Page 35 of The Alpha's Rejected Mate

“Yes, I’m very sorry,” she said, gifting me with a tender look.

Although any death was tragic, I realized it wasn’t that that was burdening her.

“Are you all right, Muriel?” I asked.

She breathed out a sigh. “Sorry, my dear, I have a lot on my mind. Gavin explained to me that the Mythguard representativewho is looking out for me with these dragons reckons that they want my horn for a ritual.”

My skin crawled. “What kind of ritual?” I asked, the thought of these dragons hunting my friend for the sake of her horn disgusting.

“A ritual that would unlock another Lycan form. Apparently, it would give them a form that’s something monstrous, one that is between human and beast and gives them even more power than that which is held in either their human or beast form alone.”

Dread tightened my stomach. And the worry that the news of Joseph’s death had awoken grew at this news. But I smothered it.

“You’ve got Mythguard protecting you and all the wolves of Grandbay, Muriel.” I reached over and squeezed her hand. “We won’t let anything bad happen to you, I promise.”

Muriel needed my support, and I tried to suffuse my voice with confidence.

Muriel smiled more fully again, squeezing my hand back. “You remind me of my Kiara.” As her eyes met my questioning stare, she added. “My daughter.”

“Where is she?” I asked, curiosity beating through me.

Muriel shook her head. “I don’t know. We got separated when the Inkscales were hunting us.”

Once again, Muriel’s preoccupied expression returned, and I knew that it would take all of the torrents of the Gunnison to heal the heartache she was experiencing from not knowing where her daughter was. After all, it was an ache we shared. Mythoughts went to my parents, Shannon and Tobi, wondering if they were out there somewhere, too. But that led me to think of what Gavin had said last night about Shannon being delighted to be a mother, and that hope flickered away. In the dark world I was in, I’d settle for knowing what had happened to them.

As I sat there, my thoughts fell back to the news of the death that had made me feel so gloomy. Again, I wondered why Catrina had murdered Joseph. Had Joseph finally threatened to tell everyone about the Moondream and who Catrina was to him? But then I thought about how hell-bent she’d been on killing me, too.

As the thought hit me, I realized what she’d been wanting. My heart raced with surety. I suspected Joseph’s death was Catrina’s attempt to gain a new fated mate. Knowing beat through me, and I jumped to my feet, pulling my socks on and stuffing my feet into my sneakers. Gavin needed to know what Catrina was trying to do.

Running up the steps, I knocked on his door, and as he opened it, I strode in. The agitated energy made it impossible not to launch straight into what had just occurred to me. “She did it because she’s trying to get a new fated mate,” I said.

Gavin shut the door and turned around, blinking me in as if he was shocked to see me here and hadn’t heard a word I’d said.

To be fair, I realized I’d barged in and hadn’t given him any context before I’d started rambling.

Fixing my eyes on him, I started again, “I just realized why Catrina–”

“I don’t want to talk about her,” he growled, his voice rumbling gruffly as if his wolf were near the surface. His mouth tightened, and his brow furrowed.

Surprise beat through me. Was he angry at me for mentioning her?

Then, I put myself in his shoes. He’d just found out that the woman that he’d been dating for the last few months hadkilledsomeone. My throat went dry. Was it really that surprising that he didn’t want to talk about her? I tucked away my hunch about Catrina and decided that I’d share it with Aislin instead later.

Judging by Gavin’s heaving chest and the scowl deepening his face, hereallywasn’t in the mood to discuss her.

Searching for a distraction, my gaze hit upon the “corny” pack rules sign we were standing near. I hadn’t read past number 4). “5) teach the young,” I read aloud, “6) Howl at the moon.” My lips twitched, and my gaze admired the little engraving of the crescent moon at the end of the words. “7) respect your elders. Guess you keeping this corny sign up shows you’re even respecting their memory.”

Gavin moved over toward the wall, drawing close enough that I felt his body heat. The awareness of his body prickled over me, my skin pebbling.

His hazel stare brushed the sign, and I noticed with relief that the glower that had been on his face had disappeared. Instead, the same softness that had come over him the last time we talked about his father suffused his expression.

“After you mentioned it the other day,” he said, “I actually had a memory about my dad carving this. He spent hours doing all these little carvings.”

He reached out to the crescent moon, his large hand tracing the artwork gently. As his strong fingers stroked the arc of the moon, a tingle shot down my spine, and my mouth went dry. Something about the tenderness in his voice and expression, paired with the strength radiating from his tall, muscled body, sent a wave of heat and longing through me. I couldn’t help imagining his deft fingers caressing the artwork with such care, sweeping overme.

A stupid thing to imagine as my traitorous heart reacted instantly to the idea and went crazy in my chest. I was about to blurt out something about needing to get back to the Mundys when Gavin turned to me. Heat glimmered in his eyes, so much so that I thought I’d strayed into my Moondream.

The heady look he was giving me now was just the way he’d looked at me in my dream. His pupils were dilated with desire, and I swore that with my heightened shifter senses, his heartbeat raced with mine. My breathing shallowed as I waited for whatever this charged moment that was happening between us to burst.

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