in the way she’s asking.

“What did I do wrong?” I sob. I heard Mandy say she was under a spell, but that has nothing to do with why Colt attacked me, unless he was also under some witch's enthrall.

“It wasn't you. The man you were talking to was an incubus, and probably a warlock as well. He smothered you in his scent and Colton reacted negatively to it.” I know a bit about incubi, so I know their scent can trigger aggression in males, but yet again, that has nothing to do with me.

“Then why did Colton attack me? I didn’t do anything.”

“You don’t understand B, you smelled strongly of warlock, even now, I can smell him on you. Weren’t you even a little affected?”

“No,” I admit. “He was just showing me how to throw darts.”

Silence overtakes us and we stay in the bathroom until my breath stops hitching.

After Mandy checked that no one else was in the suite, I made my way back into my room where I showered under her instruction. While inside, Carter collected the clothing I was wearing and burned them.

It felt like forever before Mandy said I no longer smelled of warlock, and by that time I was mentally exhausted.

I climbed into bed, barely able to keep my eyes open, but I'm terrified of Colton and what he will do next, so I force myself to stay awake.

If he’s able to go that far for something I had no control over, I can only imagine how he'll react if I actually do something he doesn’t like.

After a while, I notice that my cousin looks conflicted so I’m guessing that she’s probably being asked to leave over a mind-link. While I don't want to be alone, I don’t want her to be punished for my sake either.

It’s not her fault that she was unable to prevent herself from being bewitched, but she has technically failed her luna, and it's clear from her expression that she feels the weight of her error in more ways than one.

“This isn’t your fault,” I say, but Mandy just shakes her head at me.

“You could have been lost today, and Carly would have been left without parents.” I know what my cousin means, and I find myself growing worried. If I stay here, I will continue being a burden on her.

As for Colton, he just thinks I’m a sl*t who was purposefully trying to hurt him using the mate bond, and part of me now wonders if I should.

Colton’s POV

Holly has been laying out fact after fact in my office and I feel myself growing sick.

Rhea hasn’t always looked the way she does, and because she was weird, she was generally disliked among practically everyone, and my bullying didn't help.

I’ve heard all manner of rumors about her, and while I don’t believe them all, some are plausible, so I assumed they were true, but now I feel like an i***t.

“Then why didn’t she defend herself during our rejection hearing?” Holly scoffs at me before rolling her eyes in irritation.

“Why would she? Would you want to make yourself look good for the person who tormented you and almost killed you when you were a teen?” Once again, bile rises in the back of my throat.

“But that Mike guy-”

“...Cheated on her throughout their relationship.” Holly interjects.

“And Jack-”

“...chose her sister.”

“I think I’m going to be sick.” I start hyperventilating as I consider what I was seriously contemplating doing to my mate, and Holly perfectly frames my state of being.

“No Colt; you’re already sick, and you need to do the right thing by that girl. If you genuinely care about her, reject her.”

“I’ll go to counseling; I’ll get help. I know you don’t understand, but this goes beyond the mate bond.”

“And so, because you don’t want Jessica, B has to suffer?” I shake my head as I explain what I meant to my cousin, but she doesn’t look as moved as I thought she would be. In fact, she looks sad for me. “Colt, she didn’t know it was you. If she did, she wouldn’t have entertained you, and you know that.”

Holly is right, so I hang my head as I mull over the possible consequences of rejecting the woman who is goddess picked for me.

"You will not," Orlin says, but I block him out. Even Dolton thinks I should reject Rhea, and we have both been raised to respect the mate bond.

I leave my office and walk back to my suite. Mandy is still inside of Rhea’s room, so I ask her to leave over a mind-link. She doesn’t respond, so I make it a command.

Before my mate locks her door, I walk inside, and she jumps up in fear that I know I caused. I don’t apologize because I’m sure she won't accept it.

I’ve already broken my promise not to hurt her, so I plan to beg instead.

“Rhea I-”

“W-what do you want f-from me Colton?” I can’t believe my mate just cut me off, so I drop the block I put up against Orlin, wanting to focus on our conversation.

“I want to be with you,” I reply, and Rhea nods at my words.

“If it’s s*x you want, I can give that to you, but you have to reject me afterward.” I dash forward, grabbing my mate by the arm as gently as I can before pulling her into my chest and deeply breathing in her scent.

“Please don’t say things like that. I may say yes, but I will never reject you. I messed up tonight, but I'll do anything to prove I can change. I'll go to counseling, whatever you want; except for a rejection.” My mate is literally shaking in my arms, and in wanting to calm her down, I kiss her temple, but that only makes it worse. “Rhea, please; help me get better. I don’t want to live without you.”

Rhea’s POV

After thinking about it for a long time, Sylvia and I have decided that the best way to get rid of Colton is to give him what he wants. So when he came into my room to tell me that he just wanted to 'be with' me; she and I agreed to sacrifice our body for our peace of mind.

Like I told Holly, losing my virginity hasn’t been something I put much romantic thought into. Since men seem to want to take it from me without my permission, I might as well use it as a bargaining chip while I still can, but Colton denies my offer.

As I’m considering if I should put up the deed to my land, he dashes forward, pulls me into a tight hug, and I can’t help but to tremble with how intimate the gesture is.

“Please don’t say things like that. I may say yes, but I will never reject you.” I’m actually surprised by Colton’s honesty, but my mind is now telling me that he took my bargain as an open invitation.

He starts talking about counseling, but I lose it when he asks me to ‘help him.’ I pull away, backing up as my anger threatens to overflow.

“H-help you? Do you know how many times I’ve h-helped you?” Colton’s face goes pensive, so I outlined every time I assisted him out of the kindness of my heart.

I reminded Colton of the party my mother threw for our graduation, and the incident that followed with Brit. He may have thought it ended with her leaving that night, but her parents approached mine, looking for witnesses to collaborate a completely different story.

However, just before they could cause trouble within the alliance, I intervened and told my father the rendition Brit told me before I went to get her the numbing cream.

Her parents are extremely conservative, and they believe in waiting for a mate before having s*x, so she was afraid of their punishment.

Brit wasn’t expecting to go home early that night, and her parents were still awake when she arrived, so she lied when they could smell a male on her.

I didn’t exactly step in for Colton, I did it so that whichever sister was fated to him wouldn’t have to live with the shame of being tied to a male with a foul accusation associated with their name.

I then remind him of the rock I threw to distract his father when he was caught that night, and of how I reset his nose, despite him having just slammed me into a rock as if my body were invulnerable to pain.

I reminded him of the hints I would drop for him when my sisters’ birthday was approaching, and all the secrets I kept so that the peace could continue between our packs.

Colton just stares at me as if my words are wounding him, which is good because he deserves to know how I’ve felt since he first called me his mate.

“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.”

“Rhea I-”

“No,” I interrupt. “Stop calling me that name.” Colton searches my face for a meaning before speaking again.

“B-”

“No! Don’t call me that either. Go back to what you’ve always called me.” He looks confused, so I jog his memory. “Freak, r*tard, sl*t, ugly, wh*re…” The list of offensive terms I recite for him continues before Colton shouts, startling me into silence.

“I’m not rejecting you Rhea. You can either do what I asked, and help me get better, or we live like this forever.”

In all my life, I have never heard more threatening words, and I lose all control of my emotions.