Page 65 of Rejecting his Mate

Cade probably carried me, and I’m not sure how that makes me feel, considering he’s barely looked in my direction since the incident in the shower. He is acting as if it was my fault, as if I forced him to do that, but it was all him. I never invited him to join in.

I understand why he feels the way he does. He doesn’t like the idea that I belong to someone else. Neither do I, but there is little I can do about it until they find a witch who can remove the mating bond.

I don’t let anyone know I am awake, instead taking a second to gain my bearings. Wyatt is driving, andJackson is sitting in the passenger seat, now wearing clothes and looking healthy.

It’s still light, so I guess I can’t have been asleep long, but I don’t know where we are. The road we’re traveling along is big and filled with cars and trucks.

“What about that witch down in Phoenix? What’s her name?” Sawyer says.

“Mari?” Cade answers.

“She hates wolves,” Jackson says. “She’s not going to help.”

“This list isn’t long to start with.” Sawyer pulls out his phone. “I’ll message her anyway. At least then we can add her to the short list of witches who told us to go f—.” His gaze catches mine, and his sentence is discarded. “Halle! Wondered if you were going to sleep all day.”

“How long was I out?” I stretch as much as I can in the confined space. The pain in my head is a dull, barely noticeable ache now. I swipe under my nose, but my fingers come away clean. No blood.

Thankfully.

Whatever pressure was put on my body seems to have been temporary because I feel pretty good now, other than my ribs and throat, but they had nothing to do with my saving Jackson.

“About four hours.”

What the fuck?I jolt at his words. “Four hours?” I whisper.

“What you did wiped you out.”

“You can’t use the magic inside you until you understand it better,” Cade orders.

I peer at him, wondering where this asshole gets his audacity. “Quit trying to control me. Dalton always does that, and I hate it.”

He growls at the mention of my mate, and I feel bad for saying his name. For the first time in my life, I can see clearly the shackles I’ve worn my entire life. I was chained to my aunt, to the pack, to my responsibilities. Even to a past I don’t remember.Cade doesn’t make me feel that way—even when he is bossing me around.

I think Adeline must have known what I was.

She certainly knew I wasn’t a full wolf, but I don’t understand why she never told me. At least if I had that knowledge, I could have protected myself better. Forewarned is forearmed; isn’t that the saying?

I think that’s what frustrates me the most.

I could have explored this side of me, honed it, and become better at it. It could have helped me in my fight against Dalton.

Maybe I could have turned him into a toad.

Witches do that, right?

“Don’t mention that asshole’s name.”

“Then stop acting like him!” I snap back.

Cade stares at me as if trying to control the rage rolling through him.

“You didn’t see how bad it was.” The slight wobble in his voice has me clamping my mouth shut. “I thought you were fucking dying. You had blood streaming from your nose, and you slept like the dead. So yeah, I am trying to control you, because you don’t seem to know anything regarding your self-preservation.”

I open my mouth and then close it again, notingWyatt sneaking a look at us through the rearview mirror. He looks away quickly when he realizes I’ve caught him, his expression telling me nothing.

“I don’t regret what I did,” I say, sounding like a moody pup. “Jackson needed help!”

Cade shuts his mouth because there’s nothing he can say to that. If I hadn’t acted, we’d have a dead wolf on our hands. “We could have got him help,” he says finally.

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