Page 36 of Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King

Gideon swore under his breath, but I cleared my throat. “One of my own is a healer. If she’s just a few minutes away, I just need a room for her. Preferably a private one.”

“You can put her in the infirmary.”

I shook my head. “No offense, and I am grateful to you, but I’m not leaving her here in your infirmary. You said you had some cabins we can use?”

“Can’t fault you for that,” he grunted. “Yeah. Come with me. Darla, get some of your dad’s supplies and follow us.”

His radio crackled again, and his guards confirmed that my wolves had entered the camp. “Good timing. Come with me.”

It was another ten-minute walk to the empty cabins. Gideon opened the door, and I set Maya down on the bed and checked her pulse. It was steady. A few minutes later, the door opened again, and I turned, but it was just the teenager. She dropped a few things down on the desk and turned to stare at us. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to my neck. With everything that had happened, I’d forgotten the damn amulet. At least it had stayed around my neck.

“Darla, mind your own business,” Gideon growled. Rolling her eyes, the teenager stomped away. “Sorry about that. There’s a handful of teenagers in our camp, and they’re all so damn surly and moody. They’re driving us all insane.”

“It’s all right.” I tucked the amulet into my shirt. “It’s good of them to be observant and curious.”

The door crashed open, and Duke raced in, a growl in his throat. He stopped immediately when he saw me and relaxed, but I could see the tension in his eyes. He’d made the same decision I had: to go with the strangers and hope to be reunited. “She dead?” he asked shortly.

“She better not be,” Tessa growled behind him. “They’re putting Dante in the cabin next door. You can go check on him, but there’s nothing else I can do for him until he shifts again. He’s healing well. Did you see what he did to her?”

“No. I lost sight of them until I saw her by the river. She was already unconscious,” I said tightly.

“All right, give me some space to do an exam. What are the chances you guys have an X-ray machine here?”

“We did, but one of our wolves went ballistic and broke it about six months ago. Haven’t been able to get a new one yet.” Gideon sighed. “We miss it.”

“All right, everyone out.”

I was not about to leave Tessa and Maya alone again. Not after what had just happened. Juniper stepped into the corner and nodded to me. She’d stay.

I walked out, and Gideon surprised me by giving me a quick smile. “I’ll let you guys regroup. I need to see about this Paisley situation and see where the hell my healer is. Here, take this. You can use it to get whatever your healer needs. I’ll check back in less than an hour.”

True to his word, Dante was next door. Nash was guarding his bed, a fierce look on his face when Duke and I walked in. “What the fuck was that?” Nash demanded. “What the fuck is this?”

“This is a settlement. I have no idea what that was, but I have a feeling that Gideon does, and I intend to ask once I get my bearings.” I stared down at Dante. The wolf’s chest was moving up and down. Placing my hand on his chest, I reached my power out to connect with them. Immediately, his wolf warmed under me, and I nodded to Nash, giving him some peace of mind. “He’s good. He’s almost mended and will shift back to human.”

“What the hell is this mountain hiding? What if we can’t take it?” Nash sighed as he slumped by his friend.

It was not the first time I’d thought that. “We were caught by surprise. That won’t happen again.”

Guilt rose up in me. My attention was divided. I’d been concerned about leaving Maya behind. I should have detected that thing long before it reached us. I needed to get my head in the game. All of my wolves were willing to sacrifice themselves for my revenge, but I’d never intended to let them do it.

They would all walk out of here, even if I had to die to make sure that happened.

A loud crashing noise had us all jumping to our feet. “Nash, stay here,” I ordered as I flew to the door just as Tessa crashed it open. There was a frantic look on her face.

“It’s Maya,” she gasped. “She shifted while unconscious. I think she’s gone feral. You have to hurry. She’s going to kill Juniper!”

19

Maya

“Goddammit, Maya, do not make me kill you!”

No!

I came to, screaming into the void, and instantly knew I was fucked. Trapped by an endless chasm on all sides, I had no way of reaching my wolf. Instead, I watched helplessly as she launched herself at Juniper again. Blood sprayed as I made contact, but she shrieked as she was thrown into the wall.

“Enough!”

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