~Kade~
Danielle sat up in the bed. Every move she made was calm and calculated. There was no rush nor nervousness, at least that I could see.
“Kade,” she said.
However, I raised my finger to silence her as I got up to go and close the door. The doctor threw me a look as I closed the door, and she bowed her head before looking away. I locked the door and went back to sit by Danielle’s side.
“Go on,” I said and leaned my arms on my knees.
Danielle licked her lips. She drank from the water to ease her dry throat, and then she sighed heavily.
“I don’t know what to say,” she said.
“Try the truth. Nothing you do or say can make me dislike you more than I do right now.” Her eyes widened, and her lips parted. “All the trust I had dug up for you after what you did is gone. There is nothing left here for you to take. I don’t blame you for Layla leaving. That one is on me, but I will, from this moment forward, blame you for everything that happens to her because of your disloyalty,” I said.
Danielle’s jaw dropped, and she swallowed hard. “Kade, please, you don’t understand.”
It was weird how calm I felt right now, as though I had all the time in the world and nothing was getting under my skin.
“Try me,” I said. I could tell she was unnerved by my calm exterior; Danielle didn’t know what to expect, but she did know that the game was over.
“I was only out for a day before my wolf healed me. The bruises are still on my body, but my bones healed, and I regained much of my strength within twenty-four hours. I overheard the conversation you had with Jackson, and then I heard you talking to Nathaniel before he died.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “I called Nathaniel and told him that Jackson was dead. I said that it was a ploy on your end to make him think that everything was going according to plan.”
“What else have you told him? You’ve been here for months now and heard our planning, so I need to know what else you have said to him that could undo everything we’ve worked for,” I said through clenched teeth.
“I’ve just given updates on you, whether or not you’ve been in contact with Layla and if anyone in your family or the pack was looking for her. He wanted to know if anything could ruin his plans.” A growl escaped my lips when she stopped. “Kade,” she whispered with widened eyes.
“Where you the reason he found out about Layla meeting me in the woods?” I growled.
She shook her head and raised her hand.
“No, I swear it wasn’t me. I didn’t even know about that. He found out because he saw it in her memories during training.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Because he called me and asked why I hadn’t told him about your meetings. I told him the truth, that I had no idea you were even having them,” she said.
“When Layla left, you knew exactly what to do to get her to go, didn’t you?” I asked.
I heard how cold my voice sounded, emotionless and monotone. I saw that it bothered her, but I felt nothing toward her anymore. Not a single fraction of a feeling other than hatred and disconnect.
Danielle released a breath, her chest sank, and her eyes lowered. She slowly nodded.
“I did… because Nathaniel told me,” she said.
“I want you to leave. Get your things and go and never return here again,” I exclaimed as I stood from the chair.
Her jaw dropped, and she moved her feet to the side to stand from the bed.
“Please don’t do this. I’m still on your side, Kade, and you need me!” she cried.
“What I need is Layla, and everything you have done since coming here is to prevent her from coming home,” I said, shaking my head.
She stood and faced me. Danielle reached out her hands. She wanted to grab mine, feel the touch of my skin like she had many times before. For the first time since the day I met her, I pulled away. The thought of her was repulsive at this moment.
“Don’t do this. You need me. You have no idea what she’s going through right now,” she said in the hopes that I’d tell her to change.
I turned around and opened the door.
“Nathaniel isn’t the dangerous one!” she said and then squeezed her eyes shut when I turned back around. She sighed and cursed. Her eyes looked around the room in frustration. “He’s dangerous because of Layla. She’s the one with the power. He can be taken down if he’s away from his pack. You have me and Justin, and we are enough to kill him.” Those last words were said with a hitch in her throat.
“Why does that bother you so much? The idea of Nathaniel dying,” I asked.
She pulled her shoulders up to her ears. Her blonde hair was greasily falling behind her back, and her lips pulled up in a crooked smile.
“There’s something you should know about Emberclaws,” she said. “Do you remember what Jackson told you to ask me?”
That was when it came back to me. It had slipped my mind completely as irrelevant information, but maybe I had made a mistake.
“He told me to ask you about the mate bond,” I said.
She nodded and stepped closer.
“The mate bond is different for Emberclaws. We have our mate in the werewolf species. For me, that was you, but then we also have a mate within our own species. Emberclaws get two mates, Kade, and that joke Jackson made about Justin and Layla, it’s based on truth.” Her voice grew quieter and more guarded when she saw my reaction.
“Layla is mated to Justin?” I asked. I felt my body heat up, my face started to burn, and my blood began to boil.
She bowed her head in response and stepped back.
“I’m not leaving. You need me, and I’m going to stay until this is over,” she said and raised her head.
I nodded and turned around, but something stopped me. I looked over my shoulder and into her eyes.
“Who is your second mate?” I asked.
She bit together, and her cheeks flustered. “It’s Nathaniel.”
I walked up and grabbed her hands. Her red nails looked like blood against my skin. I looked deep into her eyes. The silence fell heavy around us, and my heart began to ache.
“I, Alpha Kade Arch, reject you, Danielle Fontaine, as my mate.”
A single tear fell from her red eyes, her lip quivered, and her core tightened from the pain.
I turned around and walked out of the room with a stabbing pain in my chest, and my legs nearly buckled beneath me. The thing that hurt the most was how long it took me to do this, but nevertheless, it was done, and my future awaited me.
I left Danielle in the hospital to go and find Justin. However, on my way, Mason ran up to me, and I saw on his face that whatever news he had was not about to make this day easier.
Dark clouds were pulling in over the sky. People were taking their things and walking home before the rain came.
“What is it?” I asked when I met him by the gates.
“The royal dickhead isn’t coming here,” Mason seethed. “He’s going to the Red Moon Pack.”
Finally he rejected that bitch why he didn’t kill her already?