rejected

In a werewolf pack that despised weakness, Aphrodite learned to survive by staying quiet, keeping her head down, and enduring cruelty in silence. The Alpha heirs hated her. The future Beta and Gamma made her life unbearable. When she finally breaks and seeks freedom at the Moon Goddess temple, she does not find release. She finds truth. Aphrodite is not human at all. She is a rare white wolf, descended from an ancient Direwolf bloodline long believed extinct. The ritual meant to sever her ties awakens her wolf instead and with it comes the scent of five mates bound to her by fate. The Alpha twins who once scorned her now cannot stay away. A human hunter walks beside her and proves that strength is not born of fangs or dominance. A cursed Wolf King holds the key to her past and her father’s imprisonment. And watching from the shadows is one who was never meant to interfere at all. As gods fall, packs fracture, and war reshapes the world, Aphrodite must decide what destiny truly means. Is it submission to fate or the courage to choose her own path. Love does not come in one form. Neither does power. In a world ruled by gods and wolves, Aphrodite will become something neither ever expected. Not a queen. But the axis upon which the world turns.

They praised her wisdom. They feared her power. They admired the empire she built. But no one knew the truth, behind the glory stood a queen consumed by ambition, hardened by sacrifice, and haunted by a loneliness she could never escape. Meet Queen Helen Maxim: her greatness… and her void.

"Some lives are born from the frozen silence of a grave." Vespera is a bloody paradox walking through the snows of Alberta. The only legacy of a cursed night where a vampire's cold poison and a wolf’s feral rage knotted within a dead human womb. She is a hybrid baptized by her mother’s final breath; she is the one who survived by sucking life from death. As an unbranded Omega, there was no place for her—not even on the dustiest shelves of this brutal hierarchy. Yet, Vespera’s eyes were never on the arrogant thrones of vampires or the blood-stained leadership of wolves. Her only dream wasthe small, fragile family she built with a handful of outcasts. She was naive enough to believe she could flee from her destiny; but in the lands ruled by High Alpha Varg, every escape was merely a red carpet rolled out for the predator. When Varg—the High Alpha of cold iron and silver wrath—found her in the darkness of the prophecies and the silence of her unawakened wolf, what he offered was not a rescue. It was a sinister bargain that touched the most intimate agonies of her soul.The High Alpha’s voice was as cold as a blade’s edge, yet filled with a lethal promise: "When the rhythm of that heart, born from a dead womb, begins to beat only for my name... that is when you will survive the true hell within my own heart, Vespera. Do not just give me your submission... Give me those bloody syllables that have never been heard before." As silver ashes fall one by one from the sky, Vespera must make a choice: She will either vanish as a silent syllable in the claws of a monster, or she will turn herunawakened wolf into a nightmare that will stain all of Alberta in blood. "Those born of death can only be sealed in blood."

Lyra is rejected by her fated mate… only to be marked by his greatest enemy. Now bound to the Rogue King, she’s caught between betrayal and a dangerous attraction that could either save her or destroy her.

The night Alpha Ethan Blackwood spat me out like I meant nothing, I felt my soul shatter. In front of the pack, in front of Michael, my twin, my only family I was humiliated, abandoned, broken. That was supposed to be the end. The end of love, the end of hope. But the Moon Goddess… she doesn’t forgive, and she doesn’t forget. I know he’s cursed, but I do not care. I joined Royal Order even though I am Omega. I’m done kneeling for an Alpha who doesn’t see me. I’ll rise, I’ll take my pleasure, my vengeance, my happiness even if it comes from another Alpha who dares want me. Let him try to claim me now let him feel what it means to lose me. I want my own happiness and I won't let Ethan take it back from me!

