Page 111 of Rejected By the Alpha King

“Amaya. I never met her,” Lunessa mused. “But the mother did mention not long after my initiation that Amaya was missing. I started my studies not long after that, and I never heard the name again. I’ll need to reach out to the coven for more information.”

When she scowled, I chuckled. “Not ready to face your family’s wrath?”

“Neither would you, in my position,” she muttered.

“We’re having a hard time explaining how we found her. No tracks. No scent trail. She didn’t defend herself.”

“That’s easy. She was probably killed in one place and then magically teleported to a spot at the time of her death.”

Immediately, I grew rigid. “Witches can teleport in and out of my territory whenever they fucking want?”

“Calm yourself, alpha. It takes an immense amount of magic to teleport, and it requires contact on both ends. Something had to have been placed in that spot. A lock of hair or… yes, a spot of blood would do it. Then she was spelled for her body to connect. That kind of magic is draining. Whoever cast the spell would be very weak for days, if not unconscious.”

“Then it’s none of the witches here. They all looked fine, and I looked over that spot myself.

I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. There wasn’t any blood on the leaves or grass. No hair.”

“A fingernail. An eyelash. It doesn’t take much.” Walking to the window, she stared out.

“We have to assume Amaya was drained of magic before it happened. It’s a problem, but not the biggest one. Someone has enough magic reserve to do this, but why? What’s the point? They can’t just be showing off.”

“It interrupted the hunt, although it’s not an important event, it made the other alphas question whether or not I can protect my territory,” I said roughly.

“Not Maeve,” Anna said huskily as she sat up. Thankfully, she didn’t question why there was another woman in her bedroom. “When she walked me back today, she mentioned that you went after your witch when she did not. She respects you for that. It would take a lot of that support to waiver.”

“London will follow you. He’s no fool,” Lunessa said quietly. “Well, he is a fool, but not when it comes to protecting his pack. He won’t turn from an ally.”

“Emerson isn’t an idiot. He might have fun getting us all to point fingers at each other, but that’s all it is. Fun. He knows it won’t lead to anything.” I walked to the bed to stand by Anna’s side. Could she feel the dream in her bond? Know that I was unsettled or even see it?

If she did, she didn’t let on. “Was the body spelled? Did you see it, Anna? Any magic on it?”

“No.” Anna hesitated. “What if there was magic in the body? What if it gets released when Saul cuts her open?”

Lunessa shook her head. “Magic doesn’t work like that. If it’s there and you can’t see it, then it’s dormant. It can’t just be released by a cavity opening. It needs to be triggered. Still, Anna should be there when they do the autopsy. Just in case.”

“Great. Just what I wanted to do with my morning,” Anna said wryly.

Lunessa studied her for a moment and then relaxed. “Of course. It’s you. You’re shielding him.”

“Me? Who? What?” Anna frowned. “Who am I shielding?”

“Your mate. Through your bond. That’s why I can’t connect with him. That’s fine. It’s probably for the best. I need to see the body. If you would please let your healer know that someone will be with the body for ten or fifteen minutes, I would appreciate it. The less magic I need to use the better.”

With that, she was gone. Immediately, I straightened. “What the fuck? She just told me that teleportation required a massive amount of power!”

“That’s not teleportation. That’s projection. If you’d try to touch her, you’d know that she wasn’t really there. You keep staring at me like there’s something on my face. What’s going on?”

So she hadn’t seen my dream. In that case, I wasn’t going to tell her about it. Lunessa had laid to rest any fears that the void meant a holding place. That Anna was a carrying case for some horrific magic.

And I couldn’t protect her.

“I just wish that things were different,” I said. “That we could have time to do this differently.”

“We had three years, Jax,” Anna reminded me flatly. “It doesn’t matter. This is how we’re doing it now, whatever this is. If things were different, maybe I’d always have been Dirk’s daughter to you. Who knows.”

“Do you know that you’re shielding me with your bond?”

“Half the time, I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing with the bond,” she groused and slid back under the covers. “The other half, I kind of wish I could poison you with it.”

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