Defiance (Book 6 of The Claimed Series) SAMPLE

3. Defenses

Hadley’s legs trembled, but she made herself move forward, taking longer and longer strides until she was finally standing at the edge of the parking lot, her breathing shallow, rapid, and everything in her quaking.

Fuck!

Fuck f**k f**k!

She was almost to her brother’s car when a warm hand wrapped around her elbow from behind. She immediately whirled around, her fist raised and ready to make hard contact with a face. Or jaw. Or eye, if her aim was true enough.

But pretty much anything that would get her far, far away from this beach. This beach and him.

“f**k off!” Hadley went to move away again, ripping her arm away from the touch that was both comforting and repellent to her.

The man stepped back a foot before studying her. “What is your name, little one?” His husky growl made a shiver ripple down her spine.

“Since you don’t want a true mate, why would that matter? So you can reject me? I don’t need you or your piss-poor attitude about mates. Leave me alone.” She backed away, ready to turn around and make her way to the car, break the glass if she had to—if only to get away from him and his rejection.

“Your name! Please!”

She flipped him off before turning her head to him, hair swinging in a soft arc of soft brown curls. “Because you said ‘please’, you think I’ll tell you? f**k you and your manners. A real wolf wouldn’t reject his soulmate. They’re given for a reason, are a gift, and it’s obvious you don’t deserve me.”

She stalked toward the car, found the backdoor open and cursed out loud until she realized the carelessness of her brother worked out for the better for her. Crawling into the back, she laid down, prayed to the Goddess or whoever that the man had gone away. The man with the friend named Chris, the wolf she knew was her mate and didn’t want her.

She sobbed into her free hand, the other one curled up and cradling her head as she used it as a pillow. Hadley knew she needed to get it together, and she would let all her emotions out in wave after wave of hurt before heading back toward the bonfire.

Or maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe she’d just sit here and hope the earth swallowed her and the whole car up before she had to go back out and see him again. Hadley knew he’d be watching, studying—waiting to get her alone again to do the unthinkable.

She’d thought all the troubles with matings would go by the wayside once The Claiming rituals had been nullified and they’d decided to go with mating balls and bonfires instead. This wasn’t supposed to happen—not anymore.

Her lips trembled, her whole body shaking as she wept, tears flooding the backseat upholstery as she tried over and over again to calm herself.

She felt like nothing—nothing of consequence, an easy ‘I’ll pass’ to a man she didn’t know except to realize that he was her mate, a mate that didn’t want her even before he knew who she was or what she was like.

Rejection was a raw nerve, the memory of it always stinging just as sharp and stark as the last time you scraped at it.

Hadley knew it would be that way for a very long time to come.

***

Thirty minutes passed before she could stem the never-ending tide of emotion, and every second ached like it was an eternity—possibly longer. She couldn’t take it anymore. Couldn’t stand herself blubbering and wailing into her hands, so she opened the car door, making sure she pressed the lock button before she walked away. Hadley had to continue to wipe her eyes for a while, moving as far away from the scent of rosemary as she could and finding her brother and Mara, both in close proximity to each other, her best friend talking urgently to Taylor.

“What’s up?”

There wasn’t a quiver in her voice, was there?

Nope. No, siree.

“What’s wrong? Why did you just walk off suddenly before?”

Ah, the interrogation begins.

“Nothing. I just had to use the bathroom and got caught talking with someone near the parking lot bathrooms.” The lie came easily to her—at least for now—but she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold the truth in for long, and Taylor could catch her in a fib with his ears clamped shut and eyes closed. “I’m cool now. All…everything’s great.”

Everything was horrible. Absolutely horrible. If she let the story out now, they’d come with more tears, and she wouldn’t be able to keep her brother and best friend from finding a spicy-scented male wolf and string him up by his balls.

“Bullshit, Had. You look like you’ve been crying, and I heard what the man said right before you left.” Mara’s voice held an accusatory tone Hadley knew too well. “That man was your mate, wasn’t he? You heard what he said and knew what it meant. You were shaking when you walked away.”

Her friend’s nostrils flared as she looked around for the offending bastard

“Where the f**k is he, Hadley? I’ll deal with this s**t right now. If he hurt you, I’ll—” Taylor nearly rolled up his sleeves and cracked his neck, he was so ready for a fight. He was practically salivating at the mouth. “I don’t know what the f**k he said, but if he had you crying, it can’t be good. Did he reject you? I’ll clobber the son of a—”

She cut in, her eyes averted. “He didn’t—at least, not yet. He…he came after to me to, I think, but I told him to f**k off. Wanted my name, probably in order to reject me, but I didn’t give it to him. I went to the car and sat inside for a while.” She glanced at her brother. “You left the car unlocked, by the way, not that I’m annoyed about that. Thankful, actually.”

Taylor’s lip twitched, and he stared at his sister for a long minute before moving closer and lowering his voice. “You want me to f**k him up, just say so, Had. I don’t give a s**t. Alpha or Omega, he will rue the day he said—wait, what the f**k did he say, anyway?”

