Page 99 of Wolf's Rejected Mate

“I wouldn’t have killed her! I love her!” he pleaded.

The words sent a bolt of jealous fury through me.

That was the wrong thing to say. With a swipe of my paw, I slashed his face, relishing the tear of his flesh beneath my claws. His screams only fueled my fury.

“You should never have come up! She promised you were buried forever!” he squealed.

I frowned, my tongue lolling out.

“She? Who’s she?”I demanded, but Orson merely lolled his head back and forth like a fish out of water.

It almost didn’t seem fair to finish him off so easily, without a fight. But this had been two hundred years in the making, his betrayal.

What did you do? How did you do it?I wondered, but I didn’t ask. My thirst for vengeance was too great. Instead, I sank my fangs into the thick of his jugular, the answer hitting me as the last of his life drained out of his body. There was only one “she” Orson could mean.

Etta.

I backed off Orson, the last of his rasping filling the air until there was nothing left but his limp, crumpled gargoyle form withering to ash in front of me. But there was no sense of victory, not with his last words lingering in my ears.

“She promised you were buried forever.”

Slowly, the truth of how I’d come to be in the ground started to make sense. A spell could have made me appear dead, even to a trained eye—if enacted by a powerful fae. Orson had been at my side in battle. If he had conspired with the fae…

I backed out of the office, retracing my steps into the warehouse. Those of Orson’s crew who were not lying dead on the floor had scampered off into the afternoon, scattering like cockroaches at the prospect of their own deaths.

Shifting back into my human form, I located my hidden cache of clothing and found my pack. Silver and Draven had also morphed back, but Jake still flew overhead, looking for any lurking dangers.

“Has anyone seen Abby?” I demanded, scanning the area. “We need to find Etta.”

“She was here earlier,” Draven told me, pointing toward the front of the warehouse. “Right there, talking to two females.”

My blood ran cold, and I rushed toward the spot where the dragon shifter pointed.

“When?” I demanded, but the question died on my lips as I saw the puddle of fresh blood exactly where Draven indicated. Whirling around, I confronted him. “How long ago?!”

Draven glanced at the others. “I don’t know, sir. Fifteen minutes?”

“Fan out and find her!” I roared, spinning around. “I want that fae. Don’t let her escape.”

They jumped to action immediately, leaving me panting with concern.

Abby is immortal,I reminded myself.Etta can’t hurt her.

But my immortality hadn’t saved me from being buried underground and two hundred years of my life lost at Etta’s hands.

I had to find my mate before Etta could strike again.

Chapter45

Abby

“Hold her!” Maisie gasped, her strength weakening even as I pinned Etta to the ground.

I didn’t even know how we’d made it back behind the house, the fight landing us into the garage, Etta drenched in blood at my feet.

Etta was more powerful than I’d ever imagined, her magic affecting me even as Maisie countered with her own spells, the pair of us using every ounce of our strength to keep the incensed fae on the ground as she recited whatever spells she could manage in her panic.

The paralytic Etta enacted still lingered along my bones, but Maisie had provided some kind of protective shield, warding off the worst of it. This was a battle of wills, and Etta was far more powerful than I had given her credit for.

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