Page 37 of The Alpha's Rejected Mate

“Thanks. See you around, Gavin.”

When I hung up, the realization that the woman I’d spent the last few months dating was a vicious murderer continued to send fresh waves of nausea through my body. I paced into the living room, barely seeing my surroundings as I contemplated this news.

When Billie had raced in here earlier to talk aboutwhyCatrina had Joseph killed, she’d believed it was so that she’d be awarded someone else as her fated mate.

But since Catrina had killed Joseph herself, she’d never have such power. Vana wouldn’t grant her another mate. There had been other sordid incidents throughout werewolf history where similar crimes had happened. Whenever it had, the goddess hadn’t granted the werewolf a new mate.

I thought of the ferociousness of Catrina’s wolf and the way she’d leaped at Billie in the woods, going for her jugular vein. I wasn’t really shocked that she’d murdered Joseph herself. She’dwanted to take Billie’s life, and deep in my bones, after hearing her contempt as she’d spoken about Joseph, I knew that she’d wanted to watch the life drain out of him.

But the telepathic connection that she could have had if she’d embraced their relationship would now never be attainable to her. A pair of fated mates with such a connection were the most powerful in any hunt, as they were able to work from a distance as if they were side by side.

But as I brooded on the fact that she wouldn’t ever have that power, I knew that wasn’t the one she was going for. Her contemptuous voice plagued my memory again.“…you’ve got great power within your grasp, but you’ll never do the deed necessary to claim it.”

The power Catrina sought was of the darker kind. The kind that suited a woman who had murdered her fated mate, who had tried to take the life of her adoptive sister, and who would think nothing of killing and harvesting a unicorn’s horn. I knew in my depths thatthatwas what Catrina was plotting. She planned on undertaking the ritual with the horn to harness her Lycan form.

The walls seemed to press in around me as my blood curdled at the thought. It was only a matter of time before Catrina camefor Muriel. The memory of David’s cold, furious face when he’d threatened me the night I’d accused him of stealing Billie from Grandbay rippled through my mind, too. Hyper-alertness stole through me as I realized our enemies were circling and that the net was tightening around us.

Chapter 19

Billie

Over the next few days at dawn, Aislin and I would “wolf out,” as she liked to put it. Eager to get me more used to my wolf form, she took me into the woods each morning and set me challenges of tracking different animals. Gradually, my control over my wolf strengthened. And unlike the time she’d slipped her reins and bolted off after the golden-mantled ground squirrel in Dalesbloom woods, she listened to my instruction, following whichever scent I set her on tracing.

The rest of the time, Aislin guided me through Grandbay territory, familiarizing me with its different trails and points that were of special significance to the pack, such as Castle Rock, where the pack carried out its rituals. We wound our way through the woods and along the chasm to the boundary of Pioneer Point in the north all the way to Sandbank Creek in the south.

As the days passed, Aislin and I grew closer, our bond strengthening with each shared wolf run and guided tour she took me on. She was a wild spirit, untamed and fierce, with a mischievous glint in her eye that never failed to boost my mood, and I grew to value our mornings in the same way I had those I used to enjoy with Colt.

Speaking of whom, I still hadn’t heard from him. But I’d given up trying to phone him. Clearly, he wasn’t ready to talk about everything that had happened lately. I had to believe he’d reach out to me when he was ready.

One morning after our run, Aislin and I found our way back to our clothes, which we’d left by the riverside. We’d just returned from a run to the southernmost part of Grandbay’s borders. So, with our wolves thirsty and tired, we both had a dip in the river. Spring was on the cusp of turning into summer with May’s approach. The air temperature was in the high sixties, and still overheating in our lupine forms, Aislin and I morphed into our human ones, enjoying a swim along the riverbank. We were careful to keep to the shallows as the rich currents of the river swept through swiftly.

Feeling gloriously refreshed, we returned to the bank, where we shook ourselves dry as if we were still clothed in fur. After some giggles and cackling, we proceeded to shift and shake our fur dry in a far more efficient way before morphing back into our skins.

As we got dressed, I noticed that Aislin was, yet again, wearing her Yeti T-shirt. That had to be the second time this week she had it on. “Why’s that your favorite?” I asked.

A smile wound over her face. “Have you heard how the Eastpeakers are often called mountain men?”

I nodded. I’d heard David and some Dalesbloomers use the term when they spoke about the Eastpeak Pack who lived in the mountains in the northeast of Gunnison Park.

“The yeti makes me think of the top mountain man,” she explained.

“The Eastpeak Alpha?” I asked.

She nodded. “Everett March.” She paused, her gaze drifting around as if to check no one was around. But our heightened shifter senses would have alerted us if we’d had company. “He’s the Mythguard representative who’s keeping an eye on Muriel,” she explained, wiggling her leggings up over her hips.

I’d heard about Mythguard from Muriel and understood it was an organization that protected shifters from other shifters, like Muriel’s case with the Inkscale Clan.

A wave of surprise washed through me that the Eastpeak Alpha was the representative that Muriel had spoken about. Not that I’d ever seen Everett or had anything to do with the Eastpeak Pack.

Aislin went on, “Neither Gavin nor my parents believed that Mythguard existed until Everett recently disclosed that he was one of its representatives.” Her brown eyes brightened. “But I was always sure it existed. Their organization is so good at what it does that there’s only a little clue here and there, rumors and whispers to chase, but they’re there. And I’ve always chased those breadcrumbs and felt sure that I’d track Mythguard down before long.”

I realized that the secret organization of Mythguard was the reason Aislin sported all these conspiracy T-shirts, like the Yeti one. She’d been chasing the legend of Mythguard for years.

“Why?” I asked curiously, untucking my hair from out of the T-shirt I’d pulled on. “Why are you so interested in them?”

Her expression became steelier. “I believe in their cause. They protect both vulnerable shifters from other supernaturals whowould do them harm, like Muriel with the Inkscales. And they protect the human and supernatural community from the shifters who would do damage to humans or endanger us through too much scrutiny.”

“You admire them,” I said.

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