Awakening (2 book series)
Awakening – Rejected Mate Chapter 38

What else can I do. I'm technically a prisoner here, with nowhere else to go. I'm on my feet, with a persistent pain in my a*s bossing me around, in a house full of people who hate me. I literally only have him on my side to depend on, and only because the fates forced it. I have nowhere else, and if I'm being honest with myself, everything is too messy, my gifts too new, and my mental state a little too on the fragile side to be thinking about going anywhere alone. So, I nod reluctantly.

"Come on then. Stay close to me." Colton turns and leads the way, sensing I don't want or need him touching me and I do as he says. Staying right behind him, clutching my covering and wait while he grabs one, wrapping it on like a toga, and heads towards the door. If Carmen saw us now, naked with ripped bed sheets to cover our modesty, she would only assume the worst and I can't imagine that going down well at all. Shuddering at the possibility she might see us.

Within seconds we're in the hall, moving along the wide passage in semi darkness, due to all the boarded up windows and lack of lighting and he leads onwards, following some turns and a flight of stairs until we get to the floor below. I was put on the top floor in the far end of the house, away from everyone, and now we seem to be on the third floor, in a brighter corridor with doors all bearing names, and keypads on each.

Colton stops me with an arm, pushes me back around the corner we rounded and hushes me with a finger to my lips as two Santo pack members appear from a door opening, both walk out and head away from us, completely unaware of our presence. He makes us wait a second before leading the way again, halfway down the hall to the third door on the right and turns, using his hand on the pad, scanning his palm as it clicks open. His name's on the door, so I guess this is his room.

"Why are we hiding if you're taking me downstairs anyway?" I ask blatantly, composing myself since leaving that room and he slides an arm around me and shuffles me into the darkened space, pulling me in and closing the door behind us with a last outwards check of the hall. He walks off across the bedroom, towards a set of wooden doors in front of me, sliding them open to reveal wardrobes, and starts pulling out clothes in multiples of two. It's dull in here thanks to boarded windows but light is shining through the cracks brightly now, illuminating enough, telling me daylight has come.

I follow him, taking in the almost Scandinavian, Ikea style, and minimalism of his room. He likes space, and neatness, with very few items cluttering it up. Neutral tones, light woods, plants and lots of floor, and open calmness. It's clean and airy and almost obsessively organized.

"Carmen just needs to know I brought you in here and she'll go nuclear. It's best if I appear downstairs with you, where she's contained, because frankly, my ears, and my head, can't handle her gifts right now. She still thinks we have a future, and I need to talk to her about that." He carries on focusing on clothes, his tone level as though he hasn't just caused me pain with careless words.

It quietens me and that distant heartache and pang of jealousy replaces its way back home to my stomach. In all this mess I was starting to wonder if our bond has been dented and if I was starting to feel differently about him. I guess I'm not that lucky, as my heart still seems very attached, despite everything. I'm mad at him, disappointed in him, but yet, I still yearn and love him. My soul still wants and needs him.

We dress quickly, although his clothes are baggy on me, and ill-fitting, but it's better than showing up in a rag and a smile. Following him close to his heel, leaving his room, we make our way down another two flights of sweeping staircase and two other levels before we end up back where I caused such a scene hours ago. That sweeping final stair to the main entrance which is now immaculately calm.

It's a lot cleaner and tidier now the debris is gone, and the front door closed, with the addition of several new heavy-duty locking mechanisms in place. The boarded glass panels are screwed on with braces over them for now, hinting that the threat of another attack is on Juan's mind.

Colton takes my hand in his unexpectedly, sliding strong fingers into mine and leads the way across the vast marble floor into a small corridor that runs away from the bathroom he put me in earlier. I don't reject his touch, needing it now I'm on a comedown of what happened upstairs. Once again vulnerable and out of my depth and clinging to him to take charge while in his domain. Drawing from his strength and ability to swagger through the worst kind of chaos.

We walk down the dark almost claustrophobic space, with voices, noises, lots of movement cascading our way, and follow two Santos we catch up with inside the most crowded room I've ever seen. It's hard to tell how big it would be empty, for it's packed solid with adult Santo wolves, mostly male, from all over, even the ones who don't reside in the pack house. Easily over a hundred or so, and they're all squeezed in, fighting for breathing space as we join right at the back, unseen.

There are several elders and the Shaman, right down at the front, standing on a low podium facing back at us all. Men I have never seen before in my life, standing behind them, and I guess these are the older generation of retired elders, coming out in our time of need. Mostly men in here as is the way when dealing with important matters, or femmes who have no children and are better suited to battle, as all of those who are not are home minding their little ones. Juan Santo is right in the center and he seems to be waiting for everyone to quiet before he starts. The overwhelming seriousness of this cascades around the room, thickening the atmosphere with a heady tension.

Colton pulls me in front of him, placing me right at his chest so he's up against my back, lacing his fingers into both of my hands from behind as they hang by my sides in the darkest of our shadows. He rests his chin against the back of my head, bringing his body to fit snugly into mine, so we are completely joined without it being obvious to those around us. It looks like two people standing close due to the crushing lack of space as our hands are concealed in darkness. He's a good head taller than me, so it's a natural position, and I glance around to see if anyone is staring, but they're all too focused on their alpha king.

"Quiet now" A voice from the front rows hushes the uneasy mumbling and scraping in the room and everyone stops talking, the atmosphere somehow heavier with the forced hush. Juan steps forward, although I can barely see him over the people in front of me and have to stand on my tip toes to get a proper view between heads. There's a moment of pause as he looks around us all, his eyes catching his son across the crowds and I can't miss the fleeting surge of anger as he realizes I'm right in front of him.

I glance away, instantly scalded, landing back down on flat feet, wounded by the penetrating glare and scan the room instead to see if Carmen is anywhere close by. I can't see her thankfully, which means she probably can't see us, and try to sink down further to better conceal myself behind the Santo in front of me. Colton squeezes my hands and holds me closer, somehow letting me know that I should ignore it.

Be still. You're safe with me. He comes through gently, caressing my mind with a tender tone and I exhale dejectedly.

For now, maybe. While they're all distracted with Vampire attacks and end of world foreboding, but my gut says it's temporary. I can feel the hatred lingering in the air from Juan's vicious frown and it unsettles me in every kind of way.

"You all know why we are here..." Juan begins and it's the final push needed to bring a total hush to the room as all completely still, not even the shuffle of moving bodies, and fall deathly silent. It tugs my attention back to him and I peek around the side of the male in front of me to catch sight of him again. "We were attacked by a long-forgotten enemy, and quite frankly, we didn't see it coming and were not prepared. Despite the rumbling of recent months, we didn't honestly expect them to rise and attack in this way and we failed our people. We lost fifty-three of our kind, on the dark side of the mountain, tonight. Forty-seven lost in the battle and six bonded who perished when their mates heart took its last beat."

My heart aches as he says it, visualizing so many of the faces I know went down in that attack. Unlike anyone else in this room, I'm probably the only one who not only knew their names, but what every single one of them looked like, who they were as people, and their ages not only when they died, but when they were first dumped in that hellhole without their loved ones. Memories with all of them, even if they were not close to me. To these wolves, they're just numbers to measure their failures against.