Night and Neera: A Rejected Mate Story

Chapter 10: So Be It

***Trigger Warning for Non-con -- Night bites Neera against her will in this chapter.***

I wanted to punch his gorgeous face so hard, then shift and rip out his throat after I read Night the text from Aymeric.

Lindsay Morgan wanted to talk with him and wasn't leaving his house until she did.

Maybe he'd drag me along for their talk and he could force me to watch them have sex again.

"We'll both talk to her, or I'll talk to her and you'll be with me."

"No, thank you. You can fuck her without an audience this time."

"Neera," he said softly, in a tone I'd never heard from him, "I'm sorry about what happened on your birthday. I am. There was more going on there than any of us knew. But I'm not really the one that hurt you. I'm not. I wouldn't have. Every fucking thing in me wants you like I've never wanted anyone in my life. I wouldn't have rejected you."

"Tell that to Lindsay Morgan," I snarled at him, then changed the subject so suddenly I'm sure he got whiplash. "I want my car back."

What I really wanted was a means of escape. I wanted to get away from him. Again.

"Two of my men arrived to get your shit from the hotel room, and they're driving your car back now." Then he looked at me from the corner of his eye. "But you won't be needing a car. You're confined to the grounds. Specifically, to my house."

Oh, hell no. 

"You're stupider than I thought if you think I'm setting one foot in that house you lived in with that...bitch for three years. I have a perfectly fine apartment and that's where I'll be staying."

"Neera, there are things going on that I don't understand, but what I do understand is my instinct to protect you, and it's on full, red alert."

And then he told me about the two references to magicks Aymeric found in the ancient books, and that Raevyn was proof that at least one had survived. Her body-sharing with Blaisall was evidence that if one magick had survived and could share a body, then another one could have as well.

"We think Lindsay Morgan is body sharing, but we have no proof, so until we do, we're treating her as if we have no clue about magicks. We also think that she somehow took over my body that day, and that's why we both collapsed afterward."

"That's an awful lot of guessing and supposition based on not a lot of evidence. How convenient for you to figure out something that gets you a get out of jail free card."

"It is a lot of guessing, but it's the only theory we have that explains why in the hell I'd reject you and humiliate you. Not one other reason even comes close."

"Did you ever theorize that it's just because you're a colossal jackass and you love your long-term girlfriend?" I asked him sweetly.

"I don't love her. I never did. We think she enchanted me."

"Another convenient excuse that has no proof."

"Still the only working theory we have," Night said. "I'm not lying to you, Neera."

I didn't say anything to that, but switched the subject again. "So, what things do you and Lindsay Morgan have to discuss that are so important that she's not leaving your house?"

"No fucking clue, but Aymeric's sending her to her own apartment, even if he has to carry her. She doesn't make demands of me. If I choose to talk to her, it'll be on my terms, not hers."

"I'm still not going to your house."

He sighed like I was the biggest pain in his ass. Excellent. That was a label I could live with.