Page 23 of The Wolf's Pregnant Rejected Mate

Ryder glared at him. “Do you know how to shut up?”

Blayke’s grin faded. “Not really. But I forgot. Bianca told me that Monroe announced to the pack that he would take Tess as his mate the next week. She was probably hoping you’d rescue her. Guess it worked out in the end.”

A pang of guilt hit him. Ryder’s wolf snarled and pushed against his ribs, wanting him to get going.

He’d never thought of that before. He’d never made the connection between Tess asking to be his mate and the subsequent rumors that she rejected Monroe very publicly. He thought she only asked him because she wanted to escape her family.

But what sort of escape would he have been? He’d been so angry. So resentful. He loved his mother and sister but wanted nothing more than to leave this pack and never come back.

Ryder shook himself. Now wasn’t the time to ponder past mistakes. “We’ll go back to the cabin. Hayden needs to know what’s happening here. We’ll make sure the women are healed and can move quickly, then head out. Collect whatever food you find along the way.”

Finn watched him with an overly serious expression.

“We need to find the big wolf and destroy the Demon Seed. As much as I’d like to know what’s happening and why they’re targeting the women, eliminating the threat needs to be our first priority from here on out,” Ryder said. He turned back the way they’d come.

Blayke saluted and shifted to his wolf form. Finn and Ryder took theirs as well, taking off on a steady trot toward the cabin. Ryder kept a careful watch. They paused occasionally to grab a mouthful of food, eating along the way. Hopefully, the women would have foraged enough to give themselves strength.

As they headed back toward the house, Ryder couldn’t stop thinking about what Blayke said. It made perfect sense to him now why Tess had asked to be his mate all those years ago. Shewastrying to escape. Just not the person he thought she was trying to escape from. It was even worse. Why hadn’t she told him outright what was happening?

He would have taken her as his mate if he’d known that Monroe was a threat.

It would have been a miserable life together. But at least she’d be respected as a mated she-wolf in the pack. They’d both been too young for a proper mating. He hadn’t known himself, and he doubted Tess had, either. Would he have ended up just as bad as her parents, though? At that time, with his anger problems…

Blayke was right. It had all worked out in the end. Tess was the Luna’s best friend. She held a place of respect and power in the pack. In the end, she had rescued herself.

But now?

Had sleeping together changed things between them?

Yes, she was beautiful. He loved being with her, feeling her body, having that closeness. But that didn’t mean they had a relationship now. It was just about the sex. Wanting that experience for the first—maybe only—time. Ryder knew there couldn’t be anything between the two of them, not when they were always harping on each other.

He also reminded himself of other reasons as he paused to snack on some wild raspberries. The forest was hot and quiet, filled with the sleepiness of a mid-afternoon summer—a deceptive stillness with demons in it.

Tess was looking for a traditional relationship. She wanted a mate who would be a protector and provider. And Ryder didn’t want that. He wanted a warrior mate, a she-wolf he could charge into battle with. Tess might be willing to roleplay fighting—not that they’d discussed it—but she didn’t want that. Right? She was a fucking good fighter but only fought when backed into a corner. She wasn’t a natural. She wasn’t a warrior. She wanted to keep the peace and be the balancing force she-wolves played in the Bluebell Valley pack.

He frowned as they continued. That’s what he’d overheard Tess tell Mica, wasn’t it? That she wanted the picture-perfect traditional mating. To be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. To stay at home and raise their children while her mate went to work. She had said that he was certain of it.

The more he thought about it, though, the less certain he was. He tried to stop his doubts but couldn’t quite convince himself that was truly what Tess wanted.

Those thoughts were all driven from his mind as they drew closer to the cabin. A wind picked up, blowing the scent of smoke toward him.

Not the brimstone of hellfire.

This was a wood-burning fire.

His heart stuttered and stopped. Then he put on a burst of speed, praying he was wrong—praying the demons hadn’t set fire to the forest.

Chapter 13 - Tess

Tess’s nose twitched as an acrid scent hit it. She scrambled to her feet and went for the window. When she started to open it, Elin let out a plaintive cry.

“Don’t! They’ll shoot you through the opening!”

Tess ignored her and peeked through the shutters outside. From where she was, she couldn’t see much. The demons weren’t in her line of sight, though she could still hear them moving around. She opened the window wider, moving about to get a better angle. The demons were in a small circle right on the edge of the forest.

A tendril of smoke rose up from the middle of them.

“Fuck,” Tess breathed, her heart stuttering to a stop.

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