Rejection Pays A Price

Chapter Nine

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~Tamara Rose

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At that moment, a morgue would have been louder than that room.

I felt all eyes on me. Jordan and Eric were sympathetic, Josh was surprised, and Mark was angry.

Dylan just looked....scary.

With eyes intense and dark as night, he grinded his teeth together. "Tamara...Rose?"

I clenched my jaw and hugged my elbows together, staring stonily at the ground. I refused to respond.

He'd finally figured it out.

I heard him inhale sharply. "No way. This is...is this a fucking joke?"

Even if I had chosen to answer that time, I wouldn't have gotten a chance. Mark suddenly stepped forward, grabbing me by the wrist and gently pushing me behind him. I could amost feel the fury coming off of him.

"Don 't speak to her that way," he snapped.

Dylan's eyes flashed. I whimpered, petrified. Normally, he would never scare me, but at that moment...I think even Mark was a bit intimidated. Still, he held his ground.

"She is my mate," Dylan growled, his voice low. "I can speak to her any way I want."

Mark's inner Alpha was rising. His voice louder than before, he said, "You lost the right to call her your mate when you rejected her."

"I rejected her because it was what was best for the pack! She was weak!" Dylan yelled.

I flinched. Biting my lip, my eyes fell to the ground. Eric, Jordan, and Josh suddenly appeared from across the room. Josh and Eric held my hand and smiled sympathetically at me, while Jordan took his position as Beta beside Mark in case of a fight.

Meanwhile, Dylan realized what he'd said.

Running a hand across his face, he sighed wearaily. "I didn't mean it that way."

"Then what way did you mean it?" Mark replied bitingly.

"I meant," Dylan spat, "that she would never make a good Luna. She was traumatized from her parents death and her wolf barely ever exercised or fought. She would never be able to lead a pack."

"Maybe if you gave me more time outside running instead of instead doing your stupid laundry, I'd have a fucking chance!" I burst out.

Eric and Josh dropped my hands, surprised. Mark and Jordan stepped to the side as I roughly pushed them apart and strode over to Dylan.