Rejected At First Sight (Spinoff Series)

28

Jay

"Jay." A calm voice said beside me.

I grumbled in response and realized I was still in my wolf form, towering over a cowering Kayleigh.

"She's not going to apologize. We should get going to gym. Ash is there already."

I turn and look towards Sage. His stance is careful, ready and alert. I sigh, letting the tension work it's way out of my shoulders. Who wouldn't react like that, seeing me like this. I had shifted out of pure anger, my legs were still shaking. The strain inside of my chest not just from the relentless pumping of my heart.

Shifting, I let out a breath of air as my bones settled back into my human body, the scent of the woods becoming less intense with the limited senses. I look back towards Kayleigh, who had fallen to the ground.

"Go home." I said, my voice a deathly storm of calm.

Kayleigh didn't so much as nod as she turned and hightailed it back to the pack house.

I heard a thump on the ground and saw that Sage had thrown me some new clothes. Quickly, I slipped them on. Dark jeans and a white t-shirt. Not too far off from what I'd normally wear. But it wasn't like you had a ton of choices being naked right outside your school.

"Thanks." I mutter.

"Jay, you should think things through before-"

"I know!" I growl.

Sage glared at me for another second before turning away from me, walking back towards school. "If you are going to act like an ass, I don't want to be around you."

"I-" I started but then sighed again. "Sage!" I called. He kept walking. "Okay yes yes, I'm an ass! Now stop being a drama queen!"

Sage halted in his steps and turned back towards me. "A drama queen?"

I jut my chin up and meet his glare.

"Hurry up, class already started." He said and gestured for me to walk by his side.

Playful smiles rested upon both our faces as we walked. "Sage?" I say suddenly.

He looks up at me. "What's up?"

I had been working up the courage all day to ask him, and the only thing that kept me talking was the fate of the pack. "It was wrong of me, to strip you of your beta title."

Sage nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"I overreacted. You were just trying to help me." I took a breath. "I want to reinstate you. Tonight."

Sage hesitated. "Tonight?"

I nodded. "I can't stomach Adam to have the title for another moment."

When Sage doesn't start jumping for joy I look to him, seeing that he has retreated into his mind as a whirlwind of thoughts raced through his head.

I lightly elbow him to get his attention. "What you thinking about?" I ask lightly.

Sage shakes his head to refocus. "I'm ready for the title again, I am. I just feel that I don't really deserve it."

I stop and grasp his arm, drawing him to a stop. "What do you mean?" I ask, dumbfounded that my best friend would even think such a thing. Sage was the most caring and understanding person I'd ever met.

Only when his eyes raised to meet mine did I see the sorrow there. "It's not just something that you did anymore." He said quietly.

I flinched deeply, retracting my hand from his arm. He was talking about Ash. About how I had fucked another girl and sent my true mate into a world of bruises and rejection. Every moment of my petty existence from that point I had spent resenting myself; buried in my own shame and guilt. The one thing that I had failed to even spend a moment thinking about was the role that Sage played in this all. About how he felt about it all.