Page 42 of The Alpha's Rejected Mate

Blinding rage seared through me. The need for vengeance clawed through my chest. My wolf wanted blood now. But Oslo and Gretel’s vice-like grip restrained me as I went to launch myself at the Inkscales Alpha.

As I seethed with fury, my mind raced with memories of Pine Creek engulfed in flames. Every punch of my heart reminded me of the way my paws had hit the ground, racing toward the inferno where I’d known my parents had been. Then, the taste of smoke and ash lay in my mouth, conjuring the memory of the cold dawn light when I’d identified my parents’ scorched lupine bodies between the charred trees.

I struggled against the hold of my Betas, wanting nothing more than to rip the dragon shifter limb from limb, but unable to launch myself at him, I screamed, “Why?”

Lothair’s onyx eyes brushed over me, and glittering eyes and smug face told me he knew exactly what I was asking him. “Because when your parents found us in their territory, instead of welcoming us as their natural allies, as we dragons and wolves are meant to be, they told us to leave.”

His words pierced me. His nonchalant tone sent waves of cold shock pounding through me. He was telling me he’d simply murdered my parents because they, as Grandbay Alphas, had been mistrustful of him and his clan. Something they’d been right to be, given how indifferently he’d resorted to violence, as well as their unsavory behavior in hunting Muriel now. As myresentful stare roved over the shifter, I felt how right my parents had been to be distrustful of Lothair and his clan.

Yet, the fact that they’d been rewarded for defending their lands and pack from Lothair and his clan’s vile presence with their deaths, once again, had the cloying taste of ash sitting in my mouth.

Lothair’s smile was smug as he stepped away from us. With his message delivered, he retreated behind his obsidian scales like the oversized snake he was. His vast leathery wings stretched out, carrying him up into the air currents and to the rest of his murderous clan, who took to the sky like vultures ready to pick us apart.

Chapter 21

Billie

Almost the whole pack had assembled in Gavin’s cabin this evening. The only adult absent was Harper. She was watching her and Shane’s two children, as well as Helen and Matthew’s two kids. I knew everyone in the pack by name, but there was still a handful out of those gathered with whom I hadn’t spent much time. After the dragons had left Grandbay territory, Gavin had arranged for us all to assemble here this evening for a pack meeting.

Expectation prickled through me as I wondered what it was he wanted to announce.

Earlier today, we’d been alerted to the bank of the Gunnison as the huge forms of three dragons had obscured the light like storm clouds gathering over our lands. Gretel and Oslo’s howls had roused the whole pack. Tension had shot through everyone until all adult members of the pack, clothed with fur, fangs, and claws, had gathered. The charge running through us had been electrifying. We’d held our forms poised and alert, ready to move forward to defend our Alpha and Betas if they summoned us to attack the dragons perched on the chasm.

I’d felt the breath stagnate in my lungs, barely breathing as I watched the huge dragon shifter morph into his human form.The Alpha of the Inkscales had been a giant of a man, tall and rippled with muscle. He’d even loomed over Gavin.

A potent mixture of fear and anger whipped through me as I watched the dragon shifter coming toward Gavin. I’d longed to be beside him. Not that I’d thought my strength could have done much against such a formidable opponent, but the need to be beside Gavin had caught me up. I’d watched with even more trepidation as I’d witnessed Gretel and Oslo restraining Gavin. What had the dragon shifter said to him that had enraged him? We’d been too far away to hear what Lothair had said, but we’d all heard Gavin’s shout of, “Why?” The rawness in his voice had rung through me then. Soon after Gavin’s shout, the dragon shifter took flight, and Gavin ordered us all back to our homes.

Anticipation pounded through me as my attention bristled over Gavin’s pensive face and the tense lines of his body.

Gavin leaned against the huge mantlepiece, his Beta, Oslo, mirroring him at the other end of the huge piece of reclaimed wood. Aislin had taken the armchair nearest Gavin by the fire while I’d curled up in the other opposite. It gave me a good view of our Alpha. As he waited for all of the pack to assemble, I couldn’t help but sneak glances at his handsome, clean-shaven face, limned in warm firelight.

Helen, the pack healer, was on the couch beside Muriel. It turned out Helen was the person Muriel had been borrowing all the beautiful flowing bohemian dresses from. They looked like sisters sitting next to each other now. Speaking of clothes, I was wearing my very own pair of jeans and a vest top that fitted me like a glove for the first time in my life. Gretel had surprised me earlier today by coming back with a few sets of clothes that she’d specifically bought in my size. I’d blinked in astonishment in thefull-length looking glass before I’d come around this evening. In the form-fitting vest, my breasts weren’t lost, and my slender waist and hips were complimented in the straight-cut jeans.

Matthew, Helen’s mate, who stood resting his elbows on the sofa behind the healer, said, “So, who else needs a beer?” Matthew was a beefy guy with auburn hair and freckles across the bridge of his nose.

There were a couple of takers from those assembled at the large table where eight of the pack were sat. “Niko, Kai,” Matthew pointed at them, looking around at the rest of us, but everyone else seemed too tense to do more than shake their heads. The handful of packmates who had arrived last leaned against the wall beneath the Pack Rules sign.

When Matthew returned with beers for the packmates who could stomach it, Gavin turned and announced, “The Alpha who set foot on our lands today is Lothair, the Inkscales’ leader.” Gavin’s mouth tightened. “He came here to inform me that he and Dalesbloom have formed an alliance.”

The steel in his voice vibrated through the room, and I wondered what threats the dragon shifter had made to Gavin to press his buttons. From a distance, it had looked as if Gavin had been about to shift and tear into Lothair.

Oslo said, “We think Catrina and David must have struck this deal with Lothair so as to help her get her hands on your horn, Muriel.”

Muriel didn't look surprised. Her silvery stare was stoic as she registered this news. Oslo’s lips thinned as if he wanted to be able to offer her some reassurance. But at this point, I supposed any assurance we gave would be empty. With Dalesbloom nowallying with the dragon shifters, our position was definitely looking bleak.

It was no secret to the whole pack that the dragons had been hunting Muriel. She’d been very open with the information that Everett had shared with Gavin about the ritual and the potential to gain another Lycan form through it, too. And everyone gathered here knew what Catrina and David were after by going for Muriel.

Everyone knew, too, about Catrina’s killing Joseph and her attempt to kill me. The whole pack had heard about the evidence that the vampire forensic scientist had acquired. Catrina was personally guilty of the killing of her fated mate.

But the packmates’ shock was rife at the news of this new alliance springing up between the dragons and the Dalesbloom Pack.

“Do we know how many dragons are in the Inkscales Clan?” Shane piped up. Most of us looked at Gavin.

But Muriel answered first, “There are another four on top of the four dragons you all fought in the clearing the night you helped Billie and I.”

Quiet fell over the room as everyone digested this. The Dalesbloom Pack was slightly larger than ours. So, before this new alliance, the two packs had been relatively evenly matched in number. But now with the Inkscales supporting Dalesbloom, their threat had increased substantially. On top of the Dalesbloom wolves, we were up against eight dragons.

Everyone remained on edge as we considered what was happening with these threats accumulating around us.

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