Page 115 of Rejecting his Mate

“Nobody needs to worry about the Order killing us,” Apryle says. “This conversation will do it first.” She pushes to her feet, grabbing her plate. “I’m so over this drama.”

No one stops her as she leaves the room. In the silence, I can hear her scraping her plate in the kitchen.

“You can doubt my motives,” Hester says. “I would be surprised if you didn’t, considering the things you have been through in the last few days, but I will give mylifeto save anyone under my protection, including you. We risked everything coming for Halle, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. The time for sitting back and watching our kind be picked off one at a time is done.Here, we can have a life without fear. If you don’t want that, feel free to leave.”

Hester gets up from her seat and leaves the room, heading in a different direction to Apryle.

Tessa blows out a breath. “Hester has strong ideas, but she is not the enemy here.”

Cade leans forward so he can look at her. “I guess time will tell what her motives are, but you better believe I will do anything and cross lines you cannot imagine to protect my mate from her or anyone else who means Halle harm.”

Chapter 27

Halle

The way Cade talks about protecting me makes my stomach flutter. I send calm through the mating bond, but also gratitude. I like knowing someone has my back and that I am not alone.

My time in the Red Deer pack was lonely and difficult at times, particularly after the mating with Dalton.

As I’m rinsing the last plate, Tessa steps into the kitchen. I can sense Cade close, so I relax, knowing if anything happens, he’ll be there. Although I do not think Tessa means to hurt me, maybe Cade is right about showing a little hesitancy with these people.

“With everything that happened tonight, I don’t think anyone else actually congratulated you on your mating. Cade seems like a good wolf. Protective, too.”

I can’t stop the dreamy quality from entering my voice. “I didn’t know it could be like this.”

She gives me a soft smile. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, thinking you were never going to escape from the situation you were in with your firstmate, and I can understand why that would give you trust issues. There are things Hester does that I don’t understand either, things that I question, but since I’ve been here, she has taken care of all of us.”

I glance over my shoulder toward the door, making sure we are truly alone before speaking. “She seems nice, but I feel like something more is going on here. Cade is right, Hester is building something. I’m not saying it’s an army to fight hunters, but there is a reason she is bringing us all together like this.”

Leaning against the counter behind her, Tessa crosses her arms over her chest, her gaze locked on the floor. “Does it really surprise you that she would want us to be strong enough to protect ourselves?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Until I met you guys, I had never heard of a tau wolf. I didn't even know I had magic that could protect me. I didn’t know I was being hunted, that there were people who would want to kill me just because of what I am. I didn’t think I would need to protect myself.”

Tessa studies me, her eyes focused as if she can pull my thoughts out of my head with her magic. I wonder if that is possible, so I try to empty my mind just in case. “Apryle, Roux, and I train daily with Hester. We learn to harness the gifts we have in case the wards that surround the sanctuary ever fail or in case we have to go out into the world again to rescue another hybrid like us. If you want to learn how to harness all that magic inside you, you’ll not find anyone better than Hester.”

“I don’t know how to deal with all this. A few days ago, I was looking forward to meeting my wolf at myfirst moon ceremony. Now I’m learning I’m not a full shifter, and I have access to this insane amount of power that I can’t control. I’m struggling with everything. Other than Cade. He is the only thing in all of this that feels right.”

I hate the sympathetic look that crosses Tessa’s face. I don’t want pity. I want answers and direction. “It’s a lot to take,” she agrees. “When I first came here, I was terrified too. I wasn’t sure if my father was dead after helping me escape, and I didn’t know if this place was truly safe. I put my faith in Hester, even though I didn’t know her. Trust doesn’t come easily to me either, Halle, but we live in a world that wants us dead. So yeah, Hester may be building an army of us. Maybe she knows deep down this place will never truly be safe, and she wants us to be as protected as we can be. I don’t know if I can be angry at her for that.”

I mull over that, coming to the same conclusion as Tessa. We are safe here for now, but that may not always be the case. I killed the hunters in Spencer, but that had been luck, not some strategic plan to get us out of there. If my magic hadn’t worked, if I hadn’t been able to draw on it the way I did, that situation could have ended very differently.

“I want to be able to protect myself and Cade.”

“Then learn. Hester has already taught me so much about my magic and how we are far stronger as a group.” She grabs the cloth from the sink and wipes down the counter. “This witch business is not an exact science. Some of us have more magic than others. Roux is more wolf than witch. I have more magic than theothers, but alone, we are vulnerable. I can’t raise the same amount of magic as Hester.” There’s a hint of hesitancy before she speaks again. “When you touched us back in Spencer, the surge of power that came from you was like nothing I have ever felt before. You are so powerful, Halle, that it actually scared me a little.”

Ice settles in my gut at those words. I don’t want anyone to be afraid of me. I also don’t want that amount of power inside me. It already feels like too much. “I hate that I am different.”

Tessa dumps the cloth back in the sink and turns to me. “You only hate it because you have been told it is bad to be different. But what is so bad about what we can do?”

I blow out a breath. She’s right. Having magic doesn’t make us evil or an abomination. Some wolves are good, and some are bad. Dalton was more animal than anything else, and he was from a well-respected line. Klaus killed his sister, and yet no one seemed to care about that in my old pack.

I sense Cade’s presence, and when I twist my head, he is standing in the doorway. His eyes are drawn to mine, just as mine are to his. Will it always be this intense between us, or is it just because the mating bond is so fresh? I don’t want to pull out of this honeymoon period we are having. I like how it feels too much.

“The table's cleared,” he says. “I'm taking Halle back to the cabin.”

Tessa surprises me by hugging me. Her hold is tight, comforting. “You’re not alone. Not anymore. I know it ishard to trust, but you have to let someone in. Let it be us.”

She lets me go and walks out of the room. Cade steps out of the doorway to let her pass, then he comes to me, his hands instantly slipping around my back to pull me close to him. I want to get lost in him and forget any of this is happening.

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