Page 40 of Rejected By the Alpha King

Anna

Freedom was one step away. All I had to do was turn and leave. I knew the way to the witches. They could come back and get Jax and be prepared for whatever he had in store for them.

It probably wouldn’t lead to his death.

“You’re not breathing,” I snapped as I knelt down by him to check out the trap. I couldn’t leave him here. Not even if it was in my favor.

“Maybe because I was thinking you’d leave me,” he said weakly. I glanced at the blood trickling down his leg. It was serious, but he wasn’t going to die just yet.

“I should have,” I muttered as I focused on the magic. It wrapped around me, brushed along my skin, tried desperately to claw at me and trap me the way it had trapped Jax.

I’d lied to him before. I didn’t have a way to dispel the trap. I didn’t need it. After a moment of touching me, it turned dark and died. Just died and dissipated into nothing.

I couldn’t tell him that. I knew what it made me. My father knew what it made me, and he’d locked me in the house for six months while he schemed for a way to use me.

Nobody was going to do that ever again.

His strangled gasp was the only indication I had that the spell had released him. The damage was already done, and the blood was still soaking through his jeans. Praying that Finn was right and there were no wolves in the vicinity, I helped him up. When he swayed, I hissed.

“It’s just a stupid cut. Get yourself together.”

“Feel dizzy,” he muttered and tried to focus his gaze on me.

Damn it, the spell had done more than physical harm. It had gotten it’s claws into him.

There was another cave entrance a quarter of a mile from where we were, and somehow, I managed to drag him there. By the time I laid him on the ground, I was exhausted and furious.

“If you’d done what I said, you wouldn’t be bleeding all over the cave right now,” I said crossly as I dug around in the pack for a bandage. He wasn’t bleeding enough that he needed to shift, and frankly, I preferred him to stay human. It was easier to hate him when he was human.

“True.”

“You don’t trust me. Why would you bother to let me come along if you don’t trust me?”

“No other option.”

“Keep it up, and you’ll get yourself killed. I haven’t done anything to warrant your distrust.”

“Except kill other wolves,” he said flatly. “You admitted it that night. Women. Children.”

Snapping my head up, I glared at him. “I’ve never killed a child. Never. Not when they begged me to. Not even when I knew they were never going to escape and it would be a mercy.”

With a hiss, Jax grabbed my arm. “Tell me.”

“Why? Why do you care? When this is all over, you’ll never see me again. You’ll be free of me. You’ll never have to think of me again.”

His hold tightened. “That’s not true. I think of you every fucking day. Didn’t last night teach you anything? It doesn’t matter where you are. I’m always thinking of you.”

Holy shit.

I should have pulled away, but I just stared at him while my mouth went dry.

“I keep myself up thinking of pounding into you. I haven’t been able to be with anyone else since I was cursed, so yeah, Anna. I do want to talk about it. I’d really like to know if the mate who consumed my thoughts is a goddamn cold-blooded killer.”

It never occurred to me that he would feel the same. When I fingered myself at night, thinking of him, I thought surely it was one-sided. Surely it was just my screwed-up brain forcing my body to finally want but only for the man I couldn’t have.

Last night was eye-opening. At least knowing it was the bond made me feel a little better.

“Are you really going to let me go when this is over?” I asked tensely.

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