Page 47 of Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King

The fog disappeared just as lightning streaked from the sky and hit a tree next to us. “Forward,” I roared over the thunder and surged ahead. Hands grabbed my waist and everyone cussed as we barely got out of the tree’s way. The ground shook behind us as it cracked and fell.

Another bolt of lightning hit a tree to our left. We weren’t this unlucky. No way was this random. The storm was hunting us, but the amulet wasn’t heating up against my skin.

“Left,” Paisley shouted. “Go left.”

Praying the kid was right, I banked left and started to run, pulling the group behind me. Rain poured from the skies, and the ground under us turned to mud. One false move, and we’d slide right down the embankment and into another spell trap.

Although this was no spell trap. Someone was doing this.

The amulet burned in my hand. “Hold,” I barked, and stopped.

“Rhyson,” Tessa screamed, and I turned to see her rising up into the air. Maya and Dante were desperately clinging to her, but they were losing their footing.

Taking a chance, I held the amulet out. “We mean you no harm. We were told we could pass safely through by the witches of the south.”

The lightning died, and I held my breath. Tessa dropped like a stone, and Dante managed to catch her in time. Slowly, the rain stopped, and to my shock, the air started to shimmer around us.

A mirage dropped, and I realized in horror that we were a mere four feet from a large stone building rising up into the air. A wooden door hung sideways on its hinges, and the windows were all broken. Part of one side of the building had completely crumbled, and the room was exposed.

Standing on the top floor with her dark hair whipping in the wind, a woman stared down at me, her hands in the air, and her eyes blazing with fury.

25

Maya

“Bow your heads,” I whispered to the others as I moved forward.

“Excuse me?” Duke snapped. “I will not. She is not my queen.”

“She is not a wolf,” I returned in a furious whisper. “She’s the one doing this. She’s a witch and a fucking powerful one, and we’ve wandered into her territory with a magical amulet. Show some respect to her and maybe she won’t kill us with the snap of her fingers.”

For a horrible moment, I thought they weren’t going to comply. With the exception of Tessa and Paisley, these were wolves who were used to being at the top, with only Rhyson above them. They didn’t show their necks for anyone else.

“I’m not telling you to kneel. I’m telling you to let her know that you aren’t questioning her authority.”

Rhyson bowed his head first, and the others followed. Gently, I took the amulet from Rhyson and held it up. “We were told that this was an abandoned but safe way to travel,” I called up to her. “We did not mean to disturb you.”

She blinked out of existence and reappeared right in front of me. Rhyson grabbed me and pulled me behind him with a growl, but the witch just laughed. “If I wanted to hurt her, wolf, I would have done it much sooner. Relinquish the amulet.”

My hands didn’t tremble as I held it out to her. She was fucking awesome, and I was terrified of her, but I knew how to hide my fear. She looked at Rhyson coolly and then studied the top of his head. “What?” he snarled before I poked him in the back.

“I heard you were dipped in gold. I’m a little disappointed,” she said in a dead voice as she took the amulet from me. “There is no group of witches south of me. Where did you get this?”

“It was a human settlement. At least, we thought they were humans. They smelled weird, and the kid said they were witches,” Rhyson said.

Her gaze dropped to Paisley. When she reached out and touched him, he gasped and fell to the ground. “Hey,” I shouted and shot forward. “What did you do to him?”

“Purified him. He was maybe a day away from going into shock and dying,” she said calmly. “A human settlement that smells weird. And they sent you here.”

“Through here,” Rhyson corrected her. I crouched next to Paisley and rolled my eyes. In his need to always be right and to dominate, he’d given her far more information than she needed.

The boy had stilled, but his heartbeat was strong. His skin was far warmer than before, and when he opened his eyes, they were clear and sharp.

With a touch of her hand, she had cleansed him of the drug.

Fuck. Me. We needed to step very carefully around her.

“And where are you going?” the woman continued as she pocketed the amulet. When no one answered, she raised her hand.

---