Chapter 4:Rejection in the Making

Maya

Four pairs of glowing eyes stared at me. Four sets of lungs breathing in my scent. Four wolves recognizing what I was to them.

Their mate.

The word made me sick.

"No," I said, my voice stronger now that my wolf had awakened. "This is wrong. This is some kind of sick joke from the moon goddess."

Stephen stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "Maya, you need to calm down—"

"Calm down?" I laughed, and it sounded broken even to my own ears. "You four have made my life hell for years. You've bullied me, humiliated me, ignored me. And now I'm supposed to what? Be grateful that fate tied me to you?"

"It's not that simple," Elijah said, but his smirk told a different story. Like he thought this was all some cosmic joke he was in on.

"Actually, it is that simple." I pushed myself to my feet, my legs still shaky from the partial shift. "I reject this. I reject all of you."

Karl's eyes flashed dangerously. "You can't reject us. Not all four of us. The bond is too strong."

"Watch me." I took a step backward toward my bed. "I'll die before I let any of you claim me."

"Now you're being dramatic," Nathan said, but his grin was pure predator. Like he enjoyed the chase. "You felt it too, Maya. When we touched you. Your body knows what it wants."

Heat burned in my cheeks, but this time it was rage, not arousal. "My body doesn't know anything. You forced me to my knees. You were going to.."

"We were going to what?" Stephen's voice cut through mine like a blade. "What exactly do you think we were doing?"

I stared at him. "You know what you were doing."

"Do I?" He moved closer, and I could smell that pine and leather scent rolling off him in waves. It made my knees weak, which only made me angrier. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like my brothers found their mate and didn't know how to handle it."

"Don't." My hand inched toward my pillow. "Don't you dare try to make this my fault."

"Nobody's making anything your fault," Elijah said. "But you can't fight fate, Maya. The moon goddess chose us for each other."

"The moon goddess made a mistake."

Karl snarled, actually snarled, and I saw his canines extend. "Don't you dare disrespect the goddess."

"I'll disrespect whoever I want!" I reached under my pillow and pulled out the small pistol Dad kept there. Old and dented, but it worked. "Starting with you four."

The room went dead silent.

"Maya," Stephen said carefully, his hands raised. "Put the gun down."

"No." My hands shook, but my aim stayed steady. "You want to know what I think about this mate bond? I think it's a curse. I think the goddess looked down and decided to torture me one more time."

"You don't mean that," Nathan said, but his grin had disappeared.

"I do mean it." Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them back. "I will never accept you. Any of you. I'd rather die first."

"Maya, please.." Elijah started.

I pulled the trigger.

The gunshot was deafening in our tiny house. Karl dove to the right, rolling behind the couch. Elijah dropped to the floor, cursing.

But Nathan wasn't fast enough.

The bullet caught him in the shoulder, spinning him around. He hit the wall hard, blood spreading across his shirt. The smell of it filled the air, copper and salt and something that made my wolf whine in distress.

"Nathan!" Stephen lunged toward his brother, but his eyes never left me. They were full of something I'd never seen before. Not anger. Not disgust.

Hurt.

"You shot him," Karl said, rising from behind the couch. His voice was deadly quiet. "You actually shot our brother."

Nathan pressed his hand to his shoulder, blood seeping between his fingers. But he was smiling. Actually smiling.

"She's got fire," he said, his voice strained but admiring. "I'll give her that."

"This isn't a game!" I kept the gun trained on them, even though my hands were shaking worse now. "I told you I'd rather die than be with you. I meant it."

Stephen stepped forward, ignoring the weapon pointed at his chest. "You're bleeding."

"What?"

I looked down. He was right. Blood trickled from cuts on my arms where my nails had extended during the partial shift. I hadn't even felt it.

"Maya, you're hurt. Let us help.."

"Stay away from me!" I backed toward the wall, but there was nowhere to go. "I don't want your help. I don't want anything from you."

"Too bad," Karl said, and something in his tone made my blood freeze. "Because whether you like it or not, you're ours now."

Stephen advanced on me, moving with that fluid alpha grace. "Put the gun down, Maya. You're in pain. You're not thinking clearly."

"I'm thinking perfectly clearly." But even as I said it, the room started to spin. The partial shift had taken more out of me than I'd realized. "I'm thinking that I need to get as far away from you four as possible."

Another wave of pain hit me, worse than before. My bones felt like they were trying to break apart and reform. The gun slipped from my fingers, clattering to the floor.

"No," I gasped, falling to my knees. "Not now. Please, not now."

"Her body's trying to complete the shift," Elijah said. "She's fighting it too hard."

Black spots danced at the edges of my vision. I could hear Nathan groaning as Stephen helped him sit up. Could smell their combined scents wrapping around me like chains.

"I won't..." I whispered, my voice fading. "I won't let you..."

The darkness rushed up to meet me, and the last thing I heard was Karl's voice, low and determined.

"She's ours now," he said. "We'll make sure she never runs again."

Then everything went black, and I fell into a dream where four pairs of golden eyes followed me wherever I tried to hide..