Page 34 of The Alpha's Rejected Mate

Had been.

The past tense felt rife with meaning. My head spun.

“Did you know him well?” Aislin asked gently.

I shook my head. “But he seemed like a nice guy. Colt hung out with him a lot.” Worry twisted my stomach. Colt would be cut up about his friend’s death. I took a deep breath before asking, “You have Colt’s number on your mobile, right?”

She nodded.

“I should try and check in with him and see if he’s okay.” I hoped that despite the way she felt about him, Aislin would let me make my own decision about reaching out.

“Of course,” she said. She fished her phone out of her leggings’ pocket. “The passcode’s 1947.”

Aislin’s pre-occupied expression returned. “Did Catrina ever mention Joseph to you?” she asked.

I blinked in confusion. “It was Colt who was friends with Joseph,” I clarified. “Besides, Lady Catrina didn’t really talk to me. We had a more tyrant/servant relationship, you know?”

Aislin’s lips quirked, but she pressed. “But did Joseph and Catrina ever seem close? Like when they were young, before Catrina was fourteen?”

I was bewildered by the direction of Aislin’s questioning—and her very specific ones. It was as if she were working on some conspiracy theory with regard to Dalesbloom Pack.

I racked my brains, trying to think about how Catrina was when she was fourteen. I’d have been twelve.

“Catrina was home-schooled like Colt and I,” I said. “So, it was only the other packmates who she hung out with. I suppose when she was younger, she did hang out with Joseph and Colt a lot more than in later years.”

Aislin exhaled heavily. “The thing is, there’s something you should know about Joseph’s death before you call Colt. The other day, when Gavin broke up with Catrina, she told him she was Joseph’s fated mate.”

Astonishment rebounded through me.

Catrina and Joseph had been fated mates.

Disbelief shuddered through me. I shook my head and all but laughed. I couldn’t imagine my uptight, stubborn adoptive sister with such an easy-going partner.

“It’s true,” Aislin said, “But there’s more.”

I braced myself, her uneasy tone setting my teeth on edge. “Catrina confessed to Gavin that the night she and Joseph had their Moondream when she was fourteen years old, they’d met in the woods. She’d knocked Jospeh unconscious,” she explained,“And when he woke, she threatened to murder him if he ever told anyone that they were fated mates.”

I felt my face drain of color as the blood rushed away. Joseph had told the pack that he’d passed out in the woods, hitting his head on the stump and that’s when he’d had his Moondream. That’s how the stump had gotten its name.

“The pack nicknamed it Joseph’s Stump,” I said, my voice sounding washed out as I thought of how, just a week ago, Colt and I had used it as a marker during my shifter training.

“It’s where Jospeh’s body was found,” Aislin said unwaveringly.

Sickness roiled through me. Catrina had made good on her threat. My mind whirled at the savagery of my adoptive sister. Gretel’s words from last night rang through my head,“That girl’s got darkness in her…”I stared at Aislin, feeling as if I’d walked into a dangerous and ruthless world I barely recognized. Heaviness pressed down on me. My pulse quickened as I tried to get my head around this. Confusion muddied my thoughts. Why had Catrina murdered Joseph?

Aislin gave my shoulder a squeeze. “I’m going to make pancakes. Give you a shout when they’re ready?”

I nodded, staring at Aislin’s mobile in my hands as she shut the door behind her. Hollowness gnawed at me as I wondered how there could be such normal moments, like talking to friends and cooking pancakes, when such terrible things like the unjust death of a young man were allowed to happen.

Unsure of what I was going to say to Colt, but needing to hear his voice and check he was okay, I tried to call him. But it rang out. Again and again. I wondered whether he wasn’t pickingup because it was Aislin’s number showing. But heknewI was with Grandbay. Surely, he’d know it was me? Worry twisted my stomach, and I wished I could know that he was all right and not hurting too badly.

Aislin succeeded in making my world a little brighter with pancakes and syrup. After breakfast, I glanced out the living room window and noticed Muriel sitting down on the shore. I sought solace in the company of my other friend and being outside. As I drew over to her, Muriel’s gaze roved my Bigfoot T-shirt, and it brought a sweet smile to her face. Muriel had another long bohemian dress on, which she’d pulled up to just above her knees as she was swirling her legs in the river.

With the sun beating down on us, I rolled up my jeans, joining her.

“Helen told me that the river in the Grandbay area is blessed with healing properties,” I said. I breathed in deeply as I enjoyed the cool water lapping my feet and up my calves. “It really feels like it,” I confided as I felt the river taking some of my strain.

Muriel agreed with a distracted nod, but her usually sweet expression seemed pensive. Was it because of the news about Joseph? “Did you hear about Joseph’s death?” I asked.

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