Chapter 7 I'd Bought Her Once. I Could Do It Again.

• Tyler's POV
• "What did she mean when she said 'you and your child'? Hhm? What was she talking about?"
• I missed the beginning, but I had heard enough to know Rachel thought Jenny was pregnant.
• Jenny blotted her face with a linen napkin the bartender offered her. She was looking everywhere but at me; I knew her well enough to know she was trying to find a way to get out of the situation sooner rather than later.
• Unlike with Rachel, I didn't take Jenny's arm. I only held my hand up to stop her from skirting me to scuttle off into the crowd.
• "Don't even try it, Jenny. What did you do?"
• My wolf, Wynd, was unnaturally close to the front of my mind and I couldn't help the growl he pushed into my words.
• If Wynd had his way, we would turn right in the middle of Blue Diamond and tear the answers out of Jenny with our teeth.
• "What did you say to my mate?" Wynd asked, forcing the words out through my clenched teeth as I fought for control of my mind.
• Werewolves were tolerated in human society because we controlled ourselves.
• House Wright didn't need their heir to lose his humanity in the middle of a restaurant. It would be even worse after my mate assaulted a human model where paparazzi could get photos of her dripping martini from her face.
• We were going to bring the kind of attention to Moonrise Pack my father didn't like.
• "Tyler," Jenny whined, "You're scaring me!"
• I snorted at the ridiculousness of her statement.
• Jenny Wayland wasn't afraid of anything except wrinkles and cellulite. She got Botox injections for the first and starved herself to avoid the second. I could have shifted into my Lycan form -a form very few humans knew about- without making her blink.
• "Talk, Jenny. Now!"
• "I wanted her to go away! Okay? You hate her. Everyone knows you hate her. You wouldn't leave her though because of whatever stupid reason you have so I made her see what you were missing being stuck with her."
• That sounded like Jenny: entitled and imperious.
• "And what am I missing?"
• "The chance to have a real life with me! The chance to have a family," Jenny coaxed, giving me a coquettish look as she tilted her face just so.
• Jenny was exceptionally good at posing. She lived up to her status as a top model and the camera did love her even if I never could.
• Damnable mate bond, I thought to myself before dropping my hand to my side.
• "You're not interested in starting a family, Jenny. You told her you were pregnant?"
• Jenny gave me a glare which would have scorched earth if she weren't human.
• She answered cautiously, "Yes. Why?"
• Wynd rumbled in my head, practically foaming at the mouth to tear her apart. He couldn't tolerate the idea of Rayne thinking he had betrayed her for even a second. His devotion to Rachel's wolf was so deep I couldn't even attempt to bed another female.
• "So why would she believe you?"
• Rachel had used a fake pregnancy to enter my life. I wondered if the irony had occurred to her.
• "I showed her a positive pregnancy test," Jenny shrugged, looking away from me as she schooled her expression into one of indifference.
• "Where did you get a positive pregnancy test?"
• "They sell them on the internet. For jokes. It's not my fault she's stupid enough to believe it. She didn't even try to fight for you either! So it's good, right? We're good? I did the right thing for us to have a future together."
• Humans faked pregnancy tests for the purpose of humor? Who knew? They really were ridiculous.
• I pinched my nose and sighed from the headache I had been sporting since Rachel's rejection.
• "No, Jenny."
• Her face had paled as I stepped closer to her, close enough for her to see the glow in my eyes from how close to the surface Wynd was pushing.
• "No female will ever share my bed except my mate. Do you understand?"
• "I understand," she said, unspoken emotions coloring her words and her expression.
• I used one finger under her chin to tilt her face back to mine as I whispered to her, "I would kill you, Jenny. I wouldn't be able to stop myself."
• Her eyes remained fixed on mine until a tear tracked down her cheek. I wiped it away with my knuckle before stepping back.
• "It's time for you to leave."
• Jenny nodded before sliding around me, scurrying away into the crowd with more speed than skill.