[Mature Content] [18+ Only] [Smut] After the coming-of-age ceremony, Ashley discovered a truth that shattered her entire world. She was not the real daughter of the Alpha of their pack. All this time, she had been living someone else’s life. And the person whose life she had unknowingly taken… was the very girl the entire pack had always scorned. The real daughter of the Alpha had grown up as the child of an Omega, a woman the pack constantly mocked as a shameless whore who never even mentioned the identity of her own daughter’s father. The girl had been treated like a plague, ignored, bullied, and looked down upon by nearly everyone in the pack. Yet no one could have predicted what would happen during the coming-of-age ceremony. When the time came for the young wolves to shift for the first time, the scorned girl shifted before everyone’s eyes. Not only that… Her strength rivaled that of the Alpha in his prime. Meanwhile, Ashley, the girl everyone believed to be the Alpha’s true daughter, stood frozen beneath the moonlight. No matter how hard she tried, she could not shift. Even after the moon passed overhead, nothing happened. In a single night, Ashley had not only humiliated herself before the entire pack, but she had also enraged both the Alpha and the Luna. After all, she had been raised as their proud and talented daughter, the one who had excelled in every lesson and training session. And yet… When the moment that truly mattered arrived, she couldn’t even shift. After the truth was revealed, Ashley’s world collapsed overnight. The people who had once called her family, her former parents, and her two brothers now looked at her with nothing but hatred. To them, Ashley had committed an unforgivable sin. And just like that, everything Ashley once had was taken away. The once-proud daughter of the Alpha… the young woman admired by everyone… the belle of the pack who had been regarded as the dream mate of countless wolves… All of it vanished. She fell from her pedestal overnight. Now, no one wanted anything to do with her. Desperate and heartbroken, Ashley sought help from the one person she believed would still stand by her side, her childhood friend and fiancé, the future Alpha of an allied pack she had grown up with. They had once been inseparable. From a young age, they had promised each other that they would become mates and never betray one another. Ashley had believed those promises with all her heart. Even after learning she was not the Alpha’s real daughter, she still believed that at least their feelings for each other had been genuine. But she was wrong. Not only did he trample on her love… He trampled on her dignity. Pretending to support her, he deceived her into believing he was still on her side. Only to later invite her to his mating ceremony, where he planned to humiliate her in front of everyone. Betrayed and humiliated, Ashley had no choice but to leave. With her head lowered and her pride shattered, she returned home, only to discover an even greater tragedy waiting for her. Her real mother had been violated and brutally murdered. The sight was so horrifying that Ashley’s heart nearly stopped. Her mother’s body lay there lifeless, her eyes still wide open as if she had been unable to close them even in death. The pack that had once been her home had already abandoned her. There was nothing left tying her to that place anymore. So Ashley left. But along the way, fate had something else waiting for her. She discovered her fated mate. Yet the moment their destinies intertwined, another cruel truth surfaced. Her mate’s father… Was the very enemy who had nearly annihilated her entire pack years ago. Now, love and hatred stood on opposite sides of the same fate. Would this twisted bond lead them toward love… Or would destiny force them to destroy each other instead? But what would happen if her ex also regretted his choice and wanted her back?

Elara spent her entire life believing in one thing: the mate bond. As the daughter of a low-ranking wolf, she knew her place in the pack. Quiet. Loyal. Invisible. But everything changed the night the Moon Goddess revealed her mate. The Alpha. Kael Blackthorn. The most powerful werewolf in the region. Cold, ruthless, and destined to rule. For one brief moment, Elara believed fate had chosen her. But Kael rejected her. In front of the entire pack. Humiliated and broken, Elara leaves the only home she has ever known. She disappears into the human world, determined to build a life where she is no longer defined by the mate who cast her aside. Years pass. And Elara changes. She is no longer the quiet girl the pack once ignored. She has power. Secrets. And a strength Kael never saw. But when fate brings them together again, the bond between them awakens stronger than ever. Only this time… Elara refuses to be claimed. And Kael realizes something terrifying. Rejecting her may have been the greatest mistake of his life. Because the woman he lost… might be the only one capable of destroying him. —or saving him.

Althea Nocturne is nothing but a wolfless omega rejected by her Alpha mate and framed for murdering his unborn heir. With a pack baying for her blood and nowhere left to run, she flees into the one place no wolf dares tread: the Red Mist, where the Hellhound of the North makes his den. Thorne Vargan is a creature of shadow and vengeance, the son of a Witch Luna burned alive by Althea's own mother. He swore to destroy everyone responsible and when Morgana's daughter stumbles bleeding into his hellish domain, he sees his chance. He claims her as a captive. As the perfect tool to gut the pack system from within. But the bond doesn't care about his plans for retribution. It doesn't care that she's the daughter of his enemy. It thrums for her with a fury that threatens to consume them both Her scent tempts the beast he's barely controlling, her fear feeds something he thought long dead while she bears secrets that could unravel everything he's built. And while Thorne keeps her caged, the Alpha she fled is coming. He wants his little omega back. But Thorne isn't letting her go. — ~Excerpt~ "Because," he said, his voice dropping to a husky growl that made my core clench, "my restraint is going to shatter if you keep touching me." The words hung in the air between us. I looked down, following his gaze, and saw it, the unmistakable bulge pressed against his pants, hard and straining. My pheromones. They were affecting him. "I would like to take you up on your offer," he muttered, his voice rugged, tipping into ravenous. Confusion whirled through me. "What offer?" "The kiss," he whispered. "Not a peck, Thea." My heart ceased beating, liquid fire filling my veins. "I want tongue.” — Dark paranormal romance Morally Grey ML Forced proximity Captor/Captive ENEMIES to lovers Fated mates Angst Smut

