Never His Mate: a Rejected Mates Shifter Romance (Claws and Fangs Book 1)
Chapter 17

Shane stops me when we get to the middle of the stairs. He gestures for me to wait, then disappears out onto the next floor of the cabin. I take a deep breath, stubbornly trying to filter out any other scents from the basement. No surprise now that I know this is his place and I’m more attuned to him than I want to admit, but it’s still pure Ryker.

Even if I couldn’t rely on my gut to tell me that he was being truthful, I’d know from the layers upon layers that permeate this place that he’s spent a year’s worth of full moons chained up in the basement. Those chains… they’re not new. The wild scratches that cover the walls… yeah.

It’s true. It’s all true.

Too bad I’m not sure what that means.

Shane comes back after a few minutes. Pressing his forefinger to his lips, he warns me to be quiet before gesturing for me to follow him out of the basement.

He keeps going once we’ve entered the main floor, but I pause.

I can’t help it. Apart from the night I barged into his den at the Alpha’s cabin, I’ve never been inside of Ryker’s personal territory unless you count his basement and I don’t. I can feel him in this space, almost as if his fingertips are caressing my overheated skin instead of just the way he imprinted so totally on the room.

Though Shane kept the lights off, after the gloom of the basement, my sight’s recovered enough that I can pick out some of the details from the shadows. I see a leather couch, and a coffee table carved from sturdy wood; no glass like Aleks’s fragile furniture. He has a fireplace, too, and an empty mantle trapping it in its grate.

The mantle is empty, but the wall right above it? It’s covered in at least ten different photos, all different sizes, each one rimmed in a dark frame. Squinting, annoyed that my sight’s still a little wonky thanks to the mercury, I try to get a peek at the subjects of the pictures. I recognize Ryker’s dad, the former Alpha who passed at the end of last year. The striking woman with the dark hair’s gotta be his mom; she’s in more than a few of the pictures. Ryker as a pup… fucking adorable. No other females, I can’t help but notice.

That’s not all I notice, either.

There are two missing. I might have thought it was just a stylistic choice, the way that Ryker hung the frames haphazardly over the mantle, if it weren’t for the nails still jutting from the wall. Who removes the pictures and their frames but leaves the nails and the empty gaps?

Weird.

I find myself drawing closer to the wall of photos. It’s Ryker’s family, and I even see a candid shot of Ryker and Shane that looks pretty recent based on the hairstyles. All people who mean something to him, I’m guessing… so who was in the pictures that he took down?

My stomach tightens. Could it be⁠—

“Gem?”

At Shane’s call of my name, I give my head a clearing shake.

What the hell is wrong with me? I’m supposed to be sneaking out to make the pull of the moon easier on Ryker, not spying on the guy.

There will be time to obsess over the missing photos later. When Ryker’s not suffering from moon fever, and I’m not sweating out mercury. I still can’t shift. Though I can sense my wolf stirring deep in my chest, the mercury has left her feeling heavy and drowsy and detached. I can’t tap into her, not yet, but knowing she’s still with me is a bit of a relief.

Soon, girl. Soon.

“Coming!”

Shane did a perimeter check before he told me it was clear. It seems as if the rest of the pack was either too preoccupied with the full moon to run a patrol, or they respected their Alpha too much to set a babysitter on him. Either way, Shane had no problem letting himself inside of Ryker’s cabin or waltzing right outside of it with me in tow.

I have no idea where he plans to take me, and I’m not so sure I really care. My head’s still spinning over everything that has happened to me since I decided to follow the moon’s lead and go searching for Ryker.

Shane’s thoughts seem to be on the same track as mine. Though he’s quiet as we jog away from the cabin, heading toward the patch of woods that’ll eventually lead me back to my Jeep, I figure he’s gotta be thinking the same things as me because he opens up the conversation with a sigh before saying, “I’m sorry, Gem. For what my packmates did, and for my Alpha’s lack of control. None of that should’ve ever happened.”

I’m not even going to argue that one.

Still—

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.”

