Defiance (Book 6 of The Claimed Series) SAMPLE

3. Defenses

Hadley's legs trembled, but she made herself move forward, taking longer and longer strides until she was finally standing at the edge of the parking lot, her breathing shallow, rapid, and everything in her quaking.

Fuck!

Fuck fuck fuck!

She was almost to her brother's car when a warm hand wrapped around her elbow from behind. She immediately whirled around, her fist raised and ready to make hard contact with a face. Or jaw. Or eye, if her aim was true enough.

But pretty much anything that would get her far, far away from this beach. This beach and him.

"Fuck off!" Hadley went to move away again, ripping her arm away from the touch that was both comforting and repellent to her.

The man stepped back a foot before studying her. "What is your name, little one?" His husky growl made a shiver ripple down her spine.

"Since you don't want a true mate, why would that matter? So you can reject me? I don't need you or your piss-poor attitude about mates. Leave me alone." She backed away, ready to turn around and make her way to the car, break the glass if she had to—if only to get away from him and his rejection.

"Your name! Please!"

She flipped him off before turning her head to him, hair swinging in a soft arc of soft brown curls. "Because you said 'please', you think I'll tell you? Fuck you and your manners. A real wolf wouldn't reject his soulmate. They're given for a reason, are a gift, and it's obvious you don't deserve me."

She stalked toward the car, found the backdoor open and cursed out loud until she realized the carelessness of her brother worked out for the better for her. Crawling into the back, she laid down, prayed to the Goddess or whoever that the man had gone away. The man with the friend named Chris, the wolf she knew was her mate and didn't want her.

She sobbed into her free hand, the other one curled up and cradling her head as she used it as a pillow. Hadley knew she needed to get it together, and she would let all her emotions out in wave after wave of hurt before heading back toward the bonfire.

Or maybe she wouldn't. Maybe she'd just sit here and hope the earth swallowed her and the whole car up before she had to go back out and see him again. Hadley knew he'd be watching, studying—waiting to get her alone again to do the unthinkable.

She'd thought all the troubles with matings would go by the wayside once The Claiming rituals had been nullified and they'd decided to go with mating balls and bonfires instead. This wasn't supposed to happen—not anymore.

Her lips trembled, her whole body shaking as she wept, tears flooding the backseat upholstery as she tried over and over again to calm herself.

She felt like nothing—nothing of consequence, an easy 'I'll pass' to a man she didn't know except to realize that he was her mate, a mate that didn't want her even before he knew who she was or what she was like.

Rejection was a raw nerve, the memory of it always stinging just as sharp and stark as the last time you scraped at it.

Hadley knew it would be that way for a very long time to come.

***

Thirty minutes passed before she could stem the never-ending tide of emotion, and every second ached like it was an eternity—possibly longer. She couldn't take it anymore. Couldn't stand herself blubbering and wailing into her hands, so she opened the car door, making sure she pressed the lock button before she walked away. Hadley had to continue to wipe her eyes for a while, moving as far away from the scent of rosemary as she could and finding her brother and Mara, both in close proximity to each other, her best friend talking urgently to Taylor.