Untamed (Rejected Mate Academy #1) - E. M. Moore Page 0,7
I want to hurt everyone else? They’ve hurt me.
She nods at my mate. At least she gives him the same blunt treatment she’s been giving me. Her heels click again, retreating. I turn, giving Jonah my back, and walk away, trying to get how freaking handsome he is out of my head. I told myself not to ogle his muscles, and I did a good job considering, but that doesn’t mean his pecs aren’t currently burned into my brain. Fucking damn him.
“I’ll expect my shirt returned,” Jonah calls out.
“I’ll give it back right now.”
He growls, the sound low in his throat. It makes me stop, the hair on the back of my neck rising.
“No mate of mine will be walking around topless.”
I pull my shoulders back. “You rejected me, remember? I am no mate of yours.”
My wolf bares her teeth again, but I’m on a roll now, so I ignore her. If I also didn’t think walking around topless was a horrible idea, I’d whip the shirt off right here in this hallway to prove my point. I still have to continue my talk with Ms. Ebon, though. What a way to finish a meeting that started awkward. I’d be upping that factor by a few hundred notches if I went in tits out.
He doesn’t respond as I turn into her office, closing the door behind me with a little more force than necessary. She’s sitting in the same chair, waiting for me. I plop down opposite her. After a bit of time passes, she drops her gaze to the floor where the file and its contents are strewn everywhere and then back at me. I sigh, bending to pick it up before putting it all together on my lap again.
“Judging by your response, I’m going to assume what the Council wrote is a trigger for you.” I grimace, and Ms. Ebon quickly responds with, “We don’t have to discuss it today as you’re not mature enough to control your wolf.” Her eyes turn sad for the first time since I’ve been here. She leans closer, frowning. “Miss Walker, you are in a very dire situation. If you are found to have an unnatural lineage, you will not be able to mate with Jonah even if he should accept you. You will have to leave Lunar Pack immediately.”
I blink at her, dread knotting in my stomach. “And go where?”
“Feral,” she tells me, brows pinching. “You will not be allowed in any of the packs. You will be shunned. For good.”
I breathe in deeply, letting the air out slowly. Her words shouldn’t scare me like they do. “It won’t be a problem,” I assure Ms. Ebon. “My parents told me I’m the product of their pairing.” They’ve been telling me that my whole life, but it still hasn’t stopped the rumors from flying—my mother’s a whore; my mother had sex with another man after she mated with my father.
In the human world, cheating causes whispered rumors and catty remarks. In the wolf world, she may as well have signed my death certificate and my family’s displacement from society. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stared at family pictures, trying to talk myself into the fact that I look like my father. Dear God, let me look like my father.
“Very well,” Ms. Ebon says simply. “Your whole family will be under inspection from this very moment. For your sake, I hope they can prove your lineage.”
I swallow the lump building in my throat. Mating with Jonah has pulled my parents into this mess again. The same mess that occurred right around the time I was born. “What’s going to happen?”
Ms. Ebon leans back in her chair. “Pack Council business, I imagine. But I need you focused on your studies here. Since you’re the product of the mated pairing, there is nothing to worry about except gaining favor with your mate.”
Her words don’t exactly help any. Once again, I want to scream. If only I’d gone without pairing. Why couldn’t the universe have kept me unbonded? It would’ve saved everyone a lot of trouble. Now, my parents’ personal affairs are going to be picked apart at length. Jonah will be ridiculed. And me? No one will ever think of me and the hell I’m going through here.
My advisor points to a spiral notebook I’d placed back in the file. “Those are the rules of Greystone Academy, Miss Walker. I expect you to know them before you start your classes.”