“I’m the Beta. If it’s not my fault, whose is it?”

“We can start with the ones who thought it was a good idea to slip me some mercury and throw me into the basement with Ryker.”

I meant it to be a more lighthearted comment than it came out as. Oops. Forgive me for being more than a little pissed off at how they tricked me. It’s been a couple of hours since I drank that sip of soda and I still feel off.

Reaching inside of my chest, I test my connection to my wolf. Nope. She’s stronger than before, but I’m still not ready to shift.

Ugh.

“I will, Gem,” Shane vows solemnly. “You can bet on it. I’ll start with my sister and her mate.”

Now, hold on a sec⁠—

I think of Audrey’s deceptively innocent expression as she offered me the doctored Coke. And the look of acceptance on Grant’s face a split second before I sent him flying.

It wasn’t personal. I was the target, and even I have to admit that.

“It’s okay.”

“Gem, you don’t have to⁠—”

“Nah. I mean it. They were just trying to help out the Alpha. We’re pack, Shane. It’s how we’re wired. I don’t have to like it, but I get it. Now I know not to come back to Accalia when it’s a full moon.” I give a mock salute, still trying to downplay the situation. “Message received.”

An expression of concern flashes across Shane’s pretty boy features for a second before he shrugs and, turning his back on me, begins to stride deeper into the trees. “That still doesn’t explain why the others chained Ryker up down there. He’s had no problem passing every other full moon with Trish Danvers before tonight.”

I stop. Any humor I struggled to hang onto dies a quick, quick death at the mention of the other female.

“What?”

Shane looks over his shoulder at me again. When he sees that I’ve fallen a few steps behind him, he turns, an apologetic frown pulling on his lips. “Oh, Gem. Don’t tell me you didn’t know already. I mean, Ryker’s never kept it a secret. And since you left… he made it clear last year that he chose Trish. It’s why I couldn’t believe it when I stumbled on your car and discovered you were here.”

“You were at the Alpha’s cabin?”

He nods slowly. “I went to check on Ryker, but I left when I saw Trish heading in. I didn’t want to disturb them.”

“But Ryker wasn’t there.”

“I know. And that’s what I don’t understand. He’s always there for her visits⁠—”

There it is again. Not as strong—thank you, mercury—but there’s that sour stink again. Almost like curdled milk. I thought I caught a whiff of it before, but now I’m sure of it.

Shane is lying to me.

Which, yeah. He has to be. I mean, Ryker admitted that he’s spent the last twelve full moons locked up inside of that basement because I was hiding too well. He didn’t go to Trish to help him with his lust because she wasn’t the one he wanted.

He wanted me.

Wants me.

And… Shane’s still talking.

Still lying.

“—once I heard that Audrey and Grant rounded up some of the pack to take you to Ryker, I knew I had to step in. He’s my Alpha, but no one deserves to be forced into a mating they don’t want. No matter what the moon says.”

Surprisingly, that part is true.

What the fuck is going on here?

I decide to test it. So even though Shane gestures for me to keep putting distance between us and the cabin, I stay where I am.

“How did you know I was even here?”

There were so many wolves in the woods when they caught me leaving Audrey’s house, but Shane—Audrey’s brother and the pack’s Beta—wasn’t one of them. Interesting, now that I think of it.

“Told you. I saw your car.”

“And you knew it was mine?”

When I first arrived in Accalia last year, I was careful not to let anyone know that I had my own car. Most shifters rely on traveling by foot, though there are a few pack vehicles that they share. Maybe it’s because I’m an alpha, but I always need to know that I have my own escape. No one knew I had a car until I drove out of Accalia that night. Now it’s a year later. How can he know the Jeep’s mine?

“Of course. It has your scent all over it.”

Really? Because I distinctly remember tossing Aleks’s charmed fang inside of the Jeep before I left with Audrey. And while the magic couldn’t hide my scent since I wasn’t wearing it, I’m pretty sure it’s powerful enough to shield the car.

