Rejection (The Mate Games 2)

My heart was racing, panic taking hold of me. I knew I was safe in here, but all I could think about was being trapped, unable to help Noah with whatever fight he was about to be in. Because the only reason he’d do this to me had to involve a risk of death.

I reached out with my mind, trying to sense him, to use our bond so I could at least communicate with him. All I got was a wall of nothing. He’d blocked me out. I made him a promise that I’d never hide my thoughts from him, and then he went and raised a shield between us? Dread pushed away the panic I felt from being locked in this room. I couldn’t lose him, but that seemed like exactly what was happening.

My heart felt like it was breaking. Was I assuming the worst, or were things really as dire as they seemed? No. I wasn’t imagining this. Noah wouldn’t leave me, not after we’d just completed our bond, unless it was life-threatening.

I closed my eyes, freeing the tears I’d been working to keep at bay.Stop crying, Sunday. You’re not going to get out of here by doing that.I needed to seek control over my emotions because freaking out wouldn’t help me right now. I needed to try and calm down. I needed to think.

The bed loomed in the space, a reminder of everything we’d shared tonight, but now it didn’t resemble the one where Noah had so freely given his love and devotion. Where the canopy of gauzy fabric had been was nothing more than a plain wall, and the romantic setting in the room had changed as well.

Noah was gone. So was the love nest we’d created.

I wanted it all back.

The air shifted behind me, and I spun to find the door returned to its place and slowly opening.

“Noah—”

But it wasn’t my vampire prince.

Standing in the doorway, amber eyes glowing, chest heaving, looking as if he was a breath away from losing control was... Kingston.

His gaze snagged on mine and he sucked in a huge breath, relief replacing all other emotion in his eyes. Then he dropped to knees, his hands gripping my hips, dragging me toward him as he buried his face against my stomach, breathing me in.

He trembled against me. Shaking like a child who’d just lost his dearest possession.

I stared down at him, confusion swirling in my mind. “Kingston? What are you doing?”

“You’re not dead,” he whispered, voice low and tight. “I saw Thorne’s bloody shirt, and I thought—” Rising to his full height, he never stopped touching me. “Fuck, Sunday. You’re not dead.”

I frowned. “No. I’m not.”

Then his gaze hardened, all traces of softness leaving him. “You’re. Not. Dead.”

The air in the room crackled with tension as those three words filled the space with menace rather than relief.

“Kingston, what—”

Fingers digging into my shoulders, he pulled me to him before taking a long inhale of my scent. “Ruined.”

Anger shot through my confusion, and I shoved him away. “Fuck you.”

“You smell likehim.”

I was starting to understand his reaction now. His wolf waspissed. Well, so was I, and I wasn’t going to let him bully me over my choice.

“I hear that happens when you have a fuckfest. You’d know.”

“No. This isn’t something you can wash away. He’sinsideyou. You ruined yourself for a leech.”

The bond. He could smell my bond with Noah. I didn’t back down. Not for one second. “He’s my mate.”

“Iam your mate! Me. Not him.”

“This is ridiculous. I’m not having this fight with you again, Kingston. Get out of my way.” But as I pushed past the six-foot-something snarling alpha male beside me to get to the door, it was gone.

Again.

“Motherfucker!” I screamed, slamming my fist into the concrete wall and crying out when pain shot through me.