Page 29 of The Alpha's Rejected Mate

Once again, David’s indifference toward his adoptive daughter’s welfare was evident as his cold eyes snapped to Billie. “Youwereordered to stay in the house, weren’t you, Billie?”

Once more, my assessing stare went to Colt. His eyebrows had shifted down into a frown.

“Colt, I want you to escort Billie back to the house,” David said.

My blood boiled that David really thought that this was all the “justice” that needed to be dispensed after what I’d just witnessed.

The younger man, standing beside his father, made to move, but eager to show Billie that she didn’t need to conform to David’s command, I spoke up, “I don’t think so, David. Billie seemed as if she was very eager to get away from your house. I believe she was coming to Grandbay before Catrina tried tokillher tonight. And I won’t allow you to take her when she’s clearly unsafe here.”

My words seemed to give Billie the strength she needed to speak up. Her voice cut through the night with decisiveness. “Iwasgoing to Grandbay. I don’t belong in Dalesbloom. I never have, and I won’t be locked up and kept here against my will.”

Adrenaline seared through me as she spoke about “belonging”in Grandbay. I wondered if she’d felt that she had a deeper connection with the place when she was there. Or whether it was simply that compared to the treatment she’d received here that it had seemed like a better place to be. Anger thrummed through my veins at her words about being locked up, and I wondered what the Dalesbloom Alpha and Catrina had done to Billie since the last time I’d seen her. After seeing Catrina going for Billie, nothing would surprise me now.

“Billie,” David gritted out, his cold stare raking her face. “You have no place at Grandbay. You’re under my care.”

I wanted to laugh with scorn at the “care” he’d been giving her but waited for him to finish.

He continued, “So, I’m only going to say this once. Return to the house.” A vein throbbed in his forehead. “Now,” he ground out.

But Billie didn’t move.

I drew closer to Billie, putting a hand on the back of her neck. I noticed the softness of her skin beneath my calloused palm. Her pulse picked up a notch but then eased, as did her shoulders. Warmth pulsated through me at the thought that my touch gave her comfort.

“No, David. I claim Billie as part of the Grandbay Pack,” I said decisively.

Even in the gloom of the night, I noticed the splotches of angry red coloring David’s face and chest.

“If you take what is mine, Gavin,” he warned, his voice rumbling to a lower decibel, “then the alliance that exists between Dalesbloom and Grandbay is over.”

Our territory and strength were lesser than Dalesbloom, but I refused to be backed into a corner by this despicable man. David had shown his true colors tonight. He’d shown he was unjust and cruel. I hardened my gaze as it flicked from him to Catrina. And his daughter was just like the crooked leader.

I thought about how I’d relayed everything about my suspicions concerning Billie’s identity to Aislin and my Betas yesterday. After coming back from seeing Catrina, I'd told them all about her proposition concerning Billie. I’d told them, too, what she'd let slip about Muriel.

Of course, I’d had to fill them all in about the Moondream and what Vana had revealed to me concerning Billie being my fated mate. But it had lightened my load, and it felt good to know that the pack members closest to me knew everything. For them, what I was about to announce wasn’t going to be a revelation. But for the rest of the Grandbay Pack, I knew it was going to send shockwaves ringing through it.

With a deep breath and knowing that all of my pack’s links with Dalesbloom would be utterly destroyed, I leveled my final accusation against David, wanting to see his face when it fell.

“I can assure you,” I said, “I want nothing to do with the Dalesbloom Pack or you. Not whenyouare responsible for stealing the daughter of Shannon and Tobi Rathbone and displacing her from her true pack.”

David’s eyes widened and fell to Billie, who was staring with intensity at her adoptive father, her heart pounding in her ribcage, audible to my ear with my sensitive shifter heritage.

The Dalesbloom Alpha’s voice rang. “With such a wild, empty accusation, I should be chasing you out of my lands.” His feigned tone of nonchalance only heightened my ire.

I shouted, “Empty accusation? Does it mean nothing that the deep wound she suffered was healed with Grandbay magic? Something that proves she’s of our Alpha bloodline.”

I felt the shiver of tension run through the wolves behind and in front of me. The healing magic that Vana had imbued in each of our lands designed for our pack members alone was a sacrament common between all packs.

I willed David to try to deny something so intrinsic to our culture, but he couldn’t. Coldness stole over his features, but he remained silent, not able to deny such weighty proof that Billie belonged to us, not Dalesbloom.

I felt the congregation of wolves behind me, responding to this revelation about Billie’s true lineage. A few ears sharpened, and a growl from a few rumbled through the air. The loyalty of the pack was deeply rooted, and an accusation of taking one of their number from them was a serious one. The tension in the air thickened as each of the wolves in the woods knew that the allies that had previously rested opposite them were now their foes.

But, amidst that tension, Billie’s bright green eyes flickered to me, filled with a sense of gratitude and hope. Her look sent a ripple of warmth through my chest, and my eyes softened for a moment.

I relished the sight of David’s locked shoulders and jaw as fury poured off him. Catrina, so full of defiance earlier, now stood still, her attention gone from me and Billie to her father. Clearly, this wasn’t a deception she’d known about. I reflected on how her plan to eliminate Billie, her adoptive sister, had backfired spectacularly tonight. Colt, too, looked confused. At least there was some justice in the universe, as this would disrupt their lives.

With one last furious look at me, David ground out, “You’ll live to regret this, Gavin.” But he didn’t hang around to deliver on his threat. Instead, he turned tail, calling his wolves to him, and retreated in the other direction toward Hexen Manor.

I and my wolves remained on alert for a while until I was certain that the Dalesbloom Pack had retreated. The surge of strengthroiling through the pack engulfed us all, and I knew we’d all move heaven and earth to protect Billie, who was one of us now.

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