Page 28 of Rejected By a Wolf

Decided, she came to a stand, but Antonio jolted upright beside her, placing his hands on her shoulders to steady her when she wobbled a bit. “You need to take it easy,” he told her.

She ground her teeth together. He wasnotmaking this easy for her. Not. At. All.

Glaring at him, she said, “Take it easy? I only have a few hours to take it easy before I’m thrown into this pit again. We have to fight every day during this tournament. There’s no time to take it easy.” She didn’t want to see his reaction to what she said, so she looked away from him for the first time since the fighting ended.

And she froze.

Countless bodies, all lifeless, laid scattered around her. It was an incredibly gruesome and unwelcoming scene. But it was also a familiar one.

It wastoofamiliar.

Sophia’s mind flashed back to the day she lost her parents, the day her serene village of Trim, and everyone in it, was ruined by vampires. The day the life she knew would be no more. The last image she saw before being taken away was the image of her parents. They were laying on the ground, utterly helpless, their mangled bodies making sure they were incapable of defending themselves.

They couldn’t defend themselves.

And Sophia escaped… without them.

Antonio jumped in front of Sophia, blocking her view of everything and giving her shoulders a shake. It didn’t matter that her view was now obstructed, the damage was already done. She couldn’t get the image of the burning village of Trim out of her mind.

“Sophia? Fia! Fia, what is it?Tell me!”

Her eyes may have been physically on him, but her mind was far gone. She was back in Trim, looking at her helpless parentsfor the last time, just before Casper split her out of there with him.

A tear trickled down her cheek. She could taste its saltiness when it hit her lips.

She could faintly hear Antonio calling for her, but the sound of his voice was so faint she didn’t know what he was saying.

Because she was lost, the worst day of her life sucking her in with all the force of a black hole.

Chapter Eighteen

Antonio Payne

What the fuck is wrong with her?

Antonio knew she was upset. The tears trickling down her face were as clear as this night’s moon. But her eyes, though set on him, were focused elsewhere. She seemed to have drifted off to some place unknown to him. Though he didn’t know what she was thinking, but he knew she was hurting, and thatpainedhim.

“Fia, tell me what’s wrong!” Antonio had an incomprehensible need to help the mate he did not deserve.

His mate. His second chance, but a second chance he didn’t want.

Why would fate give him a second chance when he was so close to being reunited with Giselle?

Still, the desire to help Sophia consumed him. He didn’t want to see her in such a bad state, and he now understood her enough to know she didn’t deserve to hurt like this.

“What can I do to stop you from feeling this way?” Antonio asked, continuing to press her with questions she didn’t seem capable of answering.

Then that damned elf with golden hair suddenly appeared behind Sophia. Antonio felt an overwhelming sense of possession over her, hating this elf’s ability to split to her from anywhere in the world whenever he wanted to.

“Soph!” The elf called for her, reaching for her waist and twisting her so she was no longer facing Antonio. “C’mon Soph, where are you?”

Antonio tried, with great difficulty, to subdue the rage building within him. Hehatedthis elf. Hehatedthat this elf was trying to take care of his mate.

She’s mine!Antonio’s instinct roared, but he thought better than to act on it. Sophia might be his mate, but Giselle was the mate he wanted – wasn’t she? It wouldn’t be fair to Sophia if Antonio took her from this elf.

But gods, he wanted to.

“What are you telling the girl, wolf?” The elf condescendingly asked Antonio as he forced Sophia into his arms, holding her in a tight bear-like grip. She didn’t move, her unresponsive body seeming unable to acknowledge his presence.