Even if I didn’t know how the charm worked, how it did something to conceal my shifter scent—one of its secrets that Aleks shared from the beginning, even if he neglected to mention it made me smell like him—I nearly snuffle when the stink of Shane’s lie reaches me.

Ah-ha!

I point at him. “You’re lying to me.”

I don’t know what I expect. Did I think that Shane would try to deny it, or maybe cover his ass with another lie? I’m not sure. But when he just looks at me, his eyes narrowing as he rubs the back of his hand along his jaw, I’m ready to admit that I wasn’t expecting that sort of reaction.

Especially when he chuckles and softly says, “So it’s true.”

“What?” I’m immediately on my guard. “What’s true?”

“That part of an alpha’s power comes in knowing if someone’s lying to you.”

“What—”

“I’m not an alpha. Not yet. But, please. Don’t insult my intelligence by denying what you are. It nearly killed me to watch you pretend to be an omega when you first came to me. I think we’re beyond that now, don’t you?”

My jaw drops.

Something happens after that. Or maybe it’s been happening all along and I was too stubborn to pay attention to the warning signs.

He changes. It’s subtle, and I can’t really put my claw on what’s different, but I can tell that he’s changed. It’s in the way he stands, the way he takes a step toward me as he looms, his dimples disappearing into his taut cheeks as he smirks.

Shane’s right. He’s not an alpha, but that predatory look in his eye? I’ve seen it before. In my memories, and in the few photos that my mother kept as warning.

At that moment, Shane reminds me of Wicked Wolf Walker.

He reminds me of my bio-dad.

My reaction is pure instinct. I flex my fingers and, thank the Luna, my fingernails extend into razor-sharp claws. My canines burn, begging to lengthen. I can’t shift, not fully, not yet, but at least I have a partial shift working for me.

I’ll take it.

“You don’t want me to insult your intelligence?” I toss back. “Do me the same favor, alright? You didn’t break me out of Ryker’s basement because you’re worried about me. You know I’m an alpha? Then you know I wasn’t in any danger. So what’s going on here?”

An arrogant sniff, and a smile that doesn’t quite touch the increasingly dark look in his eyes. “It’s simple. I thought we had more time to ease you into a new arrangement, but it’s still very simple. I want you, Gem. I want you for my mate.”

You’ve got to be kidding me.

“Oh, fucking Luna.” I roll my eyes. “Don’t tell me that you’re in love with me, too.”

Shane looks momentarily puzzled. It’s an improvement over his false sympathy and his suddenly alarming posture, but not by a lot. “Love? Who said anything about love?”

That knocks me back a few steps. “Um. You did. Just now.”

The puzzled expression vanishes. “Oh. That. Not even close. Love? Please. This isn’t about love. This is about a partnership.”

“What do you mean, a partnership?”

“Again, it’s very simple. You take me as your bonded mate and make me your Alpha. We rule our own pack together, the most powerful Alpha couple in the East, and you’ll never have to worry about me rejecting you. I don’t have to love you to be loyal, Gem.” Shane sniffs, throwing a look over my shoulder back the way we came. “Can Ryker say the same?”

Oof.

I don’t know what hurts worse. The reminder that Ryker rejected me twice, that I still don’t understand his thing with Trish, or that my only worth is a strange quirk of my birth.

Shane only wants me for what I can do for him. Just like I’ve always been warned.

How could I forget?

Pretty easily, actually. Because Ryker has spent the last few days insisting that my alpha status doesn’t mean anything to him, and Aleks could never be affected by such a shifter concern.

Oh, boy.

I fucked up.

I fucked up big time.

“All you have to do is say yes,” Shane tells me. As he takes a step closer, a stray moonbeam lights up his face, showing his absolute certainty that I’m going to agree to this insanity. “The moon will bless us if you agree. We can mate right here, be bonded right now.”

As an alpha, it goes against everything I am to retreat. Then again, I’m not pure wolf. I’ve got a human half that knows when to cut and run.

I move back. I just need to find the opportune moment to get the hell out of here.

Keep him distracted, Gem. Then go.

