Page 59 of Choosing the Rejected Mate

I keep my voice flat.“That is none of your business.”

“Everything about you used to be our business.”He’s referencing the pack, and I want to smack the smug right out of him.

“Used to be,” I say.“Very important words.Write them down if you need help remembering.”

His jaw tightens.Good.Cole always did hate being mocked by someone he considered beneath him.

“He sent me,” Cole says.

My stomach twists, and I hate that my body reacts before my brain can stop it.

“He?”Maisie asks.

Cole smiles at her.“Her first...”

The words land like a slap, but I don’t flinch.Small victories and all that.

Maisie’s face goes pale with fury.“Her first?”She knows that someone hurt me but not all the details.

Cole’s gaze sharpens with annoyance.“This is a private conversation.”

“Then maybe don’t talk about them in a bakery, cupcake,” she counters.

I would laugh if my ribs did not feel like they are closing around my lungs.

Cole steps closer to the counter.“Rowan wants to talk.”

There it is.His name.

Rowan.

Once, that name lived under my skin like a promise, but he changed all of that.My fingers tighten until the counter bites into my palms.

“No.”

Cole’s brows lift.“No?”

“It’s a short word.I can write it in frosting if that helps.”

His smile disappears.“He made a mistake.”

“No, he made a choice.”

“You were both young.”

“I was twenty-three.”I glare.

“You were emotional.”

“He broke me.”The words fall from my lips, and his nostrils flare.

The room feels smaller.My wolf presses against my ribs, furious and shaking.The bond between Daniel and me hums somewhere beneath it, warm and distant.I don’t reach for it.I will not use him as armor.

This is my problem.

Cole leans closer, lowering his voice.“Do you have any idea how humiliating this has been for him?”

For a second, I think I mishear him.Then I laugh, and it comes out sharp.Ugly.Perfect.