Page 105 of Rejected By the Alpha

“Something like that,” he said.

“Oh, yeah?” I said, placing down the brush. “Who is she?”

“Someone I think you’ll like.”

My chest tightened. Someone I’ll like?

I turned around in my chair and faced him, eyes wide. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

He shook his head and waved at me. “Gods, no.”

“Mmhmm.”

A smile broke out on his face. “I don’t. I swear.”

“What’s her name?”

“You’ll find out soon enough. I’ll bring her to your party.”

“My party? What party?”

“Your birthday party. You’re having one, aren’t you?”

“No, I don’t want one.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me you still wanna die. I already told you that it’s not going to happen. I need you. We need you. And I don’t care how many times Cade or I have to drag your ass to the medical center, you’re⁠—”

“No, it’s not that,” I said, shoving the entire piece of sweetness into my mouth and almost choking. “I just don’t want one. I don’t have many friends. Besides, it would be selfish. There’s so much war going on around here right now.”

“Fine, but you, Cade, and I will celebrate. Next week, we’ll go out to dinner. Deal?”

My lips curled into a smile, and I nodded, returning to the painting. “Sounds like a deal.”

“Anyway, I’ll be upstairs if you need me.”

Once he walked up the stairs, there was a knock at the front door. I looked over at the window to see Hazel outside, bouncing on her toes, with another brown bag from Java. I jumped out of my seat and ran over, opening the door, peering down at the bag.

She giggled, then handed it to me. “You’re awfully happy today.”

“Yeah, well … something happened that I need to tell you about.”

She widened her eyes. “Oh, really? Like what?”

I slammed the door and looked up the stairs to make sure that Pavel wasn’t listening. Then I brought her over to the couch and sat down. “Last night, Cade told me that he loved me. And I said it back.”

A giggle left my throat, and I couldn’t stop them from coming. I felt so elated, like I was walking on clouds. Nobody had ever said that to me before and really, truly meant it. Besides my stupid brother. I glanced down at the now-empty bag of banana bread that he had given me.

Well, maybe he did love me after all.

“Wait,” she said, grabbing my wrist. “He told you he loved you?! Oh my Goddess!”

“I know!”

“Do you know what this means?!”

“No. What does it mean?”

She jumped up and down and pulled me up with her to do the same. “It means he’s finally happy. I haven’t seen him this happy in so, so long. If you knew what had happened with his mate in the past … you’d be happy for him too.”