Page 5 of The Alpha's Rejected Mate

I only ever really felt this peace out here, in the wilds of Gunnison Park. That was one good thing that had come from growing up with the Hexens here. There was a place, at least, out here in the wilds where I felt at home. That sense burrowed deep into my bones and helped give me the confidence to step under the canopy andintothe forest.

Insatiable curiosity drove me deeper. As I ventured farther into the woods, moonlight filtered through the canopy, casting an ethereal glow on the forest floor. The rustling of leaves and the snap of twigs in the undergrowth made my breath catch in my throat. My temples pounded with the mad dash of my heart, but I continued onward. IknewI was where I needed to be tonight, free in the forest like Vana had intended all us shifters to be.

The scents of the forest filled my lungs. I recognized the perfume of pines, firs, and spruce. My gaze picked out the hues of the Colorado blue spruce, its needles glistening silvery. The canopy above grew denser, but still, my eyes defined enough to walk through the night confidently. The distant sound of waterreached my ear, and I realized I’d come quite a distance if I heard the Gunnison River.

A sudden noise broke the quiet. I startled to a stop. I inhaled sharply, my heart doubling in speed until my mind identified the hoot of the great-horned owl. They hunted the canyon edges for mice and rabbits, which fed off berries and seeds from the juniper and pinyon trees. The same rocks that the bluebird I’d seen on earlier were taken over by the fiercer birds of prey at night.

My eyes traced the darkness ahead, searching for the owl’s disc-shaped face and bright eyes. My gaze snagged on a pair of glowing eyes. Alertness prickled through me, and my limbs locked up. The owl was too low to the ground. It wouldn’t be there unless it had just caught something. But even as I thought it, I knew the glowing eyes were toobigto belong to any bird, even a bird of prey.

Tension seized my chest. My heart thumped wildly. My lungs cinched tighter, fear refusing to even let me breathe. Colt had warned me that there were other shifters in the huge Gunnison woods besides werewolves. As my gaze fastened onto the smoldering eyes ahead, something deep within warned me not to let it spot me. The small amount of moonlight penetrating the dense canopy increased suddenly, illuminating the creature’s skin … orscales. I traced the shape of a shimmering snout.

Panic gripped me. I felt like one of those mice or rabbits on the canyon shelf beneath the bright gaze of an owl. I shrank away, desperate to get away before the thing saw me.

Run.

Turning around, I tore back through the forest, survival propelling me onward. But … my foot caught something, and suddenly I was falling. My arms flailed as I tried to catch my balance and then at least cushion my landing, but the ground rose up. Pain ricocheted through my head as if I’d cracked open my skull.

Darkness pitched through me, snuffing out the pain, and then gloom fell over me as thickly as if the forest’s deep roots had pulled me down beneath the dirt.

I didn’t know how long the forest’s darkness kept me, but a glimmer of moonlight woke me. I expected the light to hurt my eyes, given that my head had just been pounding, but there was no pain.

I cracked my eyes open.

For a moment, fear fluttered through me, but then I realized the light was purer than anything I’d ever experienced. I took a deep breath and whispered a silent prayer to Vana to keep me safe.

As if in answer, the moon’s silvery light grew, filling me with a sense of calm and clarity.

A stirring in my core spread in a tingling sensation all the way through my body, down to my fingertips and toes. Gingerly, I got to my feet. I stood in a clearing. Blue spruces shimmered around the outskirts. Ahead of me, bright lights were scattered across a velvety expanse. I stepped toward the dark area ahead. Then I turned my eyes up to see the clear open heavens shimmering with thousands of stars.

As I teetered over to the edge of the velvety expanse, I realized it was a pool of water before me. I leaned over, gazing at myreflection. But … it wasn’t me looking back. I mean … it was, but … mywolfstared up at me. Her sandy-brown coat looked as soft as the cotton of my cottonwood tree, and her green eyes stared deep into me.

Yet, that wasn’t all. My wolf wasn’t alone. Behind her, staring up out of the pool was a dark-haired, clean-shaven man. I recognized the Grandbay Alpha, Gavin, in a heartbeat. Startled, I looked behind me, but there was no sign of the tall Alpha until I looked back into the water.

My gaze ran over his tall, muscular form. Just as he’d been earlier in the kitchen at the manor, his chest was bare, and my gaze brushed the defined muscles of his chest and abs. I flushed as I had when I’d been caught staring at him, but as my gaze wandered up to his clean-shaven face, my breath caught in my throat. His expression wasn’t foreboding. His angular face was relaxed, and his hazel eyes looked at me withardor.

I felt as if I could melt into the warmth I witnessed in his stare. And even as I felt how impossible it was that he was looking at me like that, I watched as his hand settled on my wolf’s shoulder in a protective and possessive touch. My heart thrashed in my chest as the pool … as the vision took hold … and as Vana’s bright light illuminated everything.

I felt as if I couldn’t breathe as the revelation slammed into me. I was experiencing my Moondream and … Gavin was my fated mate.

“Billie? Billie.”

I stared at Gavin’s lips as the sound of my name rang in my ears, but I didn’t see the Alpha’s lips moving.

I stared at him in confusion, but then the feel of someone touching my shoulders intruded. I started awake, the pounding in my head returning with a vengeance and disorientation swimming through me.

“Gavin?” I murmured thickly, my throat feeling tight and my voice raspy.

A laugh sounded in my ear. “Ah, no, it’s Colt.”

I blinked in Colt’s concerned blue stare as he looked down at me, and I realized I was lying on the cold forest floor.

My adoptive brother’s expression tightened with worry. “Are you all right, Billie?”

Memory stirred … the glowing eyes, running, and tripping…

I inhaled sharply as Colt’s hand went to the cut on my temple. That really stung.

Clearly, I hit my head then.

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