Page 97 of Rejected By the Alpha King

How much I needed him.

“Do you really think a rogue wolf killed his witch?”

“Yasmine was powerful and with him a long time. I doubt she just strolled outside the boundary and let a wolf take her,” Jax said absently as he stroked a hand down my back.

“That doesn’t mean it’s connected to what’s going on now. Did Emerson ever visit your father with a witch?”

“No. He always came alone. I never saw any other females around my father except the ones he’d kidnapped.” I paused. “He’ll try to take Irene again.”

“For her magic? Do you think he’ll need it again?”

“It doesn’t matter. Even if her magic doesn’t return to its full potential, he’d need to take her again. He won’t be able to stand that a female got away. My father wanted females to breed with.

Emerson just wants females to hurt. He likes holding the power over them. He must hate that she slipped through his fingers.”

“You did as well,” Jax reminded me. “He’ll try to take you too, null or not.”

“He has a plan. It obviously hinged on Bridget and Dean. Maybe we’ve already thwarted it.”

“Emerson is methodical,” Jax murmured. “He has a back-up plan. I just don’t understand what the point of all this is. He can’t take in the magic. What does he need it for? What does he need a null for? There is an end game, I just can’t see it.”

“If the Darkwyn coven are to be believed, we know one thing. I’ll end in death.” I glanced up at him. “We should ask Lunessa what her connection is to Janelle. Emerson might just want to throw suspicion on the most powerful coven around, or he’s right. They did try to kill her.”

“That’ll have to wait,” Jax said as he slowly eased me up and off of him. “It’s time to go deliver the bad news.”

44

Jax

Neither Jenson nor Amelia said a word after I told them about Bridget. We were on the edge of the woods, no one around for miles, with no one to overhear.

“You killed her?” Jenson asked Anna, who stood just slightly behind me. She hadn’t wanted to be here for this, but I wasn’t about to leave her alone in the house with Emerson and the other alphas.

“I didn’t have a choice.”

Balling up his fists, Jenson turned and stalked away. He didn’t go far, and I let him have his space. Amelia inhaled sharply. “I knew something was wrong with her. I should have pushed,” she whispered. “These past few days, she’d been acting strangely. Did she kill Finn?”

“Finn is in the infirmary. He’s healing, but slowly. You’ll take over for guard duty with Anna, and I want the two of you to visit him tomorrow and see if there anything else he can remember about the attack. His injuries are being kept under lock and key.” I didn’t tell her about Lunessa, but she’d learn eventually if the witch approached Anna again.

It was just so damn hard to know who to trust.

Jenson returned, but there were still tears in his eyes. “What do you need from us?” He asked roughly.

“A lot, unfortunately. I can’t even risk telling her family that she’s dead yet. Amelia will take over bodyguarding duties for Finn while he’s healing, but I want you to keep an eye out for anyone who’s acting strangely. Anyone who suddenly wants to befriend Anna or get close to her.

Both of you, when you get a chance, go through all the security feeds. I mean all of it. See who Bridget and Dean talk to. See anyone else they might have colluded with.”

“She was my best friend,” Amelia said woodenly. “Do you trust me?”

I hesitated. “You reported her even though she was your best friend. You’re loyal to me. Was there something happening that I didn’t know about? Something she was struggling with?

Something that would have made her betray me?”

“Does it matter?” Jenson snarled.

“It does to me.”

Amelia sighed. “I think Dean might have been her mate. She never said anything, but she’s smelled a little differently these past few months. Like she’s been trying to mask it.”

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