Page 58 of Choosing the Rejected Mate
I drop a tray and a customer at table three looks up.
Maisie smiles innocently.“Orange glaze?”
I snatch the tray off the floor and hiss, “I’m going to stuff you into the freezer.”
“You promised never to do that after the last time.”She looks terrified, and I would laugh if I didn’t feel bad about that incident.
“The last time was an accident.”
“You closed me in.”
“I didn’t see you standing there.”
“Sure, babe.”
I hate her.I love her.I should absolutely fire her before she sells my secrets to Mrs.Bell for gossip rights.The bell above the door rings again.I look up automatically, and my whole body goes cold.
Not Daniel.Not a customer.Not even anyone from this town.
The man who steps into my bakery wears Ash Hollow on his skin like a disease I thought I had cured.Cole Karter.
Not my former mate but worse in some ways.He’s my former mate’s cousin, and his loyal shadow.His favorite mouthpiece.
He looks almost exactly the same as the last time I saw him.Tall, dark-haired, and wearing an expensive jacket.His smile is polished enough to reflect your own bad decisions back at you.His eyes are pale blue, and they sweep over the bakery with open disdain before landing on me.
The past does not knock.It walks in wearing boots and entitlement.My wolf goes rigid beneath my skin.Maisie feels the shift in me and turns, her smile fading instantly.
“Holly?”she says quietly.
Cole’s smile widens.“There she is.The runaway baker.”
My fingers curl around the edge of the counter as the bakery falls away.
For one terrifying second, I’m not standing in Sweetique.I’m back in the Ash Hollow circle, surrounded by wolves who watched me break and whispered about how quietly I should bleed.
No.
No, I’m not there.I’m here in my bakery.These are my counters, my oven, my life.
“What do you want, Cole?”
He strolls closer, gaze dragging over the display case.“That’s not very welcoming.”
“I reserve welcoming for paying customers and people I don’t want to stab.”
Maisie steps beside me, small and human and fearless enough to make me want to hug her and lock her in a cupboard for safety.“We can ask him to leave.”
Cole’s gaze flicks to her.“The help.How quaint.”
My wolf snarls, but I smile.It feels sharp enough to draw blood.“Careful.She bites, and she has better aim than most people I know.”
Maisie lifts one brow.“I also know where the knives are.”
Cole ignores her, which is his first mistake.His second is looking at my throat.At the place where there’s still no claiming mark.His smile turns cruel.
“So it’s true,” he says softly.“You’re still single.”
The bakery goes too quiet.The few customers inside look up, sensing drama if not understanding the danger.Humans are like that.No survival instincts around supernatural disasters, but mention the wordsinglein a tone like a soap opera villain and suddenly everyone is invested.