My instincts warn that pretending to be sweet—pretending to be an omega—will probably tick him off, so I just give him a disbelieving look of my own. “Yeah? What about Ryker?”

“What about him? He might not have taken the bait any time I sent her his way, but he’ll settle for Trish when he has no other choice. An Alpha needs a mate, and he can’t stay locked in the basement for another year. Who knows? If you hadn’t shown up tonight, he might not have survived this one.”

I blink.

A low laugh, one that sends a shiver down my spine. Huh. Looks like I’m not the only one who’s been hiding just what they are from the rest of the pack.

Here, just the two of us, Shane’s finally showing me who he is.

And I hate the dickhead.

“You didn’t come to the basement because you knew I was there, did you?” Luna, I hope I’m wrong, but… “You were going to do something to Ryker, but you couldn’t.”

“Plans change. They change all the time. I’ve spent years working toward this moment. You think I was going to let fate stop me? Ever since Wicked Wolf Walker promised to ally with any alpha who tamed his wayward daughter, I’ve been planning on how I’d make you mine. No one’s gonna stand in my way. Not the Mountainside Pack. Not its lovesick Alpha. Not even you.”

Forget Ryker. Forget Trish.

“Wicked Wolf Walker,” I say dully. “What do you know about the Wicked Wolf of the West?”

For almost twenty-five years, my mom and I have been hiding out from the bastard who sired me. I always knew that any male shifter who discovered my secrets would want to be my mate—and, look at that, Shane’s living proof right here—but if Jack Walker found out that I was an alpha and that I was alive? He wouldn’t stop until I was at his mercy.

And Shane’s telling me that my sperm donor knows?

“The better question, dear Gem, is what does he know about you?” Luna, I want to slap that cocky grin off of his face. “He knows Ryker rejected you. He knows you’re a lone wolf. And he knows that you’re a threat to us all unless you have a mate willing to tame you. It has to be me.”

“Like hell it is.”

“You weren’t supposed to run,” he says, as if I didn’t snap back at him. “Last year. When I finally arranged with the Lakeview Pack to let you out of their sight, you weren’t supposed to run when I finally pushed Trish to get in the way of you and Mr. Perfect Alpha.”

Oof. That sneer.

Go on, Shane. Tell me how you really feel about Ryker.

Hang on⁠—

“Pushed Trish? What do you mean, pushed Trish to get in our way? Hang on.” I’ve just remembered something. “You’re the one who told me not to worry about the rumors that Ryker chose Trish. I don’t even know if I would’ve known anything about her if it wasn’t for you!”

All those times when Ryker was “busy” and Shane kept me company… I wouldn’t have known about Trish at all if Shane hadn’t said anything at first. Then, after her snarls, her snotty comments, and the evil eye she gave me as she told me that I wasn’t worthy of the Alpha…

He nods, a hint of a gleeful smile making his dimples pop again. Damn it. Those fucking dimples fooled me, didn’t they? “I had to. It would’ve been so much easier if you rejected Ryker first. You could choose anyone. Another Luna… you would be wasted with Ryker. Mate me, Gemma. Be mine.”

All it takes is me accepting his offer and, by pack law, he can force me into doing whatever he wants—including a lifelong mating I’d never be able to escape form.

No fucking way.

“No.”

There.

Simple.

Effective.

Try to twist that into a yes, asshole.

“Just like an alpha.” Shane’s grin widens. “Because of Ryker?”

No point in denying it. “Yes.”

I’m not his mate, not yet, but my heated never from last year has cooled off some. He was right to refuse me when I offered to mate him earlier, but does that mean I won’t offer again? I don’t know.

One thing I do know for sure, though? I might not be Ryker’s mate, and my sitch with Aleks is complicated… but I definitely don’t want anything to do with Shane.

“That’s a shame.” Shane closes the gap between us, quicker than I thought he would. “Will he still want you if you’re not so pretty, Gem? ‘Cause I will.”

What the⁠—

Turns out that I’m a fucking moron after all. Because only an idiot would stand there after the bad guy makes a quip like that and not realize what was going to happen next.

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