Page 16 of Rejected By Blood (Mated in Silence 2)

Not that they’d been mean.

They had just acted as if I didn’t exist.

Now, when I showed up to weed the kitchen gardens or brought in my baskets of things they requested, they smiled at me. Looked at me. Saw me. Since I had no idea why they’d ignored me, I couldn’t say why that changed, since they had been kind to me when I was little, at least kind enough to keep me fed and clothed, but I was glad things seemed to be swinging back that way. Less lonely.

I found a cluster of morels near a downed tree and made a mental note to tell Dean where the tree was. Not that every fallen trunk needed to be cut up for firewood or to be refined into boards. With the amount of wood my mate was finding, the alpha had ordered that suitable logs be dragged in and then had ordered a portable sawmill online. When it arrived, Dean had a whole new job but he didn’t find it a chore. I’d caught him more than once inhaling the scent of the freshly sawn boards.

I never picked mushrooms without remembering Magda teaching me how to identify them and all the other types. Morels were a particular favorite of hers, and available only briefly at this time of year. She’d get a good amount of whatever I could collect. With this find, I began hunting for more, remembering the places I’d hunted them down other years and soon had a brimming basket of the precious little gems. They looked like fairy houses to me or at least how I’d pictured them.

I wasn’t sure if there were fairies or not, and was considering the possibility while walking along, keeping an eye out for more morels--not that I had room in my basket, but I’d never pass them by. They were such a gift from the goddess and I hoped to find enough for everyone to enjoy a little at least. Suddenly, all thoughts of fairy circles and wings fled my mind.

I heard voices.

At one time, I’d have assumed they were pack, but as crowded as the woods had become lately, I had to assume the worst. Slipping behind a tree, I strained to hear who it might be. With good luck, it would be a few men hunting or taking a stroll, a break from the rigors of this time of year in the fields.

But I’d had all the good luck I was going to, at least for now, because I recognized neither of the tall wolf shifters who clomped into view. I shrank back farther away from the path and gripped my basket tightly.

“I tell you we can’t go back without her this time or she’ll tear our heads off.” The man closer to me had his fists clenched, his black beard giving his face a menacing appearance.

“So what do you suggest we do?” His companion’s arms hung at his sides, but his shoulders were high, tense, and a snarl marred what might have been a handsome face if it didn’t look so mean. He had pale blue eyes, I noticed. “Run?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. She wants this resolved and soon,” Black Beard growled. “And her reach is long.” They were directly opposite me now and, instead of continuing on as I was praying they would do, they stopped right there. In the worst possible spot.

“Not far enough to keep Callista from being spirited away.”

“Far enough to have tracked her here. And we know how she got that information.”

Blue Eyes shuddered. “I wasn’t there, but you were I understand?”

“I was.” Even his fierce looking beard couldn’t hide the fear twisting his mouth. “And there wasn’t much left of him when she and her betas finished. Maybe running is the thing to do. We could sign onto a ship going to the South Pacific or somewhere. If that’s still a thing. It was when I was young.”

“I don’t know. Let’s keep that as an option if we fail.” Blue Eyes shook his head. “But this shouldn’t be so hard. The girl has to be alone sometime. We just have to keep aware.”

“And avoid her mate, and the alpha who made it clear we were not welcome on their lands. If he finds us here now, we’ll have a different kind of big troubles.”

“At least he’s not a torturer.”

Black Beard’s voice dropped low, but I could still hear it. “He may not bite off pieces of us, but he’s just as likely to rip off our heads in one blow or have his betas do something worse. We have been named trespassers and… Well, let’s not think about it. We need a plan.”

They were moving again, heading toward the edge of pack land, and I waited until their voices faced away before scooting out of the brush and running for home.

Was I really this Callista? I wasn’t so sure about that but I was positive I didn’t want to go with these thugs to whoever “she” was and probably get bitten up. If her intentions were good, she would not be sending criminals to tear up the place and kidnap me.

Because that was what they were planning right?

Kidnapping me?

I had to talk to my mates.

Chapter Sixteen

“Whoa!” I rounded a corner around a huge oak tree and bumped right into Shane. Broad-chested, mate of mine.

He knocked the breath out of me because I’d run into him but my lungs refused to work anymore because he was my mate. My handsome, caring, obviously protective and nurturing mate.

I needed him like that next breath that just wouldn’t come out.

Still as a statue, I stood there taking him in. Yeah, I still loved Dean as much as ever, but I also loved Shane. He was my mate, after all.

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