Page 55 of The Alpha's Rejected Arranged Mate

Elin lifted her head. Tears and sweat-stained her face. “You think he’s telling the truth?”

Her question was soft, but it hit Finn like a blow. Of course. No! No, he wasn’t telling the truth! If Finn gave himself up, he’d just kill them all. Especially the baby. How many demons had the special ops team gone up against who, once they realized Finn could see them, had targeted him specifically? A person who could see demons was a liability.

A chill washed over Finn, making his scalp prickle. All this time, he assumed he was free from demonic influence. But if Dukiel could reach through these protections to force the baby to grow… Finn reached with a shaking hand and turned the rearview mirror toward himself. A bright red glow surrounded him. Dukiel was influencing him, whispering in the recesses of his mind.

Christine filled a syringe with something. Elin reached out and caught her arm. “No. Don’t give me anything.”

“The pain,” Christine started.

“It won’t touch the pain,” Elin hissed. “I need my head clear.”

Finn’s mind raced. Could Dukiel hear his thoughts? He glanced through the windshield at the demon again. He stood there, his smile gone. There was no indication he could read Finn’s thoughts, but then he’d hide it if he could.

“I’m growing impatient,” the demon called, lifting his hands again. “What will it be?”

“Help me out of the van,” Elin whispered.

Finn’s arms tightened around her. “We can’t. The protections—”

“Aren’t doing much good,” Elin interrupted. She clutched her bag to her chest as she stared into Finn’s eyes. “Help me out. Please.”

What was her plan? Finn studied her but couldn’t catch a glimpse of what was happening in those clear brown eyes. The demonic influence had faded somewhat around her, but why that was, he couldn’t tell. A sudden thought occurred to him: If Dukiel could influence him after all this time, why hadn’t he done it before?

There was no time to dwell on it. Elin’s gaze was so steadfast that he nodded slowly and slid open the van door. His heart beat shallowly. Though he couldn’t imagine how this was going to help, he trusted her. Derek and Christine both protested, but they ignored them.

“Ah, you’re both coming to face me?” Dukiel mocked as Finn helped Elin from the van. “Are you going to try to bargain?To beg? I want my host. You will give me my host. But it’s your choice which of you survives.”

Elin dropped her bag at her feet. “Go back to hell, you bastard.”

She rocked forward, both her hands coming up. The silver glint of a gun caught the light, and then the rapid fire of gunshots rang through the air. Finn’s arms were still around her, and he felt the reverberation of each shot as she squeezed the trigger again and again, emptying the clip into Dukiel’s chest.

Christine and Derek both stared with jaws open.

Once the gun clicked empty, however, Dukiel glanced down at himself. His suit was riddled with bullet wounds that started to seep a thick red sludge. Like old blood. And suddenly, Finn understood. The host wasn’t just failing—that body was already dead. Dukiel was on borrowed time. That’s why the influence was spiking now! Dukiel was putting all his strength into manipulating Finn’s mind and the baby’s body, hoping to force the situation and get a new host.

“If you’re quite done,” Dukiel said, brushing off his suit. “My boy, it’s time to make this deal. Be my host, or I’ll keep you alive long enough to see me cut your mate open and take my new host from her body.”

Finn scowled at him. What could they do? Buy time? Elin was right. Dukiel wouldn’t let them live. But maybe it would give Derek the time to get her out of here. And once Dukiel had his host, maybe he wouldn’t expend the energy to keep attacking the baby.

“Five,” Dukiel called. “Four.”

“Stop,” Finn ground out. “I—”

He was about to accept, to say he’d do it, but Elin grabbed his hand. The touch startled Finn. He felt the pain through her touch as though they were linked in one body. He grunted, curving inward. His arms went around her, fighting to keep the pain at bay, to take it from her.

His blue eyes met her wild brown ones. They were so wide he saw white all around her irises. She trembled against him, pulling him close again. Her foot nudged the bag she’d dropped as her grip tightened to the point of pain.

“I’ll never forgive you if you give up now,” she breathed. “You can’t let him win. We give not an inch. He takes nothing from us.”

At that moment, it was as though time stopped and the world faded away. Dukiel faded away. Christine and Derek disappeared. There was nothing. No sky, no forest, just them. Elin’s body pressed against him, her eyes on his. Whether it was some sort of magic or simply his stressed mind going numb, he didn’t know. He didn’t care.

“He took too much already,” Elin continued. “He took your family. He took your mother. He killed her, I’m sure of it.”

It was only through your mother’s sacrifice that I wasn’t able to take possession of your body while you were still growing inside of her.Was that what happened? Beth did something to protect him while he was still a fetus? His fingers brushed over the protective markings he’d drawn on Elin’s skin. In Beth’s journal, she talked about glimpses of fire and brimstone in her dreams.

She must have found something like these protections. She put it in her body to stop Dukiel from being able to take Finn’s body before he was born. So he’d made him grow thesame way this baby did. He killed Beth by making her pregnancy go too fast.

And after he was born?

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