Untamed (Rejected Mate Academy #1) - E. M. Moore Page 0,57

tried to take me down with the film of me and another wolf in the woods, I can’t imagine what a posed picture with the future alpha shirtless would do.

“Fuck!” Jonah shifts again. The rip of bones settles in my head before he bounds off through the forest. Luckily, his truck is unlocked, so I climb into the passenger seat and wait. If this is how normal Lunar Pack parties are, I’m glad I was never invited. I was much better off being alone in my room watching movies or tending to my little flower garden.

A few minutes later, a huge beast of a wolf lands in the rear bed of Jonah’s truck. I spin to find my mate grabbing another pair of joggers and changing before jumping to the road. He throws his car door open, the hinges protesting, then he slides in, clenching the steering wheel as if he could rip it out. “Her phone is now in the bottom of the lake.”

I smirk, but that’s about as much feeling as I can muster. Serves the bitch right. The only thing that would’ve made it better is if he shoved it down her throat.

Jonah starts the car and turns it toward the way we came. Instead of settling in for a long ride back to Greystone Academy, he turns left into the public parking for the lake. He pulls over to the side and shuts the engine off. We sit there for a moment until my heart pinches. I reach up to rub my chest, wondering if it’s my own pain threatening to come out. His next words clue me in to its origin. “I owe you an apology.”

I grind my teeth together. “You can’t control them.”

“But you tried to tell me.”

“Like you said, maybe if I’d attempted to befriend them earlier—”

“Forget what I fucking said,” he seethes. “I heard some of what they said to you. I don’t know if it was through you or my wolf hearing, but I wanted to rip their heads off for it.”

“I’m glad you know I wouldn’t have come on to Jesse. Respectfully, he’s a jackass.”

Instead of glaring at me, Jonah smiles. He actually fucking smiles. It lightens his face. It’s so breathtaking that I almost forget to breathe.

“He can be, and in this situation, he definitely was. Laura’s a ringleader who has him so pussy-whipped. She can basically do anything she wants. She can make anyone the enemy and he’ll believe it.”

“I’m so happy I’m in her sights, then.”

“Would you please say something? Anything?” he pleads. “I’m getting this closed-off feeling from you, and that’s the last thing I want.”

I peer out the windshield at the moon that hovers over the lake, thoughts flying everywhere. If I could just pin one down, I might have something to say, but I’ve found that sometimes, it’s better not to feel.

He reaches out, plucks a leaf from my hair, lowers the window, and drops it outside. I chuckle. “I’m a mess. I hope Mrs. Graves doesn’t get mad at me if this outfit is ruined.”

“Your Etiquette teacher?”

I nod. “She bought me all this, put it on the classroom supplies tab.”

He blinks at me, then rubs his hand over his jaw. “I never stopped to think that maybe you didn’t have anything to wear to the party.”

“Well, unless holey jeans with my Live, Love, Plant shirt would do, then no. I didn’t have anything appropriate. I was worried she’d make me wear the school uniform for a hot second there.”

Jonah threads his fingers through mine. “I put a lot of blame on you, and I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”

His apology is a shroud that hovers over my shoulders, but I don’t let it in. “Words are so empty sometimes,” I tell him. “Not saying yours are. I’m not even saying you owe me an apology either. I mean, maybe you do for not believing me, but can I really blame you for believing that your friends would treat me like your mate? No. That actually sounds logical. It’s just that I know them. I figured they would do something like this.”

Jonah turns my chin so I’m looking at him. “Will you get mad at me? Do something? Say something?”

“We’ve been arguing for damn near a week. Now you want me to get mad at you?”

His answering growl fills the truck. Reaching over, he unbuckles my seatbelt, then grabs my thighs, drags me over the seat, and spins me so I’m straddling him. “I have