Lisa Casper and Gaten Criano are two childhood friends who had crush on eachother.Gaten to a bussiness man and because of a misunderstanding Lisa choose to be a spy.Then they meet after years, her personality is completely changed from a soft girl to a bold girl and a bit if playgirl too. Then after so many dramas  they got married and  the tension arises when Tony Harper comes and try to make their life hells.Can our Lisa save herself, her family and  her friends? And punish him for his deeds?And can they get a happy ending?

Being fated to three Alphas should have made her the most blessed she-wolf in the packs. Instead, it made her their game. One toyed with her life. One pretended to love her. One tried to control her power. But when betrayal shatters her heart, she leaves them all behind. Except... one Alpha refuses to let her escape. Because to him, she was never a pawn. She was always his mate. The mate he had waited...hundreds of years for. Valerie Jude was once the beloved daughter of the pack’s greatest warrior, until her father was executed for a crime he swore he never committed. Branded as a traitor’s daughter, she was stripped of her status and forced into slavery within the very pack her father once protected. For eight years, Valerie lived in silence, enduring humiliation, beatings, and hunger in the shadows of the pack house. Stripped of dignity, forced to survive as a slave, she learned one rule: .....endure, or die. Even her wolf became a secret she could never reveal. Because the truth behind her father’s death was more dangerous than she ever imagined. Days before the future alpha’s ascension, Valerie stumbles upon a conversation she was never meant to hear. A sick bet. A calculated betrayal. And a truth that shatters her remaining hope. The man she trusted is not her savior, but one of her tormentors. The alpha who ruined her life… is her fated mate. To him, the sacred mate bond is not a blessing, it is a punishment. A humiliation he plans to repay with cruelty, rejection, and destruction. To the others, Valerie is nothing more than a prize to be used and discarded. But fate was never done with her. As three alphas close in on her, each with their own twisted intentions or dark desires, Valerie stands at the edge of something far more dangerous than suffering. The awakening of the wolf she was forced to silence. When the truth behind her father’s execution begins to surface, and her wolf stirs once more, the three alphas will learn too late: The girl they broke was never weak. And the mate they planned to destroy… Was never meant to kneel!!!!!

" you can never be my mate" Vivian William thought she was finally about to feel safe. She walked into the Pack Affairs Office believing she was securing a future only to be destroyed by a single phone call. The man she trusted didn’t hesitate. He laughed as he told her the truth. She was never meant to be his mate. Never chosen. Just a convenient name on paper until the woman he truly wanted arrived. Abandoned. Humiliated. Watched by a pack that thrived on her shame. And with her mother’s life depending on medical coverage she no longer had, Vivian was left with no room to fall apart. That was when a stranger appeared. Finnick Norton was calm in a way that felt dangerous. Sharp-eyed. Controlled. Sitting in a wheelchair, yet carrying a presence that made the room bend around him. He didn’t offer comfort. He didn’t offer lies. He offered marriage. A bond without promises. Without romance. A clean agreement between two people who needed something badly enough to risk everything. Vivian said yes, believing she had nothing left to lose. She didn’t know she had just married the most powerful man in Sunshine City. Finnick Norton isn’t just a stranger. He’s the unseen Alpha behind Finnor Group the empire that rose in silence and now stands above the city’s strongest families. A man who controls without raising his voice. A man who never moves without purpose. At work, Vivian is forced to interview the city’s most mysterious and desired bachelor only to come face to face with her husband hours after marrying him… a man who looks at her like she’s a stranger. But Finnick is always watching. What begins as survival turns into tension. Into restraint. Into something neither of them planned for. Because Vivian was never meant to be temporary. And Finnick Norton never makes a bond he doesn’t intend to keep.

