Page 150 of Rejected By the Alpha King

I was so far from my pack that I didn’t have much strength in my pack bonds. My mating bond was dark, and I’d severed Finn, Amelia, and Saul from their bonds so they could get close to Emerson’s territory while seeming like rogues. Kenzi was the only pack bond I had to comfort me.

And Anna. Strange. I could still sense her bond. “She didn’t bond with him.”

“Not yet, but it was only a matter of time. He intended to kill all her co-coworkers if she didn’t bond with him by the next full moon.”

“Co-workers?” I glanced at Kenzi.

She shrugged. “It seems that on the surface, he was trying to make her happy. He had her working at a bar.”

I glanced down at Janelle. “It would be stronger if we were on my land when we did this, but it’ll have to do. What’s your full name?”

“Janelle Sweden Myers.”

“Janelle Sweden Myers, do you pledge yourself and your magic to the Black Diamond pack, your loyalty to me as your alpha, and do you swear that all your actions forward will be in service to me and mine?"

My power thundered through the room, and she shuddered. “I swear.”

“Then welcome, witch. From henceforth, I am yours, and you are mine.”

Warmth spread through me as we connected, and she shivered. I gave her a few minutes before I helped her rise. “Sorry. It can be painful to go from alpha to alpha without a proper severing of the first bond. I’ll have Saul take a look at you next.”

“It’s not necessary. I need rest and another witch.”

“Amelia and Finn will see you to another bedroom where you can rest.” I paused.

“No.” She shook her head. “I cannot. We need to leave soon. Emerson will be here any minute.”

“We can’t leave yet, Janelle. Emerson can’t touch you here.”

“No, but Emerson has three other witches with him. They can kill you in your sleep.”

“We are not without magical protection,” I told her as gently as I could. She was shaking with fear. “We can’t go back up. We have to go around to Maeve’s territory. There’s a ship at the dock that will take us, but it’s not leaving for four days.”

“Anything can happen in four days,” Janelle whispered. “This is not an escape. It’s simply a prolonged execution.”

“Rest.”

Quietly, Finn and Amelia opened the adjoining room and led Janelle through it. When it closed, I snarled at Kenzi. “She’s near death.”

“Her plan. Not mine,” Kenzi said mildly. “Apparently, she’d tried to make it to the infirmary before, but Emerson wouldn’t allow it. She shifted to human in the middle of our fight.

I couldn’t stop in time. Next time I have to beat the shit out of her to save her, I’ll try to be more careful.”

Frustrated, I raked my hand through my hair. This whole time, I’d had to sit on my hands in this damn motel while everyone else did the work. If I’d even gone in the neutral territory, Emerson could have sensed it. I’d never felt so helpless in my life. “Tell me what you learned.”

“Not much. He’s careful, and his attentions were mostly on Anna. He spent most of our time together asking me what would make her happy. Either he is in love with her…”

“He doesn’t know the meaning of the fucking word.”

“…or he needs her to be willing for whatever plan he has. I took a tour of the land. It felt strange there. I can’t explain it, but the longer I was there, the longer I wanted to stay. There had to be magic attached to it. And his shifters? Weird. Straight up weird. Happy. Helpful. Warm. Obedient. Even the children seemed to be following some kind of script. Janelle was the only witch I was introduced to. If he’s hiding more, he hid them from me too.”

“Did she…was she…where was she living?” Did I want to know?

“She had her own suite. Guarded, and I don’t know anything beyond that. When I saw them, he didn’t touch her,” Kenzi said gently. “Like I said, he seemed to want her willing.”

That only loosened the knot in my chest a little. I desperately wished I’d brought a witch with me, but Irene wasn’t at full strength after her fight with Amaya’s twin sister, and Lunessa had disappeared back to her coven, I assumed to heal. All Irene was able to do was provide us with a hex bag that would widen Anna’s null powers. As long as we were within fifty feet of her, we would be protected from witchcraft.

“Elonso saw her leave and let her go. I met with him once while I was there. He seemed to be the only one who wasn’t like a fucking golden retriever. I don’t know what that means, but even Emerson is leery of him. He turned Bridget. Maybe we can turn Elonso.”

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