Page 39 of The Alpha's Rejected Arranged Mate

“I don’t know. If this library of Dukiel’s writing is real, it might contain the information we want. How do demons gethere? Where do they really come from? How do we stop them.” His hands clenched as the biggest question of all reared in his mind.

As much as he hated it, only one source he could think of could give him the information to save Elin. And that was Dukiel—the archdemon himself.

His father.

Chapter 18 - Elin

Bed rest. Elin understood why Christine insisted on it. After all, in the last week, her pregnancy progressed by the equivalent of four weeks, putting her at approximately twenty weeks into the pregnancy. Far enough along that Christine was able to do a gender scan. Elin smiled down at her stomach, rubbing gently over her bump.

She was having a boy. Her own little boy, just like in the increasingly vivid dreams she’d been having. Ever since Christine told her, she’d been trying to think of names. Now, she lingered somewhere between Hendrik, her father’s name, Sven after her grandfather, or some variation of Finlay. However, she doubted Finn would appreciate the latter and tried to put it from her mind.

She’d meant what she said when she promised he wouldn’t need to be a part of their lives.

Her phone rang. Tess. Elin let out a sigh of relief as she answered.

“Thank god! I’m going crazy,” Elin complained. “I don’t feel bad enough to be tucked away in bed, but Christine insists.”

Tess laughed on the other side. “I sympathize. I’m getting ready to be done being pregnant, too. How’s it going, by the way? Mica told me that you figure it’s five weeks total?”

“That’s what the math tells us,” Elin said. She adjusted her position so her spine wasn’t quite so compressed. “It’s a relief, honestly, to know that he was conceived before Moon Lake. Finn was worried it was because of… er…”

“User error?” Tess supplied.

“Something like that.” Elin blushed, even thinking about telling Tess what had happened. “But it was about five weeks ago that one of the condoms broke before we used it. It must have been a defective box or something.”

Tess hummed a crafty note in her voice. “Right. And this was before you went to Moon Lake.”

“Yeah?”

“Soooooooooo, did you and Finn have a secret mating ceremony?” Tess asked bluntly.

Leave it to her to figure out what was going on… and then not be coy about it. Elin blushed and cleared her throat. “Um… no. We didn’t. I suppose it was… um… it was just… a casual thing.”

“And you were so judgy when you realized Ryder and I slept together,” Tess teased.

“I wasn’t judgy! Or maybe I was, but mostly, it was just awkward. We were locked in that cabin together, and all I could smell was—”

Tess coughed loudly. “Okay, okay! You made your point. But seriously, are you okay? I know you were saving yourself for your mate…”

Elin sighed heavily. “I wasn’t, actually. But I understand why you thought I was. I did a lot of… well, I know I’ve been a hypocrite in my attempts to be accepted by the pack. And I’m sorry about that, Tess. I’m sorry for what I said about you and the way I treated you.”

“Oh. Well. I didn’t actually expect you to apologize,” Tess admitted. “But I appreciate it.”

A knock came on the door, and Finn stepped inside. He’d been doing that a lot, knocking. He didn’t sleep in this room withher anymore. Christine said he was bunking with Derek. Elin’s heart ached to see the deep circles beneath his eyes.

“Finn just came in,” she told Tess. “I’ll have to call you back.”

“Of course.”

Elin hung up the phone and gave Finn her brightest smile. “Hey.”

Finn nodded, his expression remaining serious. “We’ve pinpointed the location of Dukiel’s palace, and we’re prepping an assault on it.”

Elin’s heart jumped to her throat. Already? She thought it would take longer. Or that he’d call in the military to help rather than going after Dukiel himself when they already knew the archdemon wanted him as his new host. She tightened her hands into her blankets.

“When?” she asked.

Finn opened his mouth, then froze. His eyes grew huge as they swept over him. All color drained from his face, and his breathing grew more rapid. She’d never seen him look so terrified before, and her heartbeat sped up.

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