Andrea Paisley has carried scars long before anyone could see them. From the age of six, school was never a safe place. Classmates mocked her, calling her ugly, a monkey, and worse. A strict teacher seemed to hate her for reasons she never understood, turning every school day into something she had to survive rather than live. Years of bullying slowly carved deep wounds into Andrea’s heart, leaving her angry, guarded, and struggling with her mental health. But through the chaos of elementary school, there was one person she could never fully hate. Matthew Neyman. They argued, spread rumors about each other, and clashed constantly—but sometimes, in rare quiet moments, they helped each other. Matthew became Andrea’s first crush, even if their relationship was built more on conflict than kindness. By the time school ended, Andrea tried to bury those feelings and forget him completely… even though part of her never really could. High school is supposed to be a fresh start. Instead, Andrea finds herself facing new battles. Samuel Daňko, her sharp-tongued classmate, seems to hate everything about her—calling her aggressive, cringe, and impossible to deal with. Yet the more they clash, the more complicated their relationship becomes. Then there’s Tom Čonka, the quiet boy she secretly finds attractive. He barely speaks to her, always distant, always out of reach. And the worst part? Matthew, Samuel, and Tom all already have girlfriends. Matthew is dating Vanessa Příhodová, a girl who seems to have everything Andrea never did—beauty, confidence, and love. Andrea begins to believe she’s cursed. Every time she meets someone new at a party in the city and lets herself hope for a moment, the next day reality crushes her again. Love always seems to belong to someone else. But as old memories resurface and new conflicts ignite, Andrea must face the truth about her past, her scars, and the fragile hope that maybe—just maybe—someone out there could still see her heart beneath the pain. Because sometimes the deepest scars are the ones that lead you to the person who understands them.

Copyright 2026 c Boluwatife Cole BLURB A YA/NA werewolf dark fantasy romance where the Rejected Mate trope collides with The Chosen One prophecy. Ida Adebanjo wanted one thing from high school: to survive it unnoticed. Then came a stolen kiss, an encounter with a beast, and a brutal transformation that rips her world apart, exposing her secret bloodline as The Chosen. Bound to seven deeply dysfunctional classmates, Ida becomes prey. Enemies hunt her. Her professor stalks her. And she’s torn between three impossible love interests: Arlo, the human boy who feels like home; Dante, the toxic ex whose body is unraveling into something monstrous; and a vengeful Alpha who rejects her till he too starts getting obsessed with her. Now Ida stands at the center of a love quadrangle, a tethered found family she never asked for, and a brewing war between vampires, witches, and wolves, each determined to see her crowned or dead.

Fate chose her. Power made him refuse. After being publicly rejected by her Alpha mate, she disappeared into the shadows. Years later, he finds her again—stronger, colder, and no longer his to command. But when the council demands their marriage to save the pack, old wounds reopen and dangerous secrets surface. Surrounded by rivals, lies, and unfinished bonds, she holds the one thing he never expected— The power to destroy him… or forgive him.

She was never supposed to be Luna. Soraya Windsor was the bastard daughter of the Gamma. The backup plan. The convenient choice. The girl who had loved Jordan Rutherford since she was twelve and foolish enough to believe he would one day see her as more than his best friend. As more than a placeholder. For five years, she was everything he needed: the perfect Luna, the devoted wife, the woman who raised another woman's daughter as her own flesh and told herself it was enough. That love, even unreturned, was still love worth giving. Jordan never chose her. Not once. Not even when she was caring for his child. Then Magda returns. Jordan's first love. His first choice. More cunning than beautiful, more dangerous than anyone remembers — and she’s here to fulfill a promise that will burn Soraya's world to ash and reduce everything she built to nothing. Soraya makes the only decision she has left, she walks away. Five years later, Soraya Windsor is wealthy, untouchable, unforgiving—and Jordan Rutherford needs her help. Only that, he is about to discover what it costs to make someone's love feel like a favor. His Pack is crumbling, Jordan is desperate and she is the only one who can save them. But why would she? Hell hath no fury like an unwanted Luna.

