Page 30 of Rejected Wolf Mate

I froze, heart lurching as something lodged in my throat. I didn’t answer, staring at him, suddenly unable to speak. The world spun around me as the words sank in. It was impossible. That wouldn’t… I would know.

When was the last time I’d spoken to her? It had been a couple of days. I wanted to call Ansel on his bluff and walk away. But I couldn’t. Because I knew he wasn’t lying.

Finally, my voice seemed to come back to me. “What did you do to her?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

“She’s spending some time with us,” he said, raising his eyebrows. “I thought you would appreciate it if we looked after her. You wouldn’t want anything to happen to her, would you?”

I couldn’t speak. The world seemed to crash down around me. Thea. He had Thea. He had my sister. The person I’d promised to look after my entire life. The person who depended on me and trusted me. I’d let her down.

I wanted to scream, to tear out his throat and rip his corpse to shreds. Except I couldn’t move. My body didn’t seem to want to listen to me.

“She’ll claw you to ribbons,” I bluffed when I finally managed to catch my voice. “I’m surprised you got to her at all.”

He laughed, the sound carrying through the air, grating against my ears.

“I doubt it. She’s such a sweetheart,” he mused. “And even if she weren’t, I don’t think she could fend off a real shifter. I see now why you’re so protective of her. I had no idea she was an absent.” He tutted. “Poor thing. She can’t really protect herself, can she?”

Rage rushed through me, my vision narrowing as I saw red.

“You son of a bitch.” I stalked forward, fingers lengthening to claws as my wolf howled and fought to get out, to tear into the man who had just threatened my sister. “You absolute piece of shit. Hand Thea over now, and I won’t rip your throat out.”

Dana stepped between us, blocking my path to Ansel, her own expression inscrutable. If she felt any guilt about using a girl who couldn’t shift as leverage, there was no evidence of it on her face. She held up one hand, pressing it into my sternum and pushing me back. I snarled, turning my rage on her.

“Where. Is. She?” I growled. Inside, my wolf howled with rage and fear, desperate to get back to Thea, wanting to kill the man in front of me for daring to threaten her.

“She’s safe,” Ansel said, still smirking. He didn’t have to add “for now” for me to know that was what he meant.

“Don’t do this.” I couldn’t hide the pleading, plaintive tone in my voice. “She has nothing to do with any of this. Just let her go. Please.”

“I won’t do anything to her as long as you cooperate,” Ansel said. “I might even make her stay with us a bit more comfortable.”

I clenched my teeth even as guilt washed over me. This was my fault. Every bit of it. I had asked them to take care of her. I had been stupid enough to trust them after everything they’d put me through. She was in trouble because of me.

“If you do anything to her, I swear I’ll tear you to shreds,” I said.

“No, you won’t,” he said smugly. “I know how much you care about her. And believe me when I say that if Dana and I don’t both get back to the meeting house in a timely manner tonight, Thea won’t be around for much longer.”

The world spun around me as my stomach churned and threatened to regurgitate my dinner.

“What do you want?” I asked, my voice hoarse as I glared at both of them.

“You know exactly what I want,” Ansel replied. “I told you. The plan’s changed. We’re going to make our move on the Silver Wolves Sunday night. Your job is to take care of Rand. Kill him quickly so he can’t come help the others, and then join us to take out the rest. You’ve given us plenty of information for us to go off of, so we know what we need to do.”

Horror and dread raced through me, mixing with guilt. This was my fault. I only had myself to blame for all of this.

I shook my head. “Anything but that. Just let Thea go. Please. I’ll do anything but kill someone.”

His eyes narrowed. “Let me put it this way,” Ansel said, holding up his hand and cutting me off. “Because I don’t think you understand the severity of the situation here. Either you help us take out the Silver Wolves, or your sister dies. The choice is yours. Just know the consequences of what will happen if you don’t uphold your end of the job.” He looked up at the moon, giving a lazy smirk that made my stomach churn. “We should probably get back,” he said to Dana. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to our guest over a misunderstanding, would you?”

He smirked one last time, then turned his back on me and walked into the forest. Dana followed after him, not saying a single word as she left me alone.

Rand or Thea.

That was all that registered in my mind. Rand or Thea.

There was no contest. I had promised to protect Thea at all costs. She was my sister. It should have been easy. Except the thought of losing Rand, of losing the guy I had hated for years now, twisted my stomach more than I had thought possible.

I couldn’t kill Rand. I knew that. But I couldn’t let my sister die, either.

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