Defiance (Book 6 of The Claimed Series) SAMPLE

4. Stress

“Fuck.”

Lucas moved away and down the beach in the opposite direction from Hadley.

Hadley Kinney—his mate finally had a name, which meant he could keep an eye out on her, even if he couldn’t claim her.

Sand flew up from under his feet, and he could hear and sense someone running up behind him. He jerked around, mouth curled in a snarl before seeing it was Christian, his second-in-command.

“Do you need a shift?” His friend’s intense caramel and gold-flecked eyes reminded him a lot of Hadley’s, and it only made him angrier.

“Hadley Kinney. I need eyes on her immediately,” Lucas growled. “Find out where she comes from, how old—everything. Now, Christian.”

The Beta nodded, literally shaking from the intensity of Lucas’ gaze. “Your mate? Is that her? I’ll find out what I can, but I can’t guarantee it’ll be quick. Kinney you say? I know of some Kinneys at Alpine Pack, but the name is common enough. I’ll have Ellie look into it once we get back and—”

“Link her—now!” he snarled. Lucas’ eyes flashed golden, like flames igniting, smoke nearly expelling from his ears.

“Y-yeah, got it. Geez, man.”

Christian scrambled away in search of Kallen, whom he still hadn’t seen since going off in a random direction earlier with a single female. He was sure his superior olfactory receptors would sniff the manwhore out in no time. That or the scent of arousal would surely give him away.

Lucas decided to contact his father.

Dad, you there?

Here, son. What’s going on? Did you find her?

Fuck. Did he find her? Yes. Yes, and she was perfect—too good for him, and he’d f****d it up from the start.

Yes, she’s here. Hadley Kinney. Christian’s going to get Eleanor to work on a background for her, where she comes from, though I know she’s Omega. Her brother’s name is Taylor, her best friend, Mara. That will help as neither are that common. They drove here, so I don’t think they live that far away. The car—not new, probably not a rental. I’d bet they live within a couple hours of here. But there’s a…a problem.

He almost heard his father’s disapproval in his next words. Why? What happened? What did you do, Luke?

Lucas sighed. He was already irritated with himself, and he didn’t need the extra layer of discontent he felt rolling through the bond. She heard me talking to Christian. How I only wanted to find my mate to reject her. We…we had words, she walked away. Didn’t even get a chance at rejecting her.

Hmm. Well, that’s kind of good.

Lucas startled. How so?

Plausible deniability. He comes snooping once he finds out you rejected your mate—in a sense—and he’ll know it’s time.

Time? Luke was now heading toward the parking lot, past the sandy dunes across the street where he could shift in private. The whole area had been rented out for the bonfire, and no humans were allowed in the area. Safety precautions. He was safe to shift and tear apart a few animals if he felt the need, so he stripped off his shirt, pushed down his pants, and kicked his shoes off before his whole body vibrated with magic.

The air seemed to shimmer around him, and everything started to become sharper, more focused. The edges hadn’t been blurry before, but it was like everything was 3D, including the shrubs way off in the distance. He could see a squirrel or two, a vague rabbit-shaped form that dropped into a dark space—maybe its den. Still, he listened as his father went on about this f**k-up being for his benefit.

But he’d hoped she would understand why he was doing this—why it had to be done.

Yes, time. He’ll make his move, and you can swoop in and make it right. You know how to do that, am I correct?

Luke sighed, not liking any of it. Beg. Grovel. Get on my hands and knees and kiss her feet, become her slave. Did I get it right, or should she use my back as an ottoman as well?

Can the sarcasm, kid. You know what needs to be done, and if you’ve got Eleanor and Chris on it already, you’re miles ahead. He’ll never see you coming. When she goes back home, word will spread of a rejected future-Luna. This is only the beginning, Lucas. We can set it right.

I hope, Lucas thought back at him, and loped off toward the bushes in search of something to sink his teeth into. Right now, he craved blood, because his heart was already bleeding out onto the ground.

***

The ride back home was quiet. Long. So long that it felt like hours of silence instead of 45 minutes. None of them beside Hadley had found their mate, but at least neither of the other two were rejected outright either. It made for a tense atmosphere on the way back to the pack, but no one knew what to say about Hadley and Lucas.

“I’ve never heard anything bad about Crestline,” Taylor informed them at some point near the end of their drive. He was a bit of a know-it-all when it came to packs in the area since he was a history buff and trying to become a head warrior for Alpine Pack.

“Don’t tell Kylee,” Hadley murmured. “She won’t get it. She won’t want to attend the bonfires or matings in a couple of years. Alpha Hudson needs to know, Mom and Dad, too, because they’ll be wondering. No one else, okay?” She looked at the back of Taylor’s head, watching it bob up and down in agreement.

“Got it, little sis. Dad might go over and pitch a fit since he’s a professional liaison, but I think Macready can keep him from ripping the Alpha asshole’s testicles from his body. For now.”

Hadley wavered between a sense of numbness and crippling pain. It stabbed at her heart, and she felt like an open wound was festering just beneath the surface of her skin. It made her want to weep, to cry out everything until there was nothing left, but she knew that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. The pain of rejection—even before it became an official rejection—was difficult. Her limbs felt shivery, like she was getting the flu, and the dull, throbbing ache in her throat made a dry clicking sound when she swallowed.

It couldn’t have been the stone that refused to go away, even though it felt like it was growing by the second.

Her heart thumped in her chest, feeling too rapid to be healthy, and her chest became tight, her breathing unsteady.

“Had? You okay back there? What’s wrong with your breathing?”

