Page 76 of The Alpha's Forced Rejected Mate

“I didn’t leave them. I just—”

I shook Jillian’s arm. “Jilly!”

“—didn’t know how to help my mother. She sent me to live with you because she couldn’t afford it, remember? That’s why—”

Sylvia removed her hat, showing us the red that blossomed in her face. “You got a job and leftme. You could have returned all the help we gave you by coming with me when I left the Wildtooth Tails, but you stayed. You abandoned us.”

“I didn’t mean to.” Jillian clutched her tear-stained cheeks. “Stop it!”

Shadows formed at the corners of the hallways. They crept in slowly like a mist, blanketing the luminescent hallway and blocking out the light. I squeezed Jillian’s arm. “Jill, you have to fight her. She’s the demon.”

“What?”

Sylvia threw her head back and cackled as her eyes turned black.

Jillian jumped back. “Hell no.”

“Jill, you have to fight her off,” I said. “This is your body. Protect it!”

“But what about you?”

I held her hand firmly. “I’ll be right here to back you up. But you’re the one who needs to fight this bitch.” I turned to face Sylvia—the demon. “Urkod.”

Sylvia paled.

I puffed up, bringing Jillian forward with me. “Oh, does that bother you?”

There came a hissing wheeze capped by apop. The demon dressed as Sylvia twitched slightly as she held up her talons. “Without magic, you can’t defeat me.”

“This is a dream,” Jillian stated, “and that means I can do dream things.” She crouched to the ground and launched into the air, landing on top of Sylvia. “Which means I have a fighting chance!”

I stood back with a hand over my heart, holding my breath as I watched my best friend face down her aunt, one of the most real demons in her life up until thisUrkodjerk waltzed in like she owned the joint. Jillian clawed at Sylvia’s mouth and retreated, crouching again to prepare for another jump.

Urkodroared with what was left of her jaw. A frustrated cry signaled her next hit, a right hook that launched Jillian into a stained glass door made of surreal colors. Glass shattered all over the floor, shards of it sticking out in threatening angles to keep me away from Jillian. I bowed near the edge of the circle, paralyzed by helplessness asUrkodstamped over the glass toward my best friend.

The demon snarled with a devious gaze. “I was saving this piece for last, but…” She lapped her tongue around her missing jaw. “It’ll taste good all the same.”

I screeched with my hands outstretched. “Urkod, I banish you!”

Amusement sparkled in those black eyes of hers. “You have no power here, fool.”

“I have rage,” I claimed, “and I have plenty of power. You just don’t think it’s important.”

The demon laughed.

Jillian raised herself on her palms, cringing at the glass that cut into her flesh. “Robyn, just leave. I’m a goner.”

“No, you’re not,” I growled. “You’re awinner. You always get yourself back up. You always get everyone else back up. I’m not letting you go.”

“Save yourself…”

I shook my head as another scream wound up in my gut. I closed my eyes and released the banshee wail, vibrating with energy as I held my neck—as I held my mate bite. “Be gone,Urkod!”

Light flashed around us as Jillian scampered to her feet, standing on wobbly legs next to the demon. She clenched her fists and went wild haymaker, turning into a blurred hurricane momentarily as she wailed away at the demon. I kept screaming, kept drawing on the never-ending well of strength that imbued me. As the light intensified, the demon squealed, holding her arms up to shield her face.

Blood spattered the luminescent teal ground. Screams echoed around us as the light encased us, our combined shouts creating a sound so intense that it blinded me.

“Be gone!”

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