Page 130 of Rejecting his Mate

I glance around the burning woods and the chaos. One of the cabins across from ours and Tessa and Abel’s is burning too. I can smell the blood in the air and the scent of death. “Fuck the sanctuary,” I snap. “My mom is with that—thatanimal!”

What the hell has he done to her? Has she been with him since I was eight? Why doesn’t my own mom know who I am? She didn’t even acknowledge me.

“Your mom is no longer your mom,” Hester snaps. “I’m sorry I have to deliver that hard truth, but there’s no point sugarcoating it. Whatever the Order does to them, it erases everything they are. I’m sorry, Halle, but you can’t fix what they broke, even if you get her back.”

Pain stabs through my chest at her words. Fuck her. I don’t want to believe what she’s saying. I found my mom and she’s alive. That means something, right?

“I can fix her. My magic—”

“Can’t do shit, Halle. Those tau with the Order are broken beyond recognition. There is nothing we can do, and there is no magic that can put back what was taken from them.”

I shake my head, refusing to believe it's true. “Everything can be fixed.”

Cade tightens his hold on me, hugging me closer.

“How do you know it can’t be fixed?” Cade demands.

“Because I’ve tried, Cade. I got one of them out. I did everything I could, but her mind was so fragmented, so damaged, she wasn’t herself anymore. I know that’s not what any of you want to hear, but it’s how it is.”

I swallow down my dismay. It was easier to imagine my mom was dead. Knowing she has spent more than a decade as a captive, having her mind screwed with, makes me want to heave.

“I can’t just leave her. She’s my mom. I thought all this time she was dead.”

Hester’s expression is sad when she looks at me. “We can’t save those the Order already has. I’m sorry, Halle. I wish I could tell you differently. But we can stop them from taking new targets. We do that through the sanctuary. If we can concentrate our power here, bring more tau to us before the hunters take them, we can defend ourselves.”

“You’re talking about building an army,” Cade says. “I won’t let you drag Halle into whatever crusade you’re on.”

“She’s already a part of it,” Hester fires back. “Do you think they care whether she wants to be here or not? They just want her. They want all of you. If we lose control of the sanctuary, then we will always be running.”

“We can’t stay here, Hester,” Apryle says. “They know where we are. They’ll regroup and come back.”

“You think it’ll be better if we’re out there? Running from motel to motel, living out of bags, and alwayslooking over our shoulders? At least here we can strengthen the wards, and add more magic so they can’t get to us.”

“This is ludicrous,” Cade mutters, and I agree with him. Staying here is suicide.

“They didn’t come here to kill us, Cade. They came to take your mate. On the road, with no defenses, how hard will it be?” Hester demands.

Cade growls, and I rub a hand over his arm around my waist. It doesn’t soothe him entirely, but it calms some of the anger flaring through the mating bond.

“They come for her, they’re not going to find it easy,” Cade snaps. “I have no issue ripping the heads off hunters.”

“Okay, let’s just count it out,” I say.

“Fuck counting it out, Halle. They want to take you from me, I’ll fucking destroy every one of them.”

I don’t doubt his sincerity, but I don’t want him in the firing line of this bullshit, either. “I know.”

“Why do they want us?” Roux speaks, her hand wrapping around her throat as if she is choking on her own fear.

“I don’t know. All I do know is that at some point, the Order stopped killing tau and started collecting them,” Hester admits. “I’m going to hazard a guess they are not doing that out of the goodness of their heart.”

The female who had been with Dalton hadn’t spoken or responded when I addressed her. It was as if she was a robot following commands.

“I don’t give a shit what they’re doing,” Apryle says. “I’m not letting them lock me in some lab like a fucking rat.”

“I don’t want that to happen to any of you,” Hester says. “I built this place to keep our kind safe. We need to fix the wards, make them stronger. We need to fortify and prepare for another attack in the future. My wards were strong, but with our combined strength, we can make them impenetrable.”

Movement has us all twisting as Wyatt and Sawyer step out of the darkness, both naked, their bodies bruised and cut. Abel and Jackson are behind them, dragging their feet, exhaustion written in every inch of their bodies.

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