Caution: This book contains mature content and is intended for matured readers. ***** I knew if he left this room, he'd keep fighting alone until his heart simply gave up. I hated him for it. I hated him for being so difficult, but the thought of him being gone made my stomach turn into a block of ice. My brain went numb. My instincts took over. I stepped in front of the door. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely feel them. I grabbed the hem of my dress. I can't believe I'm doing this for a man I wanted to kill an hour ago, I thought. But whatever was pulling me, didn't care about my anger. In one fast, desperate motion, I pulled the dress over my head and let it drop. The cold air hit my bare skin, making my nipples turn into hard, sensitive pebbles instantly. I stood there, completely naked, my heart hammering so loud it echoed in my ears. Oh! Moon Goddess, just end me already. **** She was too weak to stand beside him. And his heart already belonged to another. Azura Moryn knows the rules of the Crescent Moon Pack:power is everything, and without it, you are nothing. Rankless and orphaned, she has survived on the edges by being invisible. But invisibility is not weakness, it’s a choice. Behind her quiet exterior is a resilient spirit, a surprising bravery, and a clumsy, lovable heart that refuses to be crushed, even when the odds are impossible. Rhydor Drakemire has everything. Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack, feared and respected. Groomed for greatness. And deeply in love with the woman he plans to make his Luna. So when fate makes Azura his mate, the choice is simple. He rejects her. A weakling has no place beside an Alpha. And he refuses to give up the woman he loves. The bond should have shattered. Instead, something ancient awakens. Forbidden magic stirs beneath the pack lands. Golden light erupts. Pain tears through them both. And when they wake, the world is wrong. Azura opens her eyes inside the Alpha’s body, strong, powerful, untouchable. Rhydor wakes in hers, powerless, scorned, and unseen. Now their souls switch without warning, trapping them in each other’s skin while enemies circle closer and the pack begins to fracture. Every secret they uncover changes what they thought they knew, about strength, about weakness, about each other. And beyond the pack borders, a brutal Alpha King rises, draining Lunas and hunting power in his obsession with immortality. Old prophecies resurface. Whispers spread of a truth long buried: Only a female Alpha can bring him down. As forbidden magic stirs and betrayal creeps closer than loyalty, an ancient legacy refuses to stay buried any longer. Azura is about to learn the truth of her own blood. And the mate Rhydor rejected may be the one fate chose to change everything. Some bonds are broken by pride. Some curses are written in blood. And some destinies can only be uncovered…

Chase Sterling always felt like furniture. The kind you don't notice, the kind that's easy to shove in a corner and forget. He was used to it: people looked right through him, brushed him off like lint. But it only takes one phone call to erase a lifetime of being overlooked. When his estranged family meets a tragic end, Chase suddenly finds himself in charge of the sprawling Sterling fortune. Turns out, riches aren't the only thing the family left him. There's a curse running through his blood, warping love into something hungry and dangerous, impossible to escape. Vivian Ashford never set out to blow Chase's life to smithereens. Just one decision (a sharp, ruthless move at graduation) was all it took to set their worlds spinning out of control. While Vivian soaks up the Hollywood limelight and collects red-carpet headlines, Chase slips into his new role as Manhattan's most intimidating heir. But no matter how far they run, something keeps yanking them back together, like a stitch in an old wound that refuses to heal.

