Page 35 of The Wolf's Pregnant Rejected Mate

A growl burst through her chest as she drew in her courage. She bolted over to the place where the demons were flipping the garden hose further apart. She hesitated—what could she do?

No. Don’t panic. Tess shifted to human form. Naked and exposed in front of the demons, but who cared about that? She grabbed the two ends of the hose, pulling them in again. One of the demons lunged and nipped at her finger. In pure instinct, she swung her fist and planted it into the demon’s face. She still held the hose, which wiped around, knocking into the demon’s side.

The demon howled in pain and staggered back, whimpering. Several others gathered in the space, lunging and growling. None came close enough for her to hit. They were trying to make her overstep. To open herself up and open the protective circle. She kept an eye on them as she worked at screwing the two sides of the hose together.

Another of the demon-possessed wolves lunged as she twisted. Her arm was out of the circle, and he bit her, his teeth clamping down on her elbow. A scream ripped through Tess’s throat as the wolf yanked her out of the circle.

She shifted to wolf form, grabbing the wolf’s ear. The other demons came at her from all sides as she shook her body hard. The ear ripped off, and she rolled back. Scrambling, she got back into the circle, only to realize that the connection had fallen apart in her haste. Salt sprayed out on the ground.

Howls ran through the forest. Tess planted her feet and ducked, snapping at the demon’s throat as it lunged through the slight opening. Her teeth grazed his throat, and he backtracked.

The special ops team streamed through the trees, clashing with the demons. The ones facing Tess turned to face their attackers. Tess took advantage of the backs, turned toward her, and grabbed the tail of the nearest one. He yowled and turned to swipe at her, but she dragged him backward, forcibly pulling him back over the salt circle.

A long, piercing howl deafened her. Streams of red exploded out of the wolf’s body. At first, she thought it was blood. But it floated up through the air and dissipated—the aura-demon. It had to be.

The wolf convulsed, dropped, and went still—bloody foam frothed at its mouth. Tess stared at the wolf, releasing his tail.

Dead.

He was dead.

She had killed him.

That wasn’t what she expected. They’d trapped Zealuv with a salt-soaked rope. It hadn’t forcibly ejected the demon from Hayden’s body. But this? She had just killed someone, had ripped the demon out of him, and his body couldn’t survive the process.

Most of the possessed wolves had fled. The beast-demon held off Hayden and Ryder, but it was bleeding heavily and wouldn’t last long. The big wolf was nowhere to be seen. Elin still plastered herself on the ground in the middle of the circle, not moving. Tess glanced at the dead wolf one last time before she raced over to Elin.

Get up,she thought, nudging Elin’s hindquarters.

Elin whimpered.

Tess nipped her, eliciting a yelp. She opened her eyes and looked around, shaking. Tess nudged her again, and Elin staggered to her feet. Her sleek brown coat was full of leaves and burrs, collected in her mad dash through the forest, no doubt. Tess circled her and then nodded toward town. They weren’t far away. The best thing they could do was to bolt.

Hayden finished off the beast-demon, and Ryder jumped into the circle. He jerked his head toward the two women, and they joined him. He looked powerful, strong, and mighty, leading them from the residual fighting. The three of them tore through the forest, Tess in the lead and Ryder bringing up the rear.

Tess’s heart hammered, but they weren’t accosted again. They made it to town. As soon as they were over the boundary line, Elin tripped over her feet and went down. She sprawled on the ground, whimpering and trembling like a leaf. Annoyance rushed through Tess. Why did she have to be so pathetic?

Tess fought down that uncharitable thought as he turned to Ryder. He nodded once at her before turning to head back. Tess barked after him, but he ignored her.

Part of her wanted to rush out after him and grab him to drag him back. The big wolf had hit him with the energy from the Demon Seed at least twice, probably more when Tess tried to close the hose again. He wasn’t in any shape to keep fighting.

But she knew that going after him was useless. He’d ignore her. He always did. It was his instinct to fight, to protect, and nothing she could do would stop that. She watched him go, a whimper in her throat. More than anything, she wanted him to turn around to come back to her and…

And what?

What could he do? Stay with her? Reassure her? He wouldn’t understand what it meant that she killed that wolf. He’d say it was an accident and a demon besides. The wolf she’d once known was already dead. She couldn’t even remember who it was, only that she recognized the wolf. A shudder went through her, and she braced herself.

There’d be time for that later.

Right now, her elbow was throbbing with pain, and the scent of blood told her that Elin was injured, too. She nudged Elin. When that didn’t work, she pawed at her and nipped her shoulder. Elin yelped, then staggered to her feet. She followed Tess, head handing to the clinic.

“What happened to you two?” Christine demanded when they entered.

Tess explained that Christine had taken them to one of the waiting rooms and started to take care of their injuries. Tess’s bite was shallow. Elin had several bite and claw marks along her back and sides, but nothing too terrible.

Just as Tess finished explaining, Mica burst into the clinic, and she had to start from the beginning. By the time that was done, Elin had calmed down enough to tell her side of things.

“Rachel, Clarissa, and Monique wanted to go berry picking. They asked me to go with them,” Elin said, wrapping her arms around her middle. “I thought with the talisman and it being so close to town, I’d be okay. I asked Blayke to come with us, and he said he would. But a demon showed up, and he chased it off, then there were a bunch of them. They separated me from the other girls and chased me.”

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