• I drummed my fingers on the bar as I tried to find a way to salvage my evening. The headache crashing through my skull was endless; I could feel every beat of my heart in my temples.
• I was on edge enough to have me gnashing my teeth. My wolf, Wynd, felt almost rabid in my mind.
• "Whiskey. House well. Neat."
• I looked over at my friend Dylan Roberts with a wry grin which he returned.
• "Is that for me or for you?" I asked.
• Dylan pushed the tumbler at me before ordering, "Another please. It seems we're both in need of a whiskey right now. I'm willing to buy since you seem to have run out of all your stock in patience."
• I swallowed the drink in one gulp. They served only the best at Blue Diamond and I found myself feeling dizzy despite my constitution as an Alpha.
• "They serve this to humans?" I rasped, my voice was a low grumble, I could hardly force the words out of my burning throat.
• "No," Dylan said, grinning, "Blue Diamond's house well drinks are all for our kind. Good stuff, right?"
• I accepted a second tumbler with a cautionary nod.
• I would drink this one much slower.
• The last thing I needed was to get too drunk to hold my human form. I didn't want to know what would happen if Wynd gained control of my body following our mate's rejection.
• Besides, I hadn't been drunk in public since I was a teenager. What was Dylan thinking?
• "I think I saw your Rachel leaving. Pretty blonde in a black skirt and white blouse? Fire in her eyes? The last time I saw her she looked pale as a ghost and like she seriously needed a sandwich. Apparently she's come into her own since then! Wow!"
• Glaring at Dylan, I took another deep drink of my whiskey, "Shut up."
• "What? It was her, right? I've only seen her twice so I'm not positive. The first time was at your office when she was bringing you lunch or something. I don't know. You threw the whole bowl into the trash and she nearly ran to the elevator to get away from you. I didn't even get a good scent off her she was so fast."
• I didn't remember the time he was talking about.
• Rachel had made me lunch every day for the first few months of our mating. I thought it was because of some stupid tradition from her home pack. Who knew? It wasn't as if we chatted about our childhoods with one another after starting out our life together because of drugs and lies.
• "Yes. That was Rachel."
• Blue Diamond was closing, but Dylan and I both were generous enough patrons for them to let us remain at the bar sharing well whiskey as we got progressively more drunk.
• Dylan knew the liquor would help with my headache---right? That was why we were drinking? Or was it because he knew I didn't want to turn into a rampaging Lycan and destroy a good portion of downtown?
• I lost my grip on my reasons for anything except savoring my next sip of whiskey and only regained some of my senses as Dylan was assisting my driver, Adam, to help me into my car.
• "Do you think she's doing this because she's evil?"
• Adam shielded my head as he helped me into the back of the car. He was so considerate.
• "No, sir, I do not think she's evil. Sir, would you like to take Master Dylan to his home first or bring him along with us?"
• "Take him home," I decided immediately, Wynd grumbling in my mind loud enough for me to voice his concerns regarding how Dylan noticed our mate earlier, "I don't want him looking at our Rachel. She's still ours. I don't accept her rejection! She's going to come home! She just wants to torture me first!"
• "And you deserve it!" Dylan yelled out, laughing at me as if I had told him the funniest joke he had ever heard.
• I nodded along with him even though nothing felt funny to me. I doubted I would ever laugh again.
• "I did. I do. I think. I'm going to get her back. I bought her! She has to come back! She owes me!"
• Adam drove to Dylan's apartment in the city and helped him inside while I tried to unscramble my thoughts.
• "I just have to figure out what she wants. Everything is an exchange with Rachel. She just wants something new."
• Wynd only piped up in my head enough to insist I remember to get his mate back then I was alone with my aching head and drunken thoughts until my driver settled me into my bed.
• I fell asleep positive I would discover what Rachel wanted in the morning.
• I would get my mate back no matter what the cost. I'd bought her once. I could do it again.