Page 56 of The Alpha's Rejected Mate

My chest constricted as I thought of my poor mother. In a moment, I imagined her fear and her fierce need to protect me. Hollowness swooped through me as I hated that this man had ended her life for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’d taken her innocent life so as to keep his own crimes secret.

Needing to understand everything, I said, “So that’s how you took me in. You didn’t know how else to cover your tracks?”

David’s face became sour. “Yes,” he growled. “Youwere my punishment.Youwere a daily reminder of my wife’s betrayal. Areminder of the man who she’d betrayed me with.” His cold stare wandered over me, and he added, “I should have smothered you in your sleep before giving you a home.”

A home?

Fury fired through me. How dare he ever call what he’d given me that? He had given me shelter and food but nothing more. I had lived most of my life starved of any affection because of the jealous rage that had led him to take the life of his mate and my father. And not only them, but to steal away the life of my innocent mother and then rob me of my pack and the place my body, soul, and wolf belonged.

Shaking with rage, my wolf couldn’t contain herself. My sandy wolf pounced through the air, a red haze coloring everything. The only thought pulsating through me was that I needed to end David just as he’d snuffed out my parents’ lives.

But before I’d reached him, the chocolate hues of Gavin’s wolf careered toward me, his much larger body forcing me back so that we fell onto the floor at the edge of the room.

My heart drummed as I scrambled up onto all four paws. The massive brown wolf was already blocking my way. The flews of my muzzle pulled back as I bared my teeth, trying to weave past Gavin's wolf and get to my prey.

But as my eyes sought David, it was Colt who captured my attention. In a blur of motion, his skin became clothed in black fur, and he launched himself toward us. For a moment, I thought he was coming for his father, too. But I realized his focus was on the dark brown wolf in front of me. Protectiveness stole through me to defend Gavin, and my wolf let out a growl, my body tautening as I prepared to jump at him.

But the reddy-brown wolf, the other side of Muriel, in a lightning-fast movement, leaped at Colt’s black wolf. In a clash of claws and jaws, the two wolves met, whirling into a heap as they struggled together.

Outside, the boom and rumbles of renewed fighting broke out, too. My heart pounded in my wolf’s sandy chest as I thought that the dragons and wolves outside must have resumed their fighting when they heard our scuffle from inside.

But the booming sounds of battle increased, and I scentednewwolves. Their scent was like fresh mountain air, and hope shuddered through me. Eastpeak had come down from the mountain. The realization that we had backup seemed to clear my mind of the red fog of anger I’d been blinded by. My gaze went to Muriel as I thought of Everett and his being part of Mythguard. My friend was going to be kept safe.

Standing flank to flank with Gavin’s brown wolf, who seemed to realize that I’d gotten my beast’s need for vengeance under control, we turned to our opponents. Lothair was running to the grand double doors, and in a blur, his dragon ripped out of him as he propelled himself up into the dawn air.

My wolf growled with satisfaction. With Everett and the Eastpeak Pack, we were going tocrushour enemies. David’s black wolf bolted out the door while Colt’s wolf followed. Gavin’s wolf and I sprang through the double doors of Hexen Manor, too. My wolf was still eager to confront David after hearing his confession. Instantly, the sight and sounds of wolves leaping, clawing, and snapping assaulted me. The shriek of dragons and their wingbeats crashed above like thunder. For a moment, my breath shallowed. But the warmth of the brown wolf beside me filled me with strength. With every muscle tautening, I launchedmyself into the fray, my claws and teeth soon crimson with Dalesbloom blood.

Chapter 30

Gavin

As day broke over Hexen Manor, the combined strength of the Eastpeak and Grandbay Packs slayed four of the Dalesbloom wolves. With the Eastpeak snowy mountain wolves, we even brought down one of the Inkscales. Our packs chased the Dalesbloom wolves, including David and Colt, into the woods. The Inkscale clan, too, shadowed them above the treetops until they disappeared into the dawn. We had injured wolves, and Muriel was in need of healing. Both Billie and I were keen to chase down our enemies. But our desire for vengeance against David and Lothair was trumped by our need to get the injured back to the healing waters of the Gunnison.

Over the upcoming days, I grieved with Billie for all the needless deaths that had occurred, both recently and in the past. Despite knowing Catrina’s vindictive spirit, we mourned her passing. After all, so much of her cruel behavior had come from the influence of the brutal man who’d raised her.

Thankfully, our pack hadn’t suffered any fatalities from the fight. There were wolves that needed treatment from Helen, but they would all recover. The healer had recently been training up another pack member, Riley, to help her in her healing duties, and they were both kept busy. Muriel’s wound was themost severe and required three treatments daily. Sacred water treatments from the Gunnison and the use of Vana’s invocations were gradually working their magic, though. The poison that had entered Muriel’s bloodstream from the murder weapon would take time to seep away, something that seemed true for all of us as we slowly recovered from the fight with Dalesbloom and the Inkscales.

The revelation of David’s heinous crime rested heavily on me but on Billie most of all. One of the things she found hardest about returning to Grandbay was that the Mundys’ cabin had been ruined for her. Now, knowing that David had murdered her mother there, Billie couldn’t bring herself to set foot in it again.

This was solved by Billie moving in with me. Besides, both my wolf and I wanted her as close as possible, and it was a relief that her need married with my heart’s wishes so perfectly. If she hadn’t been beside me, I’d probably not have slept a wink over the following nights. My wolf was on high alert and acting like her personal guard dog, not at ease unless she was beside me.

The first day back, I held Billie to me, comforting her as she mourned for her mom and dad and all the hope that she’d lost now that she knew for sure they were both dead. Being familiar with the particular pain of being an orphan, I ached for the loss she was suffering.

Billie spent time with Aislin, too, who was gradually healing from the deep injury Catrina had inflicted on her leg and shoulder. When she wasn’t with her, though, she preferred to spend her time with me, mostly out in the woods or on the banks of the Gunnison.

My chest clenched with gladness that mine was the company she wanted, and we once more found ourselves on the second evening back in Grandbay on the bank of Ridge Bay, beneath what I now calledBillie’scottonwood. The thought filled me with deep contentment. I wanted to gift everything within my lands to her. The obsessive thought I’d had building over the last couple of days crept in again. The fantasy of Billie and I ruling over Grandbay as Alphas, side by side.

Beneath the huge tree, I pulled out the picnic blanket from the hamper that was still here from our first date. I went to pass her clothes, but she shook her head. “I want to feel the evening air on my skin,” she said.

My lips lifted as her words buoyed me up. She had gotten used to shifting and was comfortable in her own skin, both her human one and wolf’s. My pulse spiked at her words, and I was actually jealous of the damned wind caressing Billie’s flawless skin. My wolf rumbled possessively as if he wanted to take on the warm southern wind blowing along the bank. My gaze dipped to her beautiful breasts that I’d long thought looked like perfect handfuls, but that, somehow, Istillhadn’t touched.

Yeah, I’m going to find the whole naked thing far tougher than her.

Since the battle at Hexen Manor, I’d held back from getting too close to her physically. Hell, I’d wanted to more than anything. After all, the urge to mark her since that awful night when Colt had almost marked her had me wanting to make her mine with an all-consuming need. But mindful of the trauma she’d suffered during that moment and with everything else that had happened that night, I’d kept silent about my desire and need to make her mine.

“I keep trying to imagine her, you know,” she said. “But I don’t even know what color her hair or eyes were.”

Once again, I reminded myself thatthiswas why I’d been giving Billie space. I knew Billie was talking about her mother, Shannon. Most of the discussions we’d had over the last couple of days had been about Billie’s parents and David’s cold-blooded crime.

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