The Heir Apparent's Rejected Mate (Five Packs, #2)

by Cate C. Wells

“Nope. I don’t want either. Neither would claim me. I’d be stuck like Drona.” My older sister’s mate is a ranked shifter. He visits her when he wants some ass, impregnates her periodically, and otherwise lives his best life with a mid-rank female in a nice big house in the Estates on the other side of the lake.

Scavengers, by nature, treasure small things. A bottle cap. A word. An act of common decency. That’s why we’re at the bottom of the pack. We don’t care about the big, important things that matter to the nobs.

lie. I am the type that feels guilty when the whole Bog gets herded to the lawn at the center of campus to get yelled at for something, even if I didn’t do it.

He took my slingshot and tucked it in his back pocket. And he left his earbuds and watch in my bag on purpose.

My people are creating a diversion so I can get away. My family. My folk. My stomped and squashed heart flops once with a faint sign of life.

But then, by some miracle, the feeling ebbs, and she lets out a wolfish snort. I swear, she says, “His loss.”

My mate, the future alpha, rejected me in front of the entire school, and I could probably eat him in three bites. Well, damn. Ain’t Fate a bitch.

“You don’t know how to go about doing it, but you insist I could if I just tried.” She clicks her cheek. “That’s called gaslighting.”

Before I drift off, I hear a pup say through the thin trailer wall, “Why does it smell like wood?” “That’s Cadoc Collins,” Rosie murmurs in reply. “He smells nice.” “So does cyanide,” she says.

“You tell Cadoc—if you can understand me at all—you tell him to leave me alone. We’re done. It’s finished.”

Rosie isn’t the scavenger who is my mate, the female who I can’t claim—she’s air. And I thought I could hold my breath forever?

Cadoc drops a tentative, quick kiss on my jaw and goes on. “I wanted to claim you. Hold you. I didn’t want to leave. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And I thought the pain and the shame from hurting you and letting you down, I thought that was the sacrifice, right? For the greater good.” I can feel his tension, in his taut muscles and flowing through bond. “But it didn’t make sense. The only truly good thing I’ve ever known is you.”