She breathed in. “Something about finding her so he could reject her.” Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. “I figured he was talking about his mate—me—and rejecting her so he could take a chosen. It wasn’t a bad guess, but I didn’t stick around for him to do that to me. I stood up, caught his eye, and walked away from the fuckwit.”

He smoothed a hand over her shoulder. “I’m proud of you. The bastard doesn’t deserve a f*****g mate. I hope his second chance—if he gets one—chops off his balls and serves them to him for high f*****g tea.” He pulled her in for a hug, and Hadley almost started crying again.

Though her brother was 23, he hadn’t found his mate yet. He should have been looking for his intended instead of comforting his sister, and she backed away after a moment, letting a stray tear get only as far as her cheekbone before wiping it away.

“I’m fine, Tay. You need to go see if you can find your mate and not worry about me. I’ll be okay.”

He grumbled the word murder and a few expletives, but didn’t seem to otherwise take what she said into account. He was still spitting out threats of vengeance when they wandered further away from the fire and towards the water, the sound of waves crashing both a soothing and somber lament. Hadley could almost swear she could hear the words ‘not yours’ lapping at the sand.

Not yours. Not yours. Not yours.

Accusing. Like the slow beat of a drum, it was like a funeral dirge set to the slow pulse of her heart. Thump-thump, thump-thump. It settled down until she started to hope it stopped completely, and her eyes filled again, rapidly as she tried to blink the tears away.

“f**k, Hadley.” Taylor moved closer.

She was surrounded by two warm, familiar bodies, Mara with a slender arm wrapped around her waist, Taylor’s meatier, thicker muscle high upon her shoulders, squeezing her tight.

They sat down, far enough away from the bonfire that the only sounds they heard was a soft muttering, a bit of laughter, and the gentle crackling of the fire. Hadley tried to concentrate on anything but the background noise, drinking in the scent of salt and smoke—all to erase the memory of the spicy scent that hit her right in the solar plexus like a kick to the back of her spine.

Hadley rested her forehead against her knees, trying to stem the flow of ready tears that seemed to never want to stop. Hot like lava, jamming her throat with an emotion she’d never felt before, and one she’d give anything to never feel again.

The hollow ache that filled her with enough pain to slice her completely in two frayed around the edges, bringing up a whine that tore Taylor and Mara apart inside until they wanted to shoot up from their spots and sniff out the guilty party, maybe rough him up a bit since there would be too many witnesses around to actually slay the man. 

“What the f**k is this?”

Taylor knifed up from his spot once he heard the strange male voice. He’d felt his sister freeze suddenly and was up like a cannon, whipping around and flexing his muscles instinctively.

“None of your f*****g business, mongrel, so move back before I f**k your face up,” he growled. It was difficult, fighting the urge to shift, and he watched as Mara got up, for once thankful for her presence.

“You’re an asshole.” She folded her arms over her chest, popping out a hip as she stared him down. “Funny, you don’t smell like dog s**t, but here we are.”

The man’s face darkened in a scowl, and he stepped forward, closer to the trio, eyes flickering to gaze at the the back of Hadley’s head. “Why were you touching my mate?”

Taylor’s eyes popped upward. “Your mate? Do you always treat your other equals so poorly? All you want to do is reject her, so why not just do it? Give her the clean break she needs and then f**k off to the four winds. Better off without you, I’d say, mutt.”

Lucas’ lips lifted in a snarl, canines elongating. “I’m no mutt, boy. I’m Lucas Daniels of Crestline Pack, son of Gerald and Regina Daniels. You were touching what’s mine, and I don’t f*****g like it.”

“Stop!” Hadley struggled to stand up in the sand, wiping off the ass of her shorts with a couple swipes of her palms. “This is my brother, Taylor.” She pointed to him. “That is Mara, my best friend. My name is Hadley Kinney, and you forewent your privilege to give a s**t about who I touch or talk to when you decided you wanted to reject me without getting to know me. If you’re going to do it, you have about five seconds before I walk away and say good riddance to you. I don’t have the patience to deal with a man who would reject half of their soul for whatever they feel more deserving of.” She stepped forward, trembling with anger. “You want a female with Alpha or Beta blood? Fine. I’m nothing but an Omega, and I’m proud of that. We are the salt of the earth, the people who do the jobs you ranked wolves tell us to do. We get things done while you sit on your asses passing judgment and handing out tasks you can’t handle or don’t want to do. Are we beneath you? I don’t know, but what I do know is that I don’t deserve this. Do what you have to, and then, I’m out. Reject me or don’t. I’ll get by.”

She hoped.

Lucas stared at her, counting the seconds until she straightened her back and started moving toward he parking lot again.

Away from him and his racing heart.

“Hadley, wait!”

She slowed down, turning her head to meet his gaze.

“I…I—” The word was choked off, and Luke swallowed down the taste of bile. It burned his esophagus, making him want to throw up and not stop until this horrible ordeal was over. Over and done and he could…could get past it.

A click in his throat made his voice catch, and he murmured one word before his head turned away.

“Can’t. I just can’t.”

Hadley stood staring, not blinking.

“Coward.” She stomped off toward the parking lot, determination in every step until she was a dot in Lucas’ vision.

He couldn’t move, barely even turning his head as she strode away.

“f**k,” was his muttered curse. 

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