All But Rejected Mate (EDITED/COMPLETED)

Ch 24: Second Chance

Chapter 24: Second Chance (Xand POV)

I'm starting to get pissed they were supposed to release me at 4:30. It is now 4:32 and not a single person has come in. If it weren't for the fact that I still have my IV in, I would have released myself. I think that's why nurse Bree has waited until the last minute to take it out.

I like Bree. She is also my little brother's mate, so I have tried to be as accommodating as possible with her. My patience has grown more than thin with this hospital bed though. I'm ready to leave.

I hear a meow from on top of the dresser to my right. That's V's text tone.

Kitten: Can we talk?

I don't even respond. I call her instead. It takes three rings before she answers.

"Hey." She sounds hesitant but at least she answered the phone.

"Hey." So original Xand. "You wanted to talk?"

"Only if you want to."

I feel like I'm fifteen talking to my school crush on the phone. "I want to."

"Okay... How are you doing?"

"Better. I'm waiting to be released. I should have been released eight minutes ago."

"Someone is impatient." She jokes with me. This is going better than I expected.

"I'm ready to get home. Get back to my Pack." I pause and gather my courage. "Can I see you when I get home?"

She doesn't say anything for a long time. "I don't know."

Bree quietly enters the room. I wave her off. "What does that mean."

"You hurt me. You pushed me and our pup into the hands of a psychopath. Wait, no, not our pup, my pup. A gift from a friend." She's angry. I don't blame her. "Was that all this was to you. Just helping out a friend. Like you changed the tires on my car or something. Was that all we meant to you?"

"No, it wasn't like that."

"Then what was it like."

"I just knew that I would never get to keep you. I didn't want to come in between you and your mate. I wanted you. I'm cursed. The Goddess waited until the moment I was happy to take you away."

"Cursed! Really Xander. You are blaming this on the Goddess and a curse." She is breathing heavily on the end of the line. "This didn't happen because you were cursed. This happened because you're a fucking pussy."

"I'm a fucking pussy. How do you come to that." I'm angered by her words but I'm trying to keep my cool.

"You have never once in your life taken what you wanted. You try so hard to make everyone else happy."

"I took you," I interject.

"No, you didn't. You pretended with me. You pretended until some asshole I didn't even know came along. Then you shipped me off like my feelings didn't matter."

"It's not that your feeling didn't matter. I just didn't want you to miss..." She cut me off.

"You didn't want me to miss being beaten. Lossing our pup. Being thrown down a flight of stairs. Almost dying."

"I didn't know any of that was going to happen."

"That's great you threw me into the unknown. Do you know what I know?" She pauses but I don't answer. "I know that had I rejected him like I wanted to, I would have stayed with you. We would still have our pup. I would have chosen you as my mate."