I want to tell you about a girl who has never needed anyone in her life, and the moment that changed everything. Sera Whitmore is twenty-two years old. She leads her pack's war council. She completed her Alpha trials at eighteen. She has never once asked anyone for help. And then she walks into a peace summit and locks eyes with the enemy — and her entire body knows, before her brain can stop it, that this man is hers. He walks out before she can say a word. That is how Mated to the Rival begins. Kael Voss is the heir of Ironvale — the pack that has been Silvercrest's enemy for two hundred years. He is controlled, scarred, and terrifying to everyone except his younger sister. He has spent his whole life building walls around himself to survive his father. The mate bond tears through every single one of those walls in three seconds. So he does what any reasonable man with thirty years of emotional armor would do. He leaves. It does not help. Within days Kael's father Aldric announces war in thirty days. Sera goes back to her pack and tries to pretend the bond is not pulling her west every waking hour. Then a message arrives on a piece of bark through enemy lines. Two words. Meet me tonight. She goes. What follows is not just a love story. It is a mystery. A conspiracy. A truth that has been buried for two hundred years inside both packs' histories — edited out of the official records, hidden under a dead woman's floorboard, kept by an old Omega who has been waiting for the right person to come looking. The truth is this: the war was never about murder. It was started by a mate bond — exactly like theirs. A Silvercrest Alpha killed his own Luna to eliminate the bond and framed Ironvale. The grief destroyed the Ironvale Alpha and he declared war. Two hundred years of wolves dying on both sides — for a lie. And Kael's father Aldric has known this his entire rule. He keeps the war alive because it keeps him in power. Ten years ago when Sera's mother found the journal that proved it — Aldric had her killed. Sera's mother did not die in a border accident. The man who took her mother is Kael's father. This is the story of what they do with that. How they build an alliance across enemy lines with twenty days on the clock and a kill list with Sera's name at the bottom. How Kael's seventeen year old sister Maren runs intelligence from inside Ironvale's walls. How Ronan — Sera's best friend who loves her — chooses to help her anyway. How a woman named Lydia who was brought as Kael's arranged mate decides she would rather burn the arrangement down from the inside. The war ends in the Iron Ring. Kael challenges his father before both packs. He wins. He has the killing blow. He does not take it. He says: you will live with the truth. Death is too easy. The bond completes. The lie is buried. Two packs start building something in the space the war used to fill. Three months later Sera takes Kael's hand and places it on her stomach. The most feared wolf in two territories drops to his knees in the garden her mother used to tend. He is crying. She has her hand in his hair. The next generation is coming. They name her Cael. After the historian who wrote the truth down two hundred years ago and hid it where the right person could find it. The last line of the book is two words. Said together. To their daughter. To each other. To the garden that kept the secret until they came. Look what grew.

His free hand strayed. They burned as they slid across my waist. And higher. Dangerously close to the under curve of my breast. “The thing with girls like you, Maisie, is that you think all you need to fix to be picked is your appearance. I don’t doubt that you’d make a great fuck, but you’ll never be the type of woman men want to keep. The kind to be made Luna. You’re the kind that’s only good enough to fuck, but never good enough to be chosen.” *** After getting rejected by her mate, Cole Hayes, the future Alpha of the pack, and nearly losing her life from the pain of it, Maisie Adams and her best friends concoct a fail safe plan to get back at him and save her from dying. Phase I: Get a make over and become the hottest thing in Ashfall. Phase II: Make out with a hot stranger. Phase III: Get a boyfriend, someone hotter, someone older, and lose your V-card. Phase IV: Get Cole Hayes to apologize. Phase V: Reject Cole Hayes. What they do not, however, account for is Cole Hayes falling for Maisie and being unable to let her go. Even worse, they sure as hell couldn’t have known Maisie would catch the attention of the four Lycan royals at the academy and accidentally bond with them!

When Aurora Gray, an Omega maid, gets rejected and framed for the murder of Alpha Darren Snow by her mate, she thinks her life may just be over. But when she flees and runs into the arms of the look alike of her dead Alpha, a crazy plan begins to form in Aurora's head. A way to clear her name. An identity swap. A dangerous game. The man claims to be Zephyr Snow, Alpha of the Red Moon Pack. He also claims it is the year 1726. Aurora has decided he has a mental illness. A severe one. Possibly the worst case ever recorded. Little does she know that he isn't delusional at all. That Zephyr Snow is exactly who he says he is, an Alpha from three hundred years ago, and they're about to be entangled in more ways than one, considering, Aurora's the only one who can help him find his way back home. *** "What is that?” He was pointing at a car pulling out of the lot. "A car?” I answered, wondering what the hell was wrong with him now. He stared at it and began hyperventilating. “It moves. Without horses. It is a carriage. Without horses.” “Yes, it runs on fuel–” "And those." He pointed at the telephone poles. His voice was shaky. "What are those cords between the poles?" Was he playing a game? I didn't mind if he was, so long as he helped me. "They carry electricity. Power?” "And the lights in the manor." He said it slowly, like a frightened child. "There is no fire. No candles. What feeds them?" "The electricity. The same power.” "None of this was here," he said after a long stretch of silence. His hand had gone clammy against mine. "When I entered those caves. This is not… this was not here.” He looked at me with wide, vulnerable eyes. “Lass, I am not mad.” "I didn't say you were." "You are thinking it." I was absolutely thinking it. "My home.” He pointed at the packhouse. “It stood right there. It is… gone." It struck me then. The anguish in his voice. I realized he truly believed what he was saying. And the conviction only deepened when he met my eyes once more and whispered, "What century have I found myself, lass?” “Er… the 21st?"