Page 98 of Rejected By the Alpha King

“I hadn’t noticed,” I said with a frown.

“Me either.”

“The two of you are mated. You don’t pay attention to that kind of thing anymore.”

“I am not mated,” Jenson said in confusion.

Amelia ignored him. “It doesn’t explain why she would have betrayed you. Even a mate wouldn’t make her do that.”

“Apparently, your mate can influence you to do all kinds of things,” Jenson muttered, his eyes trained on me. For a moment, I considered letting it go. He was hurting over Bridget’s betrayal, and he needed a target. If he hadn’t involved Anna, I might have been willing to be that target, but I could not let him make inferences about my mate.

I pushed a little power in our bond, and he quickly averted his eyes. No apology, but that was fine. We would have a talk about this later.

“Emerson is claiming that wolves sabotaged his car ten miles from the territory. I need you to send Trey and three others to trace his steps. Emerson will expect me to do this, so make sure they realize it may be a trap. See what they can scout out,” I continued. “What did Irene have to say about his witch?”

“She doesn’t recognize her,” Jenson said and then frowned. “But she also said that’s not uncommon. She hasn’t had much contact with any witches since attaching herself to us. As for being a target of the Darkwyn coven, she says it’s possible. They’ve hunted witches before for breaking their laws.

“All three of them?” Anna asked, her eyebrows raised. “I have a hard time believing all three would leave their den unprotected.”

“Only one. The youngest is the assassin.”

Lunessa. Well shit. Did that change things? Why would the Darkwyn coven not want Lunessa to roam about if she was a trained assassin? Wouldn’t they want her to work with us?

“Anna, do you know how to get in touch with the coven?”

“No, but I bet Irene does. I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”

“Why?” Jenson demanded. “Because you don’t trust Irene?”

I shot him a hard look, but he just scowled. “It is not because of Irene.”

“You should tell him,” Anna said suddenly. “I don’t think she’s here to cause problems, but if I’m wrong, he should know. They should know, especially if Amelia is guarding me.”

After a moment, I nodded. “Fine, but like Bridget’s betrayal, this needs to stay between us, and if whoever hunted Irene finds out, we may all very well be dead. The maiden is here.”

Jenson paled. “You said someone is after power. She must be incredibly powerful.”

“She is, and if someone drains her, we’re fucked. So keep it quiet. Right now, I think we can trust her, but if Irene contacts the Darkwyn coven and discovers that she has a different agenda, then we go on the offensive. Understand?”

“Tell them all of it,” Anna encouraged softly. “Even who I am. They need to know.”

Frustration welled up inside of me, and I wanted to push back. The more people who knew what Anna could do, the more danger that she was in.

But I trusted Jenson, and I was trusting Amelia to guard her.

So I told them everything. About what the witches said. About what her father wanted her to do. About her connection to Dean and Emerson.

By the time it was over, I felt something entirely different in my bond with my second.

Remorse.

“I’m an asshole,” he said quietly to Anna. “I’m sorry.”

“There is no need to apologize. I have done terrible things, and I’ve brought trouble down on your pack. There are days when I think the best thing I can do is run as far away from all of you as I can and just try to disappear.”

“I would find you,” I said instantly. “You don’t get to run away and do this on your own. Not ever again.”

She graced me with a brief smile, but I feared that she would run one day. No matter how safe I made her feel. She’d spent years thinking she was better off on her own, and all I’d done was push her away.

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