Page 68 of Rejecting his Mate

“Or tau. She could have been a tau wolf,” Wyatt helpfully supplies.

“If you and your mom were being chased by wolves…” Sawyer sighs. “Fuck. They were probably the Order. Those assholes have no morals. They’d kill a pup without flinching.”

I blink. “You think they came to kill me and my mom—” The words get trapped in my chest. I rub my sternum, feeling like I can’t breathe past the pain.

My vision narrows suddenly, and a snapshot fills my head. I’m in a car, Adeline is at my side. She’s younger and on edge.

“My brother died because of you both,” she snaps the words out, and my heart sinks.

Just like that, I’m back in the diner, Cade’s hands holding my face as my head wobbles. “Fuck, are you back?” he demands.

Tears prick my eyes. “I killed him.”

“Killed who?”

“My dad. That’s what Adeline said. He died protecting us. She blamed me. All these years, and she blamed me for getting him killed.”

Cade forces me to look at him. “Your dad died doing what any parent is supposed to do. Fathers protect their children and their mate. Your aunt had no right to blame you for that.”

I close my eyes, trying to hold on to what I’d seen. “They came for us. I remember some things. Motels mainly. We were running, and then they were there—in front of the car.”

I hate that that’s all I remember. What happened to my mom? Did she escape? How did I end up with Adeline?

So many questions assault my brain, and I can’tanswer any of them. I fist my hands over my temples as if I can smack the memories loose.

“Why can’t I remember more?” I demand.

Cade grabs my hands before I slam them against my head again. “Stop it.” He places a hand on the side of my face, and his eyes bore into mine. “You’re not to blame for any of this.”

“They died because of me, because of what I am. I’m cursed,” I whisper the words, fearing if I speak them too loudly, it will curse them too.

“You’re not,” Cade tells me.

Bile rushes up my throat as my mouth fills with saliva.

“I’m going to be sick.” I push Cade, trying to get him to move out of my way as my stomach churns violently.

He slides out of the booth, and I push around the back of Sawyer’s chair, rushing into the bathroom. I barely have time to stumble into a stall and drop to my knees before my stomach cramps, and I throw up.

They’re dead because of me.

Those hunters wantedme.

No wonder Adeline was so angry in the car. Has she blamed me for killing her brother all this time, or did she make peace with it at some point?

I’ve never felt the kind of disdain from my aunt as when she’d spat that accusation at me, but maybe she just got good at hiding it.

Doubt assails me, and my emotions swirl through me violently. Why did she take me in if she blamed me for it?

Was it a sense of duty to my dad? Was I a chore she endured for her dead brother?

My stomach aches fiercely.

Adeline is the only person I have. If she has hated me all this time, it will destroy me.

I got my dad killed.

And what the hell happened to my mom?

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