Page 22 of The Alpha's Rejected Mate

“You’re a brilliant healer, Helen,” I assured her. “Whatever your gut’s telling you, it’s probably right.”

Her hazel eyes widened, but she nodded. “I wanted to tell you that the way that girl’s wound healed so quickly was uncanny.”

I blinked at her, my heart doubling in speed as I realizedwhoshe was talking about.

“Billie,” I clarified, probably dumbly, as it wasn’t as if Muriel could be called a girl with her almost completely silvery hair and the mature lines of her face. And she was the only other person, besides myself, whom Helen had checked over this evening.

Helen nodded. “Billie was restored to almost full health after I used my healing magic on her.” She paused, her gaze searching mine as she added, “Something that should only have happened if the Grandbay lands were in her blood.”

I scowled, wondering if this was another way of Vana pushing the fact that Billie belonged here. Then, I thought of the healing magic that Muriel used on her in the clearing before we brought them back here.

“Couldn’t it be the unicorn’s magic?” I asked.

Helen shook her head. “Muriel said her magic was so spent by the time she had arrived in the clearing where the dragons attacked that she only had enough healing magic to close Billie’s wound. I felt it when I worked on Billie tonight. Her deep tissue was still torn up. But when I used the ancient chants and washed her skin with Grandbay water, the injury responded to our magic as if she belonged to it.”

Her words seemed to rip through me as swiftly as the flowing torrents of the Gunnison. “As if she belonged to our Alpha bloodline,” I confirmed, holding her hazel stare as she nodded.

My eyebrows drew together as I contemplated a possibility. I thought back over the course of the night and realized that the telepathic connection that had led me to Billie tonight by sensing her injury had stayed with me over the rest of the night, too. I’d felt what Helen was talking about. The moment when the pain that Billie was feeling had completely disappeared, too. I was standing by the campfire, and the sharp ache in my side that had gradually deepened on our way back eased up.

I’d been too preoccupied after questioning Muriel about the dragons to give it much notice. But now, I realized that Helen was right. Billie’s injury should only have responded to Grandbay magic if she were a member of our Alpha bloodline.

“Thank you for sharing this with me,” I said, finally remembering that Helen was still standing in my cabin with me. “Leave it with me. I’ve got some investigating to do.”

Helen nodded, looking lightened as she exited.

Well, at least one of us is.

I returned to the living room and stoked up the fire. My thoughts had been whipped up into a frenzy. I put on another couple of hardwood logs. There was no way I was going to bed any time soon.

Instead, I sat down on the couch and mulled over events from the past. I realized that Billie would be the same age as the daughter of my old Betas, Tobi and Shannon Rathbone. They’d mysteriously vanished during my father’s Alphahood about fifteen years ago. My father had, of course, investigated their disappearance. But their scents hadn’t been discovered in any of the surrounding trails or woods. Instead, their truck had just been gone one morning, as had they and their baby daughter. My heart battered my chest as a flash of the little blond-haired toddler skittered through my thoughts. I’d been six years old, and my mum, Bria, had often taken me with her to Shannon’s house. Amazement whipped through me as I remembered entertaining the little, sandy-haired girl on the rug before the hearth with toys. Shannon’s voice punctuated my memory,“Lizzie, Lizzie,”she’d crooned at the toddler.

Elizabeth. That was it. Their daughter had been called Elizabeth. Can this blond-haired girl I remember really be you, Billie?

The memory of that time was filled with heaviness. I remembered how my dad had been completely absorbed formonths because, as far as he could tell, Shannon and Tobi Rathbone, along with their daughter, had simply upped and left town and the pack, never to be heard from again. It had been a mystery that had rattled both my mom and dad and now set my own teeth on edge.

Can it be that you never left, Elizabeth?

As my thoughts cycled over this mystery, my mind was engulfed by the memory of Billie standing in front of the Pack Rules sign. The little chuckle that had escaped her as she’d examined them had sent goosebumps over my skin. Then, I remembered what she’d said,“Well, your dad had a sense of humor.”The playful accusation running through her words that I was lacking in one, even now, made me smile. And as I grew conscious of the movement, I realized with incredulity … I missed her.

Chapter 11

Billie

As David pulled up by the house, he got out and came round the back. “Colt, go round up the pack and tell ’em to come to the house in thirty.”

My adoptive brother nodded. He grasped my knee, giving it a squeeze before hopping out of the truck.

An ominous feeling settled over me as if the shadow Hexen Manor was casting was permeating me. Itwasn’ta coincidence that David was sending my one friend and ally away, was it?

My heart battered against my ribcage as David ordered, “Inside, Billie.”

So, we’re back to the disobedient dog tone. Great.

Following David, I trudged wearily behind the back of the house toward the kitchen. I eyed the ground around the door but didn’t see the PJs I’d shed as my wolf had escaped my control. I wondered who had found them. Had Colt returned them upstairs?

My mind seemed to be scrambling to latch onto something, and I knew why as David turned around and pinned me with his icystare. We hadn’t even made it through the utility area before David spun around, his eyes grazing me like I was one of the elk who were brought into this room ... as if he were assessing the best way to take me apart.

“What you did last night was reckless and could’ve gotten you killed.”

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