Page 48 of Reject Him

Eme beams up at him. They’re the words she didn’t know she needed. Perhaps this won’t be as bad as she imagined. Perhaps she has no reason to fear. And with her father walking with her, she won’t be alone.

She can hear the music beginning outside, a soft piano melody that causes goosebumps to rise over Eme’s arms.

“Are you ready?” her father asks.

With a deep exhale to rid herself of the rest of her nerves, Eme nods, and he opens the door.

The ceremony is held on the driveway in front of the alpha’s house. At the front, Logan waits with Wayne. The wolves of both his and Lee’s pack are standing on either side of the snow-plowed aisle, silently waiting.

Wayne will be the one initiating the ceremony, just as all betas do for their alphas, and because of his duty, Wayne stands proud as a peacock. He’s honestly surprised Wayne isn’t gloating.

Lights are strung from tree to tree across the road, and the snow continues to fall softly around them while they wait for Eme to make an appearance.

“At least, there’s no wind,” Wayne mumbles behind him.

Logan doesn’t get a chance to answer him because the door opens to his house, and light bathes the path, making the snow sparkle. But he doesn’t pay attention to that either, because out steps Eme with her father by her side. His heart skips a beat then skips again as her shoe hits the snow.

He sweeps her from head to toe, almost growling at Wayne for not forcing a coat onto his mate, but he’ll leave that for another time. Besides, going coatless probably wasn’t his idea. Val had probably desired it so, simply to show off Eme’s curvier assets.

Deciding to let it go, for now, he notices Eme take in all the wolves watching her being ushered down the aisle, their steps to the beat of the music. Then he watches as her eyes land on him. For a moment, eternity stops. For a moment, the world falls away. It hits him then that this is forever.

It doesn’t take long until she’s right in front of him, and just as he takes her hand in his, his name is shouted from the forest.

They turn to the sound, as do all the wolves, and watch a man walk through the trees in a direct path to them.

“Dillon?” Eme calls, incredulous. She turns to Logan, “Logan, I’m so sorry.”

He squeezes her hand, deciding not to tell her that he expected it, had hoped for it, but Dillon showed up sooner than he thought he would. “Don’t be sorry,” he whispers back to her. Logan releases her hand and fully turns to face Dillon.

Dillon stops by the edge of the crowd of wolves, and Logan crosses his arms as he takes in the man that used to date his mate. He’s disheveled as if he hadn’t slept in days, and his eyes are crazed as though he’s on drugs. Wolfcalm, Logan thinks to himself. He’ll have to approach this carefully. “Can we help you?”

Swiping a hand through the air, Dillon growls, “You will not be mating with Emeline.”

Eme pulls her hair off her neck and shows him the mark. “We already have, you idiot.”

Dillon's face takes on a red hue. “She’s mine, Logan! Mine!”

“Not from where I stand.” Logan keeps his tone calm and collected, though inside, he’s infuriated. No one comes onto his land and tries to claim his mate as his own. “There’s nothing you can do about it, Dillon.”

“Why don’t you go back the way you came?” Wayne calls.

Logan swipes a hand in a silencing gesture, wordlessly telling Wayne to remain quiet. Wayne growls, but Logan immediately gets the sense that Wayne isn’t growling at him but the douche before them. It matches Logan’s anger.

“I won’t leave here without my girl,” Dillon calls.

“Then you’ll be waiting a long time, Dillon,” Eme says. “I chose Logan, and I will stand by him. I am not, and have never been, truly yours.”

“There’s nothing you can do,” Logan repeats himself. “Now get off my property.”

Dillon takes in all wolves silently watching, pulling at the ends of his shaggy hair. Logan spots the moment a thought crosses his expression. “Then I invoke a challenge!”

“A challenge?” Eme nearly laughs. “How will that help?”

Logan doesn’t answer her because he anticipated this. A challenge over a woman is never to go unanswered. Whoever wins gets the mate, even though Logan and Eme are already mated. Wolfcalm or not, he has every intention of fighting for what’s his.

Wayne tells her all this.

“No,” Eme says flatly. “No, I won’t allow it.”

“It’s tradition,” Wayne quickly says. “It’s between them now.”

“Do you accept?” Dillon calls, grinning maliciously.

Logan growls under his breath with the wolves watching and waiting for his answer. If he doesn’t accept, he will lose his mate. If he dies, he will lose his mate. He plans on neither situation happening.

Removing his coat, he lays it across Eme’s shoulders and presses a kiss to her forehead.

She clutches his upper arm. “Logan-”

“Don’t,” he whispers against her skin. “This will be over shortly.”

He steps away from her, and the wolves make a path for him as he goes to meet Dillon.