Page 80 of The Wild Wolf's Rejected Mate

She’s grinning, her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth, giddy to be in the middle of chatty, happy females and fresh air and sunshine.

I open my mouth.

Before I can speak, Diantha’s strong voice rings out. “I have a story.”

The laughter immediately fades. Elspeth’s eyes narrow, the lines at the corners disappearing. Mabli’s mouth tightens. My wolf gets very quiet, her ears perking.

“Remember when Justus was—what—eighteen or nineteen? And he was out past the red clay camp for some reason, and he came across the scent of humans and some North Border males?”

Everyone’s gaze shifts to Nessa where she’s sitting by the tent flap, keeping an eye on her sleeping pups. A sourness taints the air.

“Diantha,” Elspeth warns.

Diantha ignores her, looking past her to Nessa.

“Go on,” Nessa says, her voice very deliberately even, her eyes cold as ice. I can recognize a mask when I see one. Hers is good. Much better than mine.

“He was alone and outnumbered, but he smelled a female in distress, and he didn’t want to lose the trail, so he stalked them. It turned out to be a hunting party. The North Border males were guides. The humans were the paying customers. Nessa’s brother was the prey. And Nessa was the bait.”

Diantha holds Nessa’s gaze as she speaks, and there’s a challenge in the look, but no cruelty, at least not that I can recognize. Nessa doesn’t flinch, although her face has gone gray. I think this hurts her, but at the same time, I think she wants Diantha to keep going. What is that like? For someone to know your story and tell it for you?

“There were a dozen of them. They tied Nessa to a tree by the top of a hill. They chained her brother, threw him in the back of a truck, and drove away. Justus was left alone with the two North Border males guarding Nessa. How long did it take him to kill them once the truck was gone?” Diantha asks.

“Seconds,” Nessa says. “He cut their throats with his claws likethat.” She snaps. Her small, cold voice sends chills up my spine.

Diantha continues, “He freed Nessa, told her to hide, and went after her brother. He tried his best, but he was on four legs, and the hunters had a huge lead and guns and numbers.”

Nessa takes over. “I found a place I could fit between the roots of an old oak by a dried-up stream. It felt like I was there for hours. Every so often, there would be a gunshot, and I would pray so hard for another one because as long as they were shooting, Bowen might still be alive.”

The wolf on Lelia’s lap jumps down and pads over to Nessa, winding between her calves. Nessa’s fingers float down to trail through the fur on the top of the wolf’s head.

“Eventually, there weren’t any more shots. And then Justus came back, covered in blood. Weeping.” Tears stream down Nessa’s cheeks. “He said he was too late.”

“He killed every single one of those bastards, though.” There’s a fierce light in Diantha’s wolfish eyes.

“I wanted to see Bowen. I made Justus take me to him. There was a North Border wolf in the dirt near his body. The wolf was enormous. As big as a bear. His intestines were trailing from his belly. Justus was so young—not much older than a pup.”

“Oh, he was fully grown,” Diantha says, her gaze hardening as it turns to me. “He was newly mated. That’s why he was out in those woods. He was trekking back to his mate’s pack territory yet again to check on her.”

My stomach knots.Yet again? How many times did he come back, and I didn’t know?

“Diantha,” Elspeth warns quietly.

Diantha ignores her, staring me down. “I have another story, since we’re talking about mothers.”

“Diantha,” Elspeth hisses louder.

“Remember how Alys died during the worst of that winter, when we were losing one or two people a day? Everyone was either sick themselves or too busy nursing their own blood or burying the dead. Remember how no one made their way up to her den for days? How Justus had done his best to bury her by himself. Was he eight? Nine?”

Justus’s words in the den echo in my head.I swear it to you on my dam’s grave.

Diantha pauses, but no one answers her. They don’t interrupt her, either. I’m going to be sick.

“His sire was already gone. How many days was Justus alone up there? No one remembers, do they?” She pins the others with her stare. No one will meet her eyes. “How long did he stay alonein that den before Max finally got well enough to go up and check on him?”

“Max had to drag Justus out,” Elspeth says quietly. “He didn’t want to leave her nest.” Her cheeks are wet with tears.

Nessa is crying, too. And Lelia. Mabli. All the females are tense, weeping, staring at me, blaming me.

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