Page 117 of Rejecting his Mate

I smile. I like that he is already obsessed with me. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Whatever you want, just not that.”

I twist my neck to the side as he finds a particularly stubborn knot. “I know things aren’t perfect, but I do think we can be happy here. It’s nice to stop running. I don’t know how long we could have done that.”

“I should have been able to give you a stable environment.”

I turn to him, our mouths nearly touching. I can feel his breath on my skin, the heat of it making me want more. “It doesn’t matter how we got here. All that matters is we did.”

“Just… Don’t get too comfortable. In truth, we don’t know what we are facing here.”

I know he’s right about that, but I desperately want to have someone in our corner, and some of the things Hester explained made perfect sense. We are stronger together. I felt that when I was connected to the other tau wolves. Those hunters are not going to stop comingfor us until they have done exactly what they set out to do.

Even if Cade doesn’t trust Hester and her motives, I am sure she is trying to protect us. I sense the wards hiding us, shielding us from the hunters who want us dead.

Do they want us dead?

The thought enters my mind unbidden, but it makes me think. When they fired at us back in Spencer, none of those bullets were aimed at the women, only at the vargr wolves and Abel. I didn’t notice at the time because I was too busy trying to protect us, but now that I think about it, a horrible thought dawns in my mind.

They wanted the tau wolves alive.

“You okay?” Cade asks, his grip tightening on me.

I straighten in his lap, pushing my hair out of my face. “Those hunters weren’t trying to kill us, Cade.”

His brows draw together, and he stares at me as if I have lost my mind. “The bullet in my shoulder suggests otherwise.”

I wave a hand, dismissing this comment. “No, they were trying to killyou,” This earns me another flick of his brows, “but they weren’t trying to kill me or the other tau.”

“They fired at us. A hell of a lot of bullets.”

“Yes, they fired atyouand the other shifters, but none of those bullets were aimed at us.”

I scramble to get off his lap. He doesn’t want me to go and tries to keep hold of me, but I slide out of his grasp, pacing the floor as an idea starts to take root inmy head. Cade moves as if he wants to offer comfort, but I don’t want that right now. I need to think.

“Why would they not shoot to kill?”

Cade rubs his head, and I feel his confusion through our mating bond. “I don’t really stop to consider the motives of hunters, Halle.”

“They wanted you dead, you and the guys.” My mind is racing, and I’m not sure how to link my thoughts together. “They are taking tau wolves alive. That’s why none of those bullets were aimed at the females. Only the males. Vargr and a normal shifter are not of interest to them.” I lift my gaze to his. “But why?”

I can see he is struggling to keep pace with my racing words, but I am fairly certain I am on to something here.

“The Order doesn’t care if hybrids live or die, Halle. Their only mission is to annihilate them. That’s why they came in numbers.”

I drop my hands to my hips, unsure why I’m not getting through to him.

“Then why didn’t they aim their weapons at us?” My thoughts are colliding inside my mind as I try to make sense of a bigger problem. I feel the answer is close, and I push harder to understand.

“What are you thinking?” Cade doesn’t dismiss my suspicions, something I was used to with both my aunt and my pack.

“I don’t know. It just—” As it comes to me, my stomach rolls savagely. “If they don’t want us dead, that means they want to take us alive. What could they possibly want with us?”

His expression morphs into one of disgust. “If they need hybrid wolves breathing, I can guarantee there’s something nefarious behind it.”

I’m glad he doesn’t mock me because I am certain the truth is nastier than I can imagine. “What could an organized militia possibly want with magical wolves? I don’t know much about witches, but they don’t like our kind. They don’t, and won’t, help us, even though almost everything we do is rooted in magic. Pack bonds, chosen mating bonds, first moon ceremonies, fuck, even fated mates. Knowing and being able to control these things would be important, wouldn’t it?”

I don’t like the emotion that bleeds into his eyes. It isn’t fear, but it’s close enough. All I can feel through the mating bond is his heightened anxiety.

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