It figured Tay would notice the change in her, and could probably hear her heart beating as well. It was like a runaway drum that refused to slow down.

“Fine.” She swallowed. “Just… I feel a little off. And shaky. It’s… I feel weird.”

Her swallow was too loud, her chest tightening further—like a metal band had wrapped around her, squeezing the air from her lungs. Mara looked back, her eyes widening when she took in her ragged breathing and pale face. “Hadley, you alright? You’re white as a sheet.”

“I feel strange. Nauseated.” Her stomach rolled queasily. “Tay, can you pull over? I think I’m going to be sick.”

Her brother pulled off to the side of the road, Hadley leaping out and leaning over before expelling the contents of her stomach near the guardrail. A car passed by them, slowing down and nearly stopping as Hadley gagged and spat the rest of the taste of bile from her mouth. Mara slipped her a bottle of water, which Hadley used to rinse her mouth out and spit. Then she took a small sip and swallowed, her whole body shaking as she tried to choke it down.

“f**k… What was that?” Her breath quivered as it passed her lips.

Taylor hunkered down next to her. “My guess? You had a panic attack.” He sighed. “You went through a lot tonight, Hadley. Chest tighten up before you felt sick to your stomach? Trouble breathing?”

She nodded her head weakly.

“Sounds like it then, sis. I remember having one before the championship years ago.” Taylor had played football and had always been very athletic. They’d gone all the way to the State level his senior year, winning it—but only after a severely nauseating stomach malady that turned out to be a bout of near-debilitating anxiety. Once the game had started, he’d been able to get over his performance anxiety and get his head in the game. “Just relax for a moment and we can head back. Take a seat on the railing and drink your water.”

Taylor walked away, pulling out his cell phone and texting before sitting about 20 feet away from the sickly-sweet smell of vomit. Mara leaned against the car, and Hadley brought a shaky hand up to her mouth before taking another sip of water from the bottle. She struggled to regulate her breathing, closing her eyes and drinking in the cool night air, the sound of running water from a stream nearby, and the noise of bushes rustling in the woods off the backroads.

“You good to go?” Mara straightened up, and Hadley could see Taylor sitting up from his slump from the corner of her eye. She nodded her head.

“I think so. Feel better anyway.”

“No throwing up in the car, Hads. You need to toss your cookies, let me know and I’ll be over on the side of the road again before you know it.”

They all climbed back into the vehicle, the occasional car slowing to see what was going on until Taylor was pulling back into the slow traffic and heading west again.

West and back home, to a future that was more uncertain than ever for Hadley.

***

“What happened?”

Lucas scowled at his phone. Christian had called him on his way back to the pack, Eleanor picking him up from the bonfire, her tablet in hand and eyes scanning the information on it like it held the cure for cancer and the solution to world peace.

‘They pulled over for Miss Kinney to be sick. Thought I heard something about it being a panic attack. Maybe I’m wrong.’

“Sick?” Lucas’ gut clenched. “Is she alright? What was wrong? Was it because of tonight? Is there a history of mental illness?”

Had he made this all worse with his silent rejection? The words he so hastily tossed out there? His heart ached at the thought, the muscle fisting tight, beating wildly.

‘Says nothing in her bio about any mental illness,’ Eleanor muttered. ‘Says here she’s from Alpine, brother’s named Taylor with a younger sister named Kylee. Mother is Justine, father—and true mate—is Kieran. Hadley is 21 and graduated a year ahead of schedule. Smart, ambitious. Brother’s 23 and mateless. Best friend, Mara Sims is her age. Omega as well and unmated.’

Lucas let out a relieved breath. He’d never forgive himself if he’d done lasting damage on an already frail mate.

Yes, he still considered her his, and would until…well, until things straightened themselves out, for better or worse.

“f**k. Alpine Pack, eh?” He rubbed a hand over the scruff on his chin. “Alpha Hudson Macready, right?”

‘Right, boss. Unmated, orphaned Alpha Macready. 24 years old, has yet to attend a bonfire or mating ball to this date. Highly unusual.’

Lucas frowned, his hands tightening on the steering wheel as Kallen looked over at him. “Well, now that we know where she lives, we can at least keep an eye on her. Good work, Ellie. You’ll keep me informed?”

‘Yup. I don’t have access to all her medical files, but I know that Hadley was born March 15th, no known illnesses or operations, went to college in West Virginia, dated in college—’

“Dated? Who?”

His ears perked up as his wolf rattled its cage in his head.

‘Jack Wheeler. Good rep until Hadley broke up with him. He was possessive and didn’t take the breakup well. He was kicked out of the university after an incident.’

“Incident? What incident?” If the man had hurt Hadley, he’d—

‘Argument in public. He wanted to claim her as his mate, was a bit obsessed with her, confronted her in town. The police were called and he was given a restraining order. Had to change schools because of it.’

He nearly snarled. “Where is the bastard now?”

‘Living back home. Southern California. Outside of San Diego it looks like. Hasn’t been back east since he changed universities.’

“Good,” Lucas growled. He lingered for a while longer on the phone, greedy for more information. “Anything else you think I should know about her?”

‘Uhm, well—she double majored. Business and art. She did well in business, always got A’s, but I have a feeling that her passion is art and business was her smart fallback career choice. Hope that helps.’

He thought for a moment before nodding. “Good, yes. Great to know. Thanks, Ellie. I’ll see you guys in a bit. I’m almost home.”

He hung up, feeling both closer and further away from his true mate.

And loathing every centimeter of distance between them.

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