Page 50 of Rejected Alpha Mate

“You hate Nick? Is he being an asshole to you? Want me to tell Dom to fix him up?”

I turn and shake my head, taking a deep breath. “No, Cece…. What I’m about to tell you, I need you to keep it from Dom. Can you do that for me?”

Cecelia’s eyes soften, and she turns to me, placing her hands on my shoulders, brows knitting with worry.

“What’s going on, babe? Did he hurt you?”

I purse my lips, then take Donna’s hand in mine. “Let’s disappear for a bit, shall we?”

“Yeah,” Cecelia agrees, and I pull her toward the woods, glancing over my shoulder just to make sure we’re slipping away unnoticed.

Everyone seems to be preparing to set up the barbecue in Nicholas’s front yard, so we weave our way through the forest until we reach the creek.

Not just the creek, but the infamous rock where Nicholas and I used to stargaze last summer, the very same place where I found him that day when Delilah suspected the dark magic in him.

I turn to Cecelia and sigh heavily as I pull her down to the rock. She’s wearing a softened expression, becoming the safe space I need to open up.

“I know I should have told you sooner,” I murmur as I lower my eyes. “But I’m telling you now, and it’s probably ‘cause I’m losing my mind a little bit, but being married to him is like torture when—”

“You guys had a fling last summer,” Cecelia cuts me off.

I lift my face with a frown, the heat and color draining from my face. “H-how did you know?”

Cecelia sighs and reaches for a single blade of grass, wrapping the long blade around her index finger. “Dom and I were here too, remember? We were all visiting. I woke up one night to the smell of eggs and bacon, and being pregnant then, you bet I was following that smell.”

She looks up and smiles with amusement glowing in her eyes. “I saw you guys…”

“Shit!”

“Yeah…” Cecelia nods slowly. “But you weren’t saying 'shit' then. It was more like, ‘oh, fuck—'”

“Cece!” I shove her shoulder playfully, feigning disbelief as I drop my jaw. “Why the fuck didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I was waiting for my best friend to say something to me!” Cecelia retorts, rolling her eyes. “But I also figured you were embarrassed, since he’s Dom’s best friend. Kinda like with me and Dom…” she grimaces.

“Yeah, so you can’t be mad at me. You kept that secret from me for three years.”

“Only difference is I walked in on you guys.”

That has me blushing all over again. “I didn’t hide it to get back at you, Cece. I was genuinely embarrassed, especially when he rejected me.”

There’s a long, uncomfortable pause before Cecelia takes my hands, smoothing her thumbs over my knuckles to console me.

“That’s why you didn’t stay, why you went back home sooner,” she says, putting the pieces together. “He’s your fated mate, isn’t he? It was more than just a fling.”

“So much more, Cece,” I whimper, tears filling my eyes. “I thought I was crazy back then, and I hated him for rejecting me. But I think I hate him more now because suddenly he wants to believe we’re fated mates.”

“Have you stopped believing it?”

“I want to. It’d make things so much less complicated,” I sigh, and Cecelia offers me a reassuring smile.

“Being fated mates is anything but complicated, but the journey toward union is full of obstacles, no doubt. But I do believe in divine timing for two souls who are destined to be together. Your brother and I suffered when we were apart, but we needed to crack before we united for good. Now, life is a bliss, and we have each other's backs to face any other challenges.”

I try smiling, but I can barely curl my lips, my heart heavy because there’s no plausible good reason for Nicholas hurting me like that. Nothing about it adds up, and I still hate him for it.

“Look, I'm really happy for you and Dom, you know that,” I sigh. “But with Nick and me, it's different. He had no reason to reject me, unless he was betrothed to someone else or something.” I shiver as a flicker of envy pulses through my veins, even when I know that isn’t true. My brother would have known.

Cecelia rolls her eyes. “We both know that's not the case. But I’m sure Nick had a valid reason—even if it was dumb and only made sense to him. These males are stupid like that,” Cecelia clicks her tongue. “If you’re sure about the mate bond, then you must know there is no escaping fate.”