Page 4 of Auctioned Wolf Bride

I stared at her in disbelief. “Well, was what I saidwrong?”

Her mouth dropped open, then snapped shut as she glared at me. “You’ve got some nerve saying shit like that. I’m still a shifter. Even if I can’t turn into a wolf. I’m not lesser.”

I held up my hands. “Sorry. If I’d known you’d be that sensitive about it—”

“Sensitive?” She gaped, and I could see the fire burning in her eyes. Tears began to well up in her eyes. “You know nothing about me.”

I stared, mouth open, still trying to get a grip on everything that had just happened. It felt as though everything had been flipped on its head in an instant, and I wasn’t sure how to process it.

Thea had always seemed fairly friendly and mild-mannered. Sweet, even. It turned out that there was another side to her that I hadn’t noticed before.

“You know, when I first met you, I thought you were really nice,” she said. “You seemed thoughtful, and generally seemed to take an interest in me. I thought you would treat me normally, and I appreciated that.” She took a deep breath, as if only beginning to wind up. “And then I started hearing all these rumors about you. Mostly from women.”

“What rumors?” I demanded, but I already knew what the rumors would be. What else were they but how I tended to sleep around? Not that there was anything wrong with that.

“Basically? That you bounce from woman to woman and leave them the instant you get bored,” she said, folding her arms. “For a bit, I was willing to think it might have just been from some jilted ex of yours, or someone else with a grudge. But after seeing you around here all the time, after hearing some of the things you’ve told Rand, I one-hundred percent believe them all.”

“You’re being a bit old-fashioned, don’t you think?” I retorted. “That kind of stuff happens all the time nowadays.”

“And that makes it all right?” she demanded. She shook her head, the anger still wafting off her. “I was willing to look past it, to at least be cordial for Rand and Astrid’s sake. But you saying shit like this about me just makes more certain that you’re not worth it.”

My mouth worked, but no sound came out. I tried desperately to think of something that would calm the situation. I didn’t like her being this angry at me. For whatever reason, I desperately needed her to like me. I couldn’t understand why, but I couldn’t walk away with her thinking of me like this.

This wasn’t me. Was it?

“Thea—”

“I’m getting out of here,” she spat. “Leave me the hell alone.”

And she stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her and leaving me standing alone in the middle of her kitchen.

Chapter 3 - Thea

I ran into the woods, darting as fast as I could. It was one of the only times I legitimately wished I wasn’t an absent. Running always felt too slow, as if I knew what it was like to run as a wolf but couldn’t. It was one of the only times I felt as though I was really missing out on something.

Still, I kept running, moving as quickly as I could even as tears stung my face. It was stupid, really. I shouldn’t have let a jerk like Tannen get under my skin the way he had. He wasn’t worth my time. So why did his opinion bother me so much? I’d been picked on nearly my entire life. It wasn’t anything new. Maybe it was because I couldn’t ignore him the way I could the others. As long as I stayed in Brixton, he would be a part of my life. He was too close to Rand and Astrid for it to be any other way.

Eventually, I slowed down, coming to a trot. A cool autumn breeze brushed over my skin, the sweat from the run chilling my body, but not uncomfortably so. I caught my breath, looking around at the small clearing I’d come to a halt in. The trees were heavy with multi-colored leaves that threatened to fall at any minute. The ground was already dappled with red and gold and orange.

I leaned against a thick oak, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths, even as my hands trembled and tears continued to spill.

God, this was so stupid. It wasn’t as though I wished I weren’t an absent. I knew that was who I was, and I’d accepted it a long time ago. But I was tired of having to prove myself to everyone that not being able to shift wasn’t a disability or something to be ashamed of. I felt as though I had to try twice ashard as everyone else, do more. People like Tannen, who should have known me by now, still having that sort of prejudice and short-sightedness toward me stung, reminding me that I was always going to be on the back foot no matter how hard I tried. It was why, for years, I’d hidden behind Astrid.

I let the thoughts wash over me, forcing myself to breathe as I tried to meditate. It wasn’t the first time I’d had to deal with someone like that, and it wouldn’t be the last. Still, his words rang in my ears, making my insides churn.

“Breathe,” I muttered. “Let it wash over you. Don’t let it stick.”

After a while, I managed to stop crying, taking a deep breath and pushing myself away from the tree. I glanced up at the sky and blinked. It was the same color as the trees, the red-gold of sunset. Had I really been out here this long?

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. I should get back home before Astrid started worrying about me.

But I had only taken a few steps when my intuition screamed at me that something was wrong. I stopped, heart pounding as I listened, waiting. Just because I was an absent didn’t mean my senses were any worse than any other shifter’s.

A gentle rustle came from my right. I hesitated, hand twitching to the knife I always kept on my waistband ever since Ansel had kidnapped me.

The acrid scent of campfire smoke washed toward me. An unfamiliar shifter. Then another scent, and another. I sucked in a breath as alarm bells began screaming in my head. My wolf snarled, flexing her claws, pushing at me, wanting to be let out even though we both knew she couldn’t.

More rustling. This time, from my left, and then from behind me. And in front.