Page 24 of Half Wolf Mate
“I don’t think that’s the full story.” When Damian found that dagger in my bag, it had almost caused pandemonium in the compound. “And it’s time you tell me what’s going on.”
His eyes flashed that feral amber like they had the last time I was here. “It’s time you stopped trying to play games with me.”
The cool indifference with which Cole carried himself told me that the Alpha rarely lost his temper. However, he kept losing it with me. Clearly, I was the bane of his existence. “I’m not playing any games. I just want your help.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Damn it, why won’t you leave me alone? I rejected you as a mate, and the pack will never accept you. Just go away. I don’t want you. No one does.”
One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was to hear those words and not break down into tears. They weren’t unfamiliar words. Uncle Sam threw them in my face over the years, claiming that he didn’t want me around, and Aunt Lydia only tolerated me because she was a kind soul who felt sorry for an orphan. But my aunt’s genuine show of love helped to comfort me when that feeling of not belonging surfaced. Now that I didn’t have her, I doubted I could keep myself together.
Cole shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Stop making things harder than it is.” When he opened his eyes and looked at me, I thought I saw a flash of torment in the blue orbs. But that didn’t make sense. If anyone was in pain, it should be me.
Feeling defeated, my shoulders slumped. “I didn’t come here to make anyone’s life difficult.” As hard as I willed my tears away, they surfaced. “I just wanted help,” I whispered. I’d come here to demand Cole give me answers about my mother, but my determination dwindled down to nothing in the face of his rejection yet again.
He was looking at me intently as if he was trying to see through me, but he averted his gaze. “For the last time, stay away, Sydney.”
Frozen in place—mostly because disappointment left me numb—I stared at him. I’d always prided myself on keeping up a tough façade in the face of difficulty, but this time it crumbled. That strange thing I’d felt inside me since I discovered what I was stirred again. With a tad more knowledge about werewolves, I suspected she was my wolf, but I couldn’t be sure. Her presence was faint. It was like a different being sharing my body, but our emotions seemed intertwined. That’s why I assumed it was her tears and not mine that ran down my cheek.
The strong being I felt with me, who I think helped me to survive this long, folded into herself. She let out a mewl that resonated with despair and vanished, leaving me feeling empty and scared, and unsure once again. Without a word, I turned and walked out the door.
I hurried to the elevator, desperate to get out of the building to avoid anyone seeing my state of distress. Thankfully, none of the others that had vacated Cole’s office were present. This walk of shame wasn’t as humiliating as the first without an audience.
“Sydney, wait!”
At the sound of Violet’s voice, I jabbed at the button, trying to get the door closed. They slid shut just in time, and I let out a relieved breath. Leaning against the wall, I wiped my tears away and reached deep for my composure before I made it to the downstairs lobby. I refused to be seen leaving in tears.
By the time the doors opened again, I had somewhat gathered myself. Head held high, although I was dying on the inside, I found a smile for the receptionist and made a beeline for the exit.
I shrieked when I stepped out, and Violet appeared in front of me. “What the hell! How did you beat me out here?”
She rolled her eyes and said, “Werewolf, remember?”
“Right.” I didn’t want to be rude to her because she helped me. “Thanks for your help. Goodbye, Violet.”
“I don’t agree with what’s going on.”
I stopped my trek down the steps and turned to her. “What are you talking about?”
She came closer, her voice in a whisper. “The way Cole and the others are behaving. So what if you’re not a full shifter? You’re still one of us.”
I shrugged. “That’s what I thought. We’re both wrong.”
“Did he tell you the real reason he turned you away?”
“No.” Hope crept in as I gazed at Violet. “If you know, please tell me. Not knowing has been driving me crazy. I want to know what’s really going on. I’ll leave you all alone, I swear.”
Her expression softened. “I don’t want that.”
“Your Alpha has spoken. I have to.”
Nibbling her lower lip, Violet glanced up at Cole’s office window. “I’m already in deep shit, so I might as well get myself into more trouble, right?”
I let out a laugh, surprised that I could find amusement in anything right now. Violet was a girl I’d love to get to know. I didn’t feel awkward around her like I did around most people. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “I’ve been dealing with Cole and Damian for twenty-one years. I know my way around those two. What the Alpha has failed to tell you is that the pack won’t accept you because of what your mother did. She supposedly betrayed her people to be with a man who was part of an organization that specializes in killing our kind and other supernatural creatures.”
“Supposedly?”
“I don’t know if it’s true. I would have been a baby then, so I wouldn’t remember. However, the rumors of the wolf who betrayed her pack to be with a hunter have circulated for years. The example of what your mother did and what happened to her has been used to scare us into sticking with our kind.”