Page 41 of Forsaking His Mate

Tessa’s mouth opens a little before she shakes her head. “No. Absolutely not.”

I grit my teeth. I had no idea how stubborn my little mate could be until I pissed her off. “Have you forgotten you’re still being hunted?”

Her arms fold over her chest and I like how haughty she looks. “They’re hunting all of us, not just me.”

“Yeah, but you’re mine, Tess.” I step toward her even as she narrows her eyes at me.

“You think that for the moment, but when the next moon hits and you’re taken by the sickness, you’ll just reject me again.”

I step closer, closing the space between us, and pressmy forehead to hers. She flinches, but doesn’t pull away, and I take that as a good sign.

“I hurt you. I understand that, but I thought I was protecting you.”

“This isn’t protection, Abel,” she says. “This is torture. I yearn for you, but I won’t let you hurt me again.”

“I won’t,” I promise.

She steps back, finally seeming to snap out of the daze that comes between us when we’re together like this. I feel her loss keenly, my wolf too.

“I can’t.”

“Yeah, you can,” Hester says.

Tessa snaps her eyes toward her. “I know you’re taking his side because you’ve known him longer, but—”

She cuts her off mid-rant. “I don’t care about sides. I care that you two being apart like this is going to destroy you both. Maybe not right away, but eventually you’ll both be nothing but empty shells, lamenting over a past you lost. Abel did what he did because he wanted to keep you safe, Tessa. You didn’t see him when he first came here. He was staying in Laurel Falls. I thought he was a hunter at first, but I quickly realized his wolf was damaged, something hunters would never allow in their ranks.”

“Hester,” I say her name softly, urging her to stop, but she shakes her head.

“She needs to hear this.” Hester turns to Tessa. I can’t read her expression, but I can feel her emotions softening down the bond. “Of course, he was going to reject you, Tessa. How could he be with you when he saw what his father did to his mother?”

The bond flares with emotion, but Tessa’s face remains resolute.

“Everyone out,” I say.

Roux glances at Tessa, who blows out a breath. “I’ll be okay.”

I want to assure her that she will. I’m not going to hurt her. Not ever. Apryle is the last to leave her seat. “No blood on the floors. It’s a bitch to clean up,” she says before she leaves.

Once we’re alone, Tessa glares at me. “Say what you have to say so we can get this over with.”

She’s not going to make this easy for me, and I don’t blame her for that. “Hester finding me at the time felt like divine intervention, but I realize now that she had to find me because she was also going to find you.”

Tessa’s mouth pulls tight as she listens to my words. I can feel her annoyance down the bond, but I dampen it so I can focus on my words and not her emotions.

“When I ran from my pack, I was terrified of what I was, of what I could become. I nearly hurt people because I didn’t know how to control it. I was terrified of the next full moon coming because I knew there was every chance I would kill anyone in my way. I tried to get help from witches I knew in the area, but no one would.”

“Witches and wolves don’t mix,” she agrees.

It’s no secret the two are not friendly. Witches despise our kind. “I was desperate. One witch told me there was a witch-wolf hybrid out here that might be able to help. I came this way, hoping to find her. It was a race against the clock.

That first month, I managed to confine myself, but I nearly escaped in my feral state. So, I searched harder, but it was Hester who found me. She’d seen me in a vision.

She saved my life, but I knew I could never be trusted around anyone again.”

I blow out a breath as her expression softens. “I knew I would never risk a mate dying at my hands. I couldn’t do it. I would rather die myself. How can I ever be your mate if I’m flawed like this?”

“Abel…” she says my name softly, her eyes gentle as she takes me in.

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