Obsession: A Rejected Mate Shifter Romance (The Mate Games #1)(9)

Anger burst through me, a fireball escaping from the depths of my chest. “Fucking right. Petulant. A disappointment. A waste of space. You name it, he’s hurled it at me.”

My gaze flicked away from his because I couldn’t take another second being a prisoner of his focus. But he gripped my face with both large palms and forced my attention back to him.

“Let go of me, Father.”

“Caleb,” he said, his voice rough. Those dark brows were furrowed, pulled together in a pained expression as confusion and conflict warred for control of his face. “Call me Caleb when my hands are on you.”

I swallowed hard, unsure of what exactly was happening here. “Caleb. Let me go.”

He did, his hands falling away as though I’d burned him. “Now. Close your eyes and take hold of all of that anger. Harness it. Open yourself.”

I did. I took a long, slow breath, and even though he wasn’t touching me anymore, my skin burned from where his fingers had pressed against my cheeks. In all the time we’d been working on this, he had resisted touching me, save for that first time when he’d forced me to the ground and held his hand over my mouth. Until tonight. The darkness that greeted me when my eyes were shut faded away and gradually lightened to a soft blue before fading further until it turned a brilliant white. I gasped.

“What are you doing to me, Caleb?”

He had to clear his throat before he answered. “It’s not me, Miss Fallon. This is you.”

“Can you see it?”

“No.”

The light behind my eyes flashed so bright I was afraid I’d go blind if I didn’t look away, but I couldn’t. There was no way to escape what was in my own mind. I whimpered and fell forward, Caleb catching me before I hit the hard stone floor.

Resting my forehead on his chest, I forced myself to control my breathing and stop the tremors racking my body before I finally backed away. “What did you do to me?”

“You’re opening to your wolf.” He stiffened and shot to standing faster than I could track. I reached for him, but he blurred across the room before I could close the distance between us.

“What?”

“You . . . your knees are bloodied.”

“That’s what happens when you force a girl to spend ninety minutes on her knees while wearing a skirt three nights in a row.”

He clenched his jaw and forced his gaze away from the blood. And then I understood. “Oh. You want to taste me. Is that what this is, Father?”

He was murmuring something softly, eyes closed, a deep line between his eyebrows, forged in concentration. Then he stopped and flicked his focus back to me. “That’ll be all for tonight, Miss Fallon. Tomorrow night we will resume.”

“But—”

“That’s enough! Leave me.”

His shout startled me. All this time, even when he’d been angry with me, he’d kept his tone measured and soft. This was a man on the edge.

“You know, you might be hot, but I’m not really a fan of being abused and treated like shit, so I think I’m done with these sessions, Padre. Have a nice eternity. See you never.”

I brushed past him, reaching for the door, but his fingers encircled my wrist and pulled me close. “You’ll see me when I tell you. You want to be rid of me? Do the work. Find your wolf. Then I’ll free you from my attentions.”

I rolled my eyes and broke the hold he had on me, though I knew with his strength he could’ve shattered every bone in my wrist with one squeeze if he wanted. “What will you do if I don’t show up? Spank me, Daddy?”

No reaction. The man was a statue carved of stone. Except for that slight twitch in the fingers of his left hand. Barely noticeable, but there. I opened the door and strode outside, but not before he whispered, “Don’t tempt me.”





That night I fell into my bed in an exhausted heap, my downy blanket and pillows cradling my aching body like the softest cloud. I vaguely heard Moira saying goodbye as she snuck out to meet up with some witch named Casey.

“Don’t forget to use protection,” I called half-heartedly.

Moira’s laughter chased her out of the door as my eyes lost the battle to stay open.

Usually, I needed to run at least a few miles to wear myself out enough to even try to sleep. My mind was always too active at night, my body restless. Not tonight. But my exhaustion wasn’t due to running my limbs so hard they burned. This was my entire being. My soul. Caleb and what he’d helped me unlock. Whenever I’d mention my insomnia to my grandfather, he just blamed the absence of my wolf. I never thought he was right until now.

As if triggered by the reminder, his gruff voice reverberated in my mind, “Find her, Sunday, and you’ll sleep like a pup.”

Cool, Gramps. Thanks for that heartwarming and inspiring chat. I never actually said that part out loud, of course. That would have earned me a world of hurt and humiliation. And I’d already had more than enough of that to go around. But seriously, did everybody just assume I wasn’t trying?

What shifter in their right mind wants to be the lone member of the pack that can’t manage to do what they were born to do? I was left alone when the rest of them went out to run under the full moon. I was forced to sit by myself and remain on the outskirts because others thought my defect might be catching. I was the one whose mother didn’t even love her enough to keep her in the first place.