Page 70 of Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King

“Um, well, with magic. We’re going to link.” Janelle looked at Irene and wrinkled her nose. “We won’t physically be there, of course. It’s more of a mental thing?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Time is of the essence, is it not?” Irene grabbed my hand. “Here we go.”

“Wait,” I shouted before I was blasted with heat and fell into darkness.

37

Maya

“What the fuck!” Furious, I tried to jerk my hand away, but there was no one holding onto me. I was completely alone.

“Easy,” Irene’s voice said in my head. “I’m right here, and you’re fine. You’re still sitting in my living room with the two of us. Well, three, if you count Jenson, but you’re fine. Janelle is still trying to find her way…ah, there she is.”

“Sorry, Irene, you went a little fast for me.” Janelle almost sounded breathless, like she’d been running. I whirled around, but I still couldn’t see anyone. I couldn’t see anything.

“Where am I?”

“We’re sort of floating in your thoughts. Once you target a memory, we’ll all be pulled there. I’m not sure if you’ll see us or not. This is a little bit different for everyone since everyone’s brains look a little bit different. Let’s start with something easy so we can calibrate. Think back to when you first walked into the room,” Irene directed.

Immediately, the memory popped into my head, but it started to clash with others: the ATV ride here, how I felt waking up alone, memories of last night.

“That’s hot,” Irene said.

“God, how do I make it stop?” I moaned.

“I have really gotta spend more time with the wolves,” Janelle said wistfully. “It’s okay. It’s too soon, and you’re a little jumbled. You can pick a memory. A more isolated incident that you don’t mind others viewing.”

At this point, my mind was going all the way back to the first time I saw Rhyson. Squeezing my eyes shut, like that was going to do anything, I try to settle my mind. An image came up, and I felt something hard and rough under my butt. Opening my eyes, I squeaked. I was on a rooftop.

My rooftop.

“Oh, how lovely. Is this your land?” Irene asked. I turned and she and Janelle were both standing next to me. In front of me, staring at the sky was…well, me.

“Does she…I mean do I…this isn’t really happening, right? She can’t see us?” I asked as I studied myself. My hair was shorter. My father had gleefully hacked it off when he caught me staring at one of the boys outside my window. That would make this memory about six years ago, when I finally was able to pry my window open after years of trying.

“No, it’s just a memory. It will play out like it always does. Okay, we’re here and we’re calibrated. Now, we need to find your wolf. Can you call to her?”

“Not really. She just knows when I want her. Kind of like she’s listening to me. If this is just my mind, how will I…oh.” My voice died as a wolf lumbered over the roof. It was a strange thing to see a wolf on the roof of a house. She was small, rusty red with black markings. Pretty. I’d seen my wolf a couple of times on this trip, in the reflection of water, but I’d never seen her like this. Still, I knew that she was me.

Patiently, she sat and stared at us. Unable to resist the urge, I walked over and placed my hand on her head. She stepped closer, leaning into me, and seemed to rumble with contentment. “I know it’s not real, but it’s the first time I’ve ever felt that I could connect with her,” I whispered as I fought to keep the tears out of my eyes. “Thank you for this. I know it won’t last, but it’s amazing.”

“You’re welcome. So normally, there are threads connecting you to your wolf, and with those threads, you can follow other threads, other bonds. We need to see if there are any threads surrounding her, even if they’re frayed.”

“Like…check in her fur?”

Janelle chuckled. “I’m afraid it isn’t going to be that simple.”

Suddenly, the memory shot up with a gasp and started to scramble into the window. The scene around me started to shift. “Shit. I’m sorry. I can’t hold onto it.”

“No, it’s all right,” Irene said soothingly. “We’ll travel with you wherever you go. No need to worry.”

Afraid I would lose her, I kept my grip on my wolf’s fur, and when the scene shifted, we were no longer on the roof. We were in the basement. There were so many memories that happened here, and my heart pounded with fear. So many but all with the same theme.

“Did you think that I wouldn’t notice it?” My father’s shout pierced the darkness, followed by my scream. “Who gave it to you? Who gave you the fucking bracelet, Maya?”

“Oh, God.” I slammed my eyes shut so I didn’t have to see the scene that appeared before me. My father had chained me to the wall and ripped my shirt off to make sure I wasn’t hiding any other jewelry.

He’d used the cane that night.

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