Rejected and Claimed by his Best Friend, Book 1

Chapter 4

Remi

I stood by the window, watching the steady rise and fall of the moonlit horizon, but my mind was elsewhere. The weight of the night’s events pressed down on me, thick and suffocating. I had been on edge ever since I found Alice. No, scratch that—I’d been on edge since the moment I realized she was my mate.

She was broken. A fragile soul lost in the wreckage of a pack that had never deserved her. Silvermoon had done this to her. They had torn her apart, and yet she was still standing, still breathing, despite the damage they’d inflicted. I didn’t know how she did it. But I could feel the pain radiating from her, the ache in her eyes, the hesitation in her every movement. Her body was still healing, but her heart... that would take much longer.

I clenched my fists, my wolf—Black—growling low in my mind, upset and restless. He wanted to claim her. To mark her as ours, as she was meant to be. But I wasn’t sure if it was the right time. Alice needed space. She needed comfort, not a rush of emotions she wasn’t ready for. The bond was there, clear and undeniable, but there was still a wall between us, one I wasn’t sure how to break through.

The house was quiet, the only sound the occasional crackling of the fire in the hearth. I could hear Alice shifting on the couch from the corner of my eye, the small rustling of her clothes as she tried to make herself comfortable. She hadn’t said much since I brought her here, and I wasn’t about to press her. She needed time. I couldn’t push her, not when I knew so little about her pain.

But something inside me screamed to fix it, to take all of her pain away. To show her she didn’t have to do this alone. And I would help her. I’d make sure she knew that.

I ran a hand through my hair and walked over to the couch, sitting down a few feet away from her. I could smell her scent—a sweet, comforting mixture of lavender and something wild, untamed. Her wolf, Winter, was close now, too. I could feel it, that silent awareness between us. She wasn’t saying much, but I knew she felt it as well. The pull, the bond. It was all too overwhelming for her, and I understood that.

She glanced up at me, her blue eyes wide, vulnerable, as if she were afraid to make eye contact for too long. She didn’t want to seem weak. But I could see it—the fragility she was trying to hide.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly, my voice barely more than a whisper. My words hung in the air, uncertain and awkward. But they were all I could offer at the moment.

She didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she shifted slightly on the couch, folding her arms across her chest as if to shield herself. I wanted to reach out, to comfort her, but I resisted. I didn’t want to make her feel cornered.

“I don’t know,” Alice finally said, her voice small. She let out a shaky breath, her eyes clouded with a mixture of fear and confusion. “I don’t know what to feel.”

I nodded, my heart aching. She didn’t need to know everything right away. She didn’t need to understand the bond, the pull, all the things that were tied to being a werewolf. Not yet.

“Take your time,” I replied, keeping my voice calm. “You don’t have to have all the answers now.”

“I never wanted this,” she said, and there was a bitter edge to her words that stung. “I didn’t want to be part of this world. All I wanted was a normal life, you know? To not feel like an outcast, like I don’t belong.”

I frowned at her words, but I understood them, perhaps better than anyone else. Alice was a product of a pack that had never cared for her. Silvermoon had turned its back on her, made her feel like she was nothing. They’d never given her the chance to be more than a maid, a punching bag for their cruelty. And now, here she was, stuck in a world she never chose, with a mate she never asked for.

“You belong,” I said quietly, my voice sincere. “You belong here. With me. With my pack.”

I saw her flinch, a slight tremor passing through her body. I hadn’t meant to pressure her, but the words came out before I could stop them. I wanted her to know that she was welcome here, that she wasn’t alone anymore. But it was clear that she wasn’t ready to accept that yet.

Her eyes searched mine for a long moment, as if she were trying to gauge my sincerity. Finally, she sighed and leaned back against the couch, closing her eyes for a moment. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

I understood. Her entire life had been a series of disappointments. The one person she thought she could trust, Josh, had rejected her in the cruelest way possible. The pack that should have been her family had broken her down until there was nothing left but a shell of the person she once was.

“I don’t expect you to trust me overnight,” I said, my voice steady. “But I’m not going anywhere. I’ll prove to you that you’re safe here, Alice. That you can trust me. And when you’re ready, I’ll be here.”

She didn’t respond right away. But after a moment, she nodded slightly, as if acknowledging my words. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for me to believe that there was hope.

“I’ll take care of you,” I promised. “You’re not alone anymore.”

Alice’s eyes softened slightly, and she gave me a small, hesitant smile. It wasn’t much, but it was the first time since I found her in the woods that I saw a glimmer of something resembling hope in her expression.

For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt like I was doing the right thing. There was a long road ahead of us, full of healing and pain. But we would walk it together.

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