Page 73 of Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King

Dante had killed one, and the guards had dispatched another. Jax, having shifted, held the last injured wolf by the scruff.

One of the females shifted. She couldn’t have been more than thirty, and she sank to her knees. The other wolf stood protectively next to the juveniles, preparing to defend even though she knew it was hopeless.

“Please,” she begged. “Please, let us leave. We’re not here to cause any trouble. My…sister’s boyfriend had lost his mind. He tried to kill her and their babes. We came here to seek sanctuary, but he found us.”

Jax shook the wolf. “Who am I holding?”

“His youngest brother. The dead wolves are my sister’s brother and his two older brothers.”

I held my breath. I would not let Jax release these wolves until this could be investigated, but I had a feeling that he would do the right thing.

I needed to know that I could trust my instincts again.

“Your plea for sanctuary is granted. You, your sister, and your children will be given a cabin and some food for the night while I investigate the claims.” He threw the wolf to his guards. “Show them to their rooms and get this one to the infirmary. I’d like him alive enough to answer questions, but you can tell Saul to skip the painkillers.”

The young woman and her sister practically collapsed, and I shifted. Jax scowled at me. “You thought I was going to throw them back out on their own?”

“No. I’m just confirming that perhaps this mountain is not as wild as you like to think.”

Jax just grunted. “Go. See if you can make your meeting before Elonso changes his mind.”

He wouldn’t. He’d no doubt already learned who I was. Now I would learn what he would leverage the information for and if he was like Jax, an honorable wolf.

Or if he was like his predecessor.

39

Maya

I smelled the blood before I even saw him. It mixed with sweat and the musk I only associated with him, so I turned calmly and waited for him to catch up to me. “I sent Duke to escort you,” Rhyson said with a frown. “Why are you walking?”

“Walking is good for me, and it’s not like I have anywhere to be. Why were you fighting?”

“A skirmish outside the border. Nothing that Jax and his people couldn’t handle.”

“But you wanted to see how they handled it,” I guessed, then turned and started walking again. He fell into step next to me. “Why do you care? These aren’t your wolves, and it doesn’t look or sound like they’d welcome your interference. It would take an army for you to conquer them.”

“I’m not worried about power, and I’m not thinking of conquering this mountain. It’s just idle curiosity.”

He was lying, but I brushed it aside. I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that Janelle couldn’t repair my bond. Silly, of course. I’d never had any hope until I came here, and now, every day brought new hope only to dash it again. I was starting to think that it would have been better if I’d never known at all. It wasn’t like I had any additional fury or shock that my father was behind it. I didn’t hate him more. I couldn’t. I already hated him with everything I had.

“How did your meeting with Elonso go? Are we leaving soon?”

“Tomorrow. Elonso knows who I am, and he wants my power to help clear up a problem for him,” Rhyson said stiffly. “It seems that drugs are a rampant part of his pack, and he can’t quell it. He wants me to find who is producing them and cut off the head, so to speak.”

“What makes him think you can do that? There are plenty of other wolves who know way more about this mountain than you do.”

“He has a name, but he can’t find him, and he apparently can’t expend the wolves to find him. I have a feeling Paisley knows more about the drug trade here than he’s letting on, so I’m going to see if he has any information. Then I’m going to do what I do best.”

“And what’s that?”

He flashed me a feral grin. “Hunt.”

It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. We both knew that Rhyson no doubt had the power to walk right into Elonso’s pack and demand the information, but he wanted the thrill of hunting something down. He reveled in death.

But then again, I was quickly discovering that so did I.

“You’re disappointed.”

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