Page 53 of The Wolf's Pregnant Rejected Mate

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Elin asked, her voice trembling.

Tess nodded. “You need to know how to fight with the demons focused on us, and fighting in the forest is different than fighting in the town.”

Elin fingered the pouch at her hip. It contained her gun, ready to be used at a moment’s notice.

The second protective salt barrier was almost fully in place. But one section had experienced ‘delays’ in the morning. Just enough for the demons to slip through and keep causing havoc. Or, in this case, to come after Tess and Elin. They’d been public in discussing their plans in town earlier, meaning that the moles in the pack would have passed that information along to the demons.

She only hoped that this would be worth it.

They were nearing the clearing that she had trained with Ryder. Emotions swept through her. They had done so much more than spar in this place. It was some here, in the woods with their bodies aching pleasurably from sparring and sex, that their baby had been conceived.

A smile started to cross her face. But as the two women emerged into the clearing, the smell of brimstone grew stronger. A man waited for them in the clearing. He was naked, his face drooping heavily on one side. Deep scars lashed across his torso. Tess gasped. Some part of her recognized this man, but she couldn’t identify who it was.

“Don’t run,” the man said, his voice garbled. “We have the Beta. Come quietly, or he dies.”

Tess froze.

This was a trap for the demons. She knew what they were meant to do—run. Lead the demons to where the team waited. But those few words caused the plan to flee from her mind. They had Ryder. He was still alive! But if she didn’t do as they said, they’d kill him.

“How do I know?” she squeaked.

“Fuck that!” Elin howled, startling Tess from her thoughts. “He took advantage of her. We’re better off without that bastard!”

She shifted to wolf form, her clothes bursting off her except for the pouch with the gun. Then she nipped Tess’s leg and sped off, back the way they’d come. Tess didn’t allow herself to hesitate or let herself have another second of doubt.

Shifting to her wolf form, she took off after Elin. She quickly outpaced the other woman, then slowed to stay close to her. The sound of pursuit chased them, but Tess didn’t dare turn to see how many there were. She dodged around trees and over logs, careful to keep close to Elin. Elin was soon panting, her footsteps flagging.

Just a little further! Tess nudged her, urging her to continue on. Elin put on a burst of speed, and they bolted through the last few bushes to the edge of a cliff. There, they came skidding to a stop. Tess turned, dropping to her belly. She whined as the demons emerged. Five of them came at the two women with their heads low to the ground.

Elin let out a plaintive whine, rolling to her back to show surrender. The demons strode forward confidently—and salt-soaked nets dropped from the forest above them. They landed on the demons, twisting around them.

Within seconds, all five of them were completely immobilized.

Grappling hooks came up the small cliff, and the special ops soon joined them. Finn held out two dressed while the others moved forward to ensure that the demons weren’t going to free themselves. Tess shifted to human form and pulled the dress on over her head.

“Will they be able to be exorcized?” she asked as Hayden and the others dragged the demons away.

Finn shook his head. “I don’t know. We haven’t been able to save any of them for some time. The exorcisms aren’t working. I think that whatever the demons did to mutate themselves, they also found ways to make them immune to this particular ritual. It’s just another reason for us to go on a fact-finding mission.”

“But why don’tyouknow more?” Elin asked. She held the dress, not putting it on. The pouch hung weirdly at her hip, the gun weighing it down.

Finn ran a hand through his red hair. “Does everyone in town know about my… parentage?”

Elin winced. “Um…”

Tess frowned. “What do you mean by parentage?”

“He can see the demons, Tess,” Elin said, gesturing toward Finn. “And he has special abilities nobody else has. Isn’t it obvious?”’

What was she talking about?

“I’m half-demon,” Finn growled. He rolled his shoulders. “At least, genetically. And don’t ask how it’s possible. I can only assume that it’s through the usual means. I was raised by humans. I know about as much as you do when it comes to demons.”

Tess’s eyes widened. Out of instinct, she took a half step back. Finn’s expression hardened further. She shook her head slightly—he was a special ops member. He was a valued and trusted member of the team. She didn’t need to be afraid of him.

“The possessed wolves,” she said, speaking a little too quickly in her eagerness to show she still trusted him, “it’s because of the Demon Seed that they’re resisting the exorcisms, right?”

Finn nodded toward town and started walking. The women fell in step next to him, with Elin between Finn and Tess.

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