Page 49 of Rejecting his Mate

“I know, but the magic that bonded you together isn’t something you can just remove.”

“But you said a witch can.”

Scrubbing a hand over my chin, the hairs of my beard pricking my skin, I try to formulate an answerthat won’t destroy her hope. “Even if you find one willing to, you have no idea what side effects it could have—what it could do to you. Magic always comes at a price.”

Halle’s tongue wets her bottom lip, and I watch the motion, completely fascinated by it. Her plump, kissable lips call to me, and I have to shove those thoughts down.

“It’s better than being chained to him for eternity.”

“It would be easier to just kill him,” I mutter.

My wolf likes this plan. He whines and urges me to find him.

“Probably, but I don’t want his blood on my hands, or yours, if there’s another way.”

“An impossible way, Halle.”

She steps over to the railing, careful to keep a distance between us as she leans against it. “You said I’m a witch. Can’t I do it?”

“Can you?”

She scrunches her face up but nothing happens. “Hmm, maybe I need more practice.”

“You don’t smell like one.”

This seems to amuse her. Halle’s lips kick up at the corners. “And what does a witch smell like?”

I don’t know how to describe it, but I give it my best shot. “I’ve only come across one and she smelled like—like the air before it rains. There’s an underlying scent to you, but it’s shoved deep down, and I can’t make it out.”

“When I healed you, it was the first time I’d ever done anything like that,” she admits. “If I were part witch, wouldn’t I be able to do more… witchy things?” She waggles her fingers at me as if bolts of electricity might fly out of them.

I snort. “Tau aren’t full witches, Halle.”

Her expression sobers. “Maybe that’s why I couldn’t shift, because I’m not fully a wolf.”

“Maybe.”

“These hunters in the Order of the Crescent Moon… They hunt those like me, right? Wolves that are different.”

“Yeah,” I say, though my jaw instantly locks. Nothing is touching her.

Wincing, Halle scrubs the toe of her sneakers over the wooden decking. “I’m sorry. I never wanted to bring anyone else into my mess.”

My chest feels suddenly tight. I lift her chin with my fingers, meeting those bright green eyes. Touching her is a mistake, but one I don’t want to stop this time. My wolf calls for me to claim her, take her as ours, but I shove him down savagely, focusing on the sadness reflecting back at me.

“I willingly inserted myself into your mess. This isn’t something you forced me to do, little wolf.”

She cracks a smile, and I’m not sure if it’s at my words or the endearment. “Are you sure you can call me that, considering I might not even be a wolf shifter, not a true one anyway?”

“The Order talks about purity and bloodlines, but who the fuck are they to decide what makes anyone worthy? You’re not defined by your DNA, Halle.”

A little snort is followed by the wrinkling of her nose. “It sure feels like it.” I release my hold on her chin, myfingers instead skimming over the dark purple bruising on her neck. She doesn’t move, her breath trapped in her chest.

“Why did you watch me for weeks?”

“I don’t know,” I admit.

I caught her trail one day, a hint of her scent while I was hunting in the woods. I knew I went too far, strayed into Red Deer Pack territory, but the moment my nose picked up that scent, I was lost. I had to know who it belonged to.

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