Page 26 of Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King

“No. My tormentors are pretty far away,” I told him. “Thank you for your help. Maybe I’ll find the courage to return.”

“Courage is not what you lack,” he said gently. “While you are here, I will also give you something for the vomiting. Morning sickness is something that not even your wolf can make go away.”

When he stepped out of the room, I turned to see Rhyson glaring down at me. “Just what the fuck was he talking about? Who the hell broke your goddamn knee?”

13

Rhyson

“And here I thought my father and Larson told you everything you needed to know about me,” she said tonelessly. “You only care now because someone thought you did it. Don’t pretend to care otherwise.”

“I do care. I am your…” I cut off before I said king. “I do care.”

“No. You don’t.”

Hofter returned before I could press the issue. I paid close attention to the instructions on both the salve and the morning sickness medication. Watching him rub the stuff on her knee made my wolf howl with fury inside, but I just clenched my fists and stood still. He was a healer. She was hurt.

And she wasn’t mine.

Afterward, Maya looked relieved, making the guilt wedge even further inside me. How long would it have taken her to admit something was wrong? When her knee gave out in the middle of an attack?

We were going to have to talk about that.

But not now. Not in front of strangers.

I thanked him stiffly, and he smirked my way, as if he knew what the effect of him touching her had done to me. Maya didn’t even look my way as we exited, and we walked silently back to the group. They’d finished eating and were sitting around a strange grouping of sticks in the grass. Nash was standing over them, his eyes narrowed in concentration as he tossed a rock. It landed in one of the interlinked rings, and he swore. “This is impossible!”

“Not impossible.” Charles chuckled. “It just requires skill. At its core, it’s a game of magic. The idea is to get an element in each of the rings while not allowing them to destroy each other. Fire too close to earth would burn it, just as water too close to fire would extinguish it. Those of us who don’t have magic have simplified the game a bit, but it’s still quite difficult. Ah, they have returned. How is your knee?”

“Better. He’s amazing.”

Tessa frowned. “You should have let me go with you.”

“He said to give this to you.” Maya handed over a sheet of paper. “It’s the ingredients for both the salve and the morning sickness tincture, but he said it can be difficult to make in the wild.”

Her eyes skimmed the paper and brightened. “Oh, this is brilliant. I really must go talk to him, but first, dinner. I am starving.”

I glanced up, startled to see that it was getting dark. “Dinner? We just had breakfast an hour ago.”

My healer shook her head. “You’ve been with the healer for hours. Duke checked on you multiple times.”

Had she lost her mind? “I never saw him.” I glanced at Maya, who looked equally confused.

“I didn’t go in. Charles warned what might happen if I interrupted their healer, and I know what a bear Tessa can be if she’s interrupted. I just glanced through the window to make sure that the two of you were there and safe. We declined lunch because we were waiting on you.”

My own stomach rumbled, giving credit to their story, but even Maya was glancing around with a worried look on her face. “How long do you think we were in there?” I asked her gruffly. I hated that I was relying on her for anything.

“Not all day. Something weird is going on. Do you think the healer drugged us? Or was it magic? They did say that there are witches here.”

Nodding, I turned to Duke. “We’re leaving. Something isn’t right here.”

“Nash and Dante are already scouting out the cabins. I’ll grab them.” He turned and stopped short. I inhaled sharply. Sera stood right behind him. How the fuck had I not noticed her? Instinctively, I stepped in front of Maya.

“You’re not leaving, are you? Hofter can be a bit thorny. I hope he hasn’t offended you. I was just on my way to check on you when I learned that you were still there.”

“We were there for one hour,” I growled. “And the entire day is gone. Care to explain that?”

Her eyes widened, and then she winced. “Oh, I am so sorry. Was there a charm hanging above his door? An hourglass, perhaps? Or a sun and moon? He’s been experimenting with both, but he should not have had them hanging with strangers.”

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