Page 109 of Rejected By the Alpha

“Shut up,” she said, as if she was gossiping like a teenager again.

“I swear!” I said, giggling behind my hand. “And I said it back. Oh, and I don’t think I told you, but I might or might not have been kidnapped a couple of days ago.”

“There has been a breakthrough,” Dr. Yoder said outside the door, louder than I thought he meant.

I peered over at Cade and Dr. Yoder through the door’s small window. Curious.

“What do you mean, there’s been a breakthrough, but Ember isn’t getting any better?” Cade growled. I watched him run his hands through his hair, then throw his hands up. “Make it make fucking sense.”

“Excuse me, we’re not going to walk right past that. Kidnapped, Miss Ember?” Janice asked.

“Don’t tell my brother,” I hummed. “But he was kinda cute.”

“Do you know his name?”

“No, but Cade and Pavel keep mentioning the Crimson Order, I think?”

All the blood drained from her face. “The Crimson Order?”

“Yep.” My brows furrowed. “Why? Are they bad?”

“The Crimson Order kidnapped you, then returned you?”

“Yeah, and this is going to sound crazy, but … I think Dr. Yoder was there too.”

Janice scrunched her eyebrows. “When was this?”

“A couple of days ago.”

“Dr. Yoder was supposed to be here, researching. He wouldn’t be⁠—”

Before she could finish her sentence, the door opened, and Dr. Yoder walked in with a pissed-off Cade. Cade’s canines were extended, his nostrils flared, and he had dark bags under his glowing eyes.

He took my hand and led me to the door. “We’re going.”

“Okay,” I squeaked, peeking back at Janice. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Make that next week!” she called. “You’re not coming in for your birthday.”

On our walk out of the hospital, I stayed quiet, trying to decipher Janice’s response to me telling her that I had been kidnapped by the Crimson Order, more specifically about Dr. Yoder’s participation in it, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

When we reached Java, Daisy and Pumpkin were cuddled beneath a table outside, waiting for us. Still quiet, Cade walked in to order us some breakfast while I sat down at the table, looking at the girls.

“It’s my birthday tomorrow,” I said to Daisy.

She crawled up my leg to my lap and squeaked, her eyes squinting slightly. My lips curled into a small smile, and I helped Pumpkin up so she could be with her sister. She stood on my lap and sniffed my lips, as if to say, Thank you.

“Cade, Pavel, and I are going out for breakfast tomorrow morning,” I said, blowing her kisses back. “Then we can relax in the yard for the rest of the day together. Maybe Hazel will come over and hang with us.”

While I hadn’t liked my birthday, after I told Cade that I loved him … I was maybe, sorta growing more fond of staying alive for a while longer. It would never be forever, but at least I could get a little more time with him.

My chest tightened, and I stared down at the girls cuddling up on my lap.

But … it was so shitty that I would die one day and Cade would go through the same heartbreak that he had with his mate. Again, it was selfish to be in a relationship with him, knowing that my death would cause another heartbreak.

“What do you think of that?” I asked the girls, snapping out of my little trance.

I drew my fingers through Pumpkin’s fur, gently stroking her to sleep next to a knocked-out Daisy, and I kicked my legs back and forth underneath the table, feeling so at peace for once in my life.