Page 72 of Rejected Mate

“Okay,” I said, sniffling and hoping to talk about anything other than the fact that he was dying.

“I want you to have this.” The trembling hand that wasn’t clasping mine came up out of the blankets. In it was his Alpha necklace, the one he used to command the pack. Not only was it a symbol of leadership, but it meant that whoever wore it commanded our pack and those in our region who swore fealty to us.

“What? No.” I shook my head and pushed his frail hand away. “It should go to Dad.”

“You know he doesn’t want it, Wren.” He coughed and fought to regain his breath for a moment. “It has to go to you,” he continued, pushing the necklace back at me. Even though he was weak, this time his arm seemed to have more strength to it.

“Don’t exert yourself.” It couldn’t be good for him.

He gave me an annoyed look I was familiar with.

I shook my head. “I can’t take the necklace, grandfather. That’s ridiculous.”

He was losing it. There was no way I should be in charge. I was only nineteen, not nearly old enough or wise enough to be the leader of our family and the packs around us. The sickness had gotten to him.

“It has to go to you,” he said, his voice suddenly serious. I felt the alpha tone echo in my head.

He was commanding me to take it.

I tried to fight it, but pain blossomed in my brain. Any wolf who tried to fight an alpha command must obey or risk madness. And was this really how I wanted to spend this borrowed time with him? No. I’d take it now, and we could figure out how to give it to my father later. I reached out for the necklace. “Grandfather, can I go get Dad?”

“No. Take the necklace,” he said, nodding. “Now put it on.”

I slipped the chain over my head. It felt like slipping on an anchor. There was no way I was meant to wear this. He would come to his senses in a minute.

“Maybe I should get Mom,” I said, getting up.

He gripped my hand to keep me in place at his bedside. “Listen to me. You need to match with that Raith boy, and you need to do it soon.”

“Grandfather, I—”

“Listen,” he ordered, but without the necklace, there was no alpha command with it. It didn’t matter. I stayed rooted to the spot. “Our pack, our very lives, rest on you mating with Ares Raith. I’m sorry to lay this on you, but you need to know that. You need to know what is at stake.”

“Our lives?” I asked.

He nodded. “William is a dangerous, cruel vampire. I’ve kept an eye on him for a long time, fearing his hunger for power. He is the monster you have to keep an eye on. You need to be close to learn his plans. The future of our kind may depend on it.”

My hands began to tremble. What he was saying sounded like the note we found in the library. If I didn’t do what he said, would we die out? That couldn’t be. Unless the prophecy was right… No. This had to be my imagination convoluting things. Still, I had to ask.

“Grandfather, do you know anything about the Dark Match?”

His cloudy eyes went wide. “Where did you hear about that?”

“A book. What do you know about it?”

He shook his head as another coughing fit took hold of him. He began to shake with coughs that rattled in his lungs, wet, phlegmy sounds that scared me. It was the same thing that was happening to our other shifter elders. Whatever was afflicting our people, it had reached my grandfather.

“I’ll get you water,” I said, getting up to search the bedside tables. When I didn’t find any, I turned back to tell him I was going to the kitchen, but the coughing had stopped.

He was still.

Still as the grave.

Trembling, I put my fingers to his neck, but there was no pulse.

My grandfather was gone.

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