Page 26 of The Alpha's Rejected Arranged Mate

Was he feeling his emotions? Or was he shoving them down so deep that he was trying to convince himself that they didn’t exist?

Elin shook herself. “I apologize for my outburst.”

The former alpha didn’t look at her, but Rosemary gave her a small, sad nod. “I understand, my dear. It’s not easy for any of us. But it’s all very new to you and your mate.”

“Demons can’t possess me,” Finn repeated, as though that was the only important takeaway.

“Maybe not most demons. But I have done my research,” Seth muttered. “I’ve hunted down people possessed by demons and did what I needed to do to make them talk.”

Elin’s eyes widened. That meant Seth knew things that they didn’t. She leaned forward, eager once more. How many other pockets of people, shifters and humans alike, knew about demons? If they could all just get together and share the information they had…

“According to what I’ve learned, you will have Dukiel’s mark in your blood,” Seth continued, looking up at Finn once more. “It protects you against other demons from possessing you. But not him.”

“And you learned that how?”

Seth bared his teeth in a smile that was more of a grimace. “Through many years and a great deal of pain.”

Elin had a feeling he wasn’t referring to his own pain.

The weight of his words sunk in. All this time, Finn had been free from the risk of possession. He’d been assuming his nature meant he was immune. But now they had an archdemon out there who was targeting him personally. Her chest constricted, and bile churned in her gut.

“I have multiple talismans,” she exclaimed. “I was so afraid of being possessed, I made them put in a bunch. But now Christine can take out some of them and put them in you. We can’t let that bastard even try to possess you!”

Finn gave her a startled glance. “I can just make some for myself.”

“Or we could do it this way and have you protected even sooner,” Elin insisted.

The thought of him being taken from her left her lightheaded. She couldn’t stand the thought of that happening, even if he didn’t belong to her. She turned to grasp his arm in her hand. He was going through so much, learning all of this. And she knew it made the likelihood that he’d change his mind about kids shrink even further.

She didn’t care.

Elin had always wanted to be a mother, but she wouldn’t trade a hypothetical future with the man sitting right here. She wouldn’t let him be ripped from her with the violence of demons. Her breathing grew more rapid. Even dying wouldn’t be so terrible. He hated demons. To be used as the vessel for one would be the worst fate imaginable.

And if giving him one—or all—of her talismans was how she could help him, she was more than happy to give it up.

Finn cupped her cheek in his hand. “It’s all right. He wouldn’t have sent those rogues to the orphanage if he could just possess me. Something is stopping him, Elin. I will get a talisman, but panicking about this isn’t going to help.”

Elin opened her mouth but couldn’t reveal everything in front of Seth and Rosemary. It would let on that this was an arranged mating, and it only happened after Finn challenged Seth. So she closed her mouth again and leaned into Finn’s touch. His thumb swept over the curve of her cheekbone.

“You aren’t telling us everything, are you?” he asked. His gaze flickered back to Seth, and he lowered his hand.

Seth and Rosemary had twined their hands together. Seth’s shoulders slumped as though he had the weight of theworld sitting on him. Elin regretted her outburst. Yes, she hated the way he talked to Finn, but he was going through a lot, too.

“During her pregnancy, Beth had dreams and nightmares every night,” Seth said to his hands. “She spent hours every day writing down what they were about. It was only after she was gone that I read them. She wrote about demons. Their weaknesses, their strengths.”

“We didn’t know how much of it was true,” Rosemary added.

Seth nodded once, lifting his eyes to Finn. “When I hunted down the demons, I knew enough from her journal to parse out truth from lies.”

It was exactly what they were looking for—another resource to offer them insights into how the demons worked. Elin leaned forward but waited for Finn to speak. She felt the tension return to him. Was he wondering what she wrote about him? What would be the worst of it? To read that she hated him, she wished she could have killed him? For her not to write anything at all? Or to know that even though the pregnancy was killing her, she still loved her baby?

“I’d like a copy. To send to the military as well as look through ourselves,” Finn said. He stood and ran a hand through his hair, making it stand on end. “This isn’t what I expected to find, but with an archdemon in the area… we know what he wants, which gives us an edge. A weakness to exploit.”

Seth froze a moment, then leaned forward. “You mean set a trap?”

“So we can bind him the way we bound Zealuv,” Finn confirmed. “We want something sturdy that will last for ages.”

“A diamond?” Rosemary suggested.

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