Page 69 of Rejecting his Mate

Did she die too?

Because of me?

The woman trying to protect me in those memories wouldn’t leave me alone in the world if she were still breathing. She fought with everything she had to get me out of danger, so I can only assume those hunters got her.

Acid coats my throat, the awful taste of it making me heave more.

A hand presses against my back. Cade. Gently, he brushes my hair off my shoulders and grasps it in his hand as I continue to dry heave. There’s nothing left, not even water. My stomach is empty.

“Easy, little wolf,” he murmurs as my stomach finally gives up and stops contracting.He doesn’t leave my side, his fingers stroking over me. Adeline is not the only person I have anymore. I have him.

I sink back onto my folded legs and reach for some tissue to wipe my mouth as he flushes the toilet. “I’m sorry,” I murmur, embarrassed he’s seeing me like this.

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

I don’t speak for a moment, just letting my thoughts run wild. “She hated me. In my memory, she hated me.”

“If she hated you, she would never have taken you in, Halle.”

He’s right. She wouldn’t have, but it doesn’t help the way I’m feeling. My whole life is starting to feel like it was built on a lie.

Who am I, really?

And why don’t I remember such a huge part of my life?

“I think Adeline… didsomethingto me,” I say, unsure of where my thoughts are going but just allowing them to flow. “I don’t remember anything before I was eight years old, Cade. Not one thing until these memories started coming back to me now. It’s like my magic is trying to break free and letting other parts of my mind free too.”

He doesn’t laugh at me, which I take as a good sign that I’m not talking out of my ass. “You think she did something to your mind?”

I scrunch my nose up. It sounds silly when he says it like that. “Is that a leap?”

He blows out a breath before holding his hands out. I let him pull me off the cold tile floor.

“I think if I were your aunt, I wouldn’t want to risk an eight-year-old pup accidentally spilling about her witch powers in a pack led by an alpha who killed a child a little younger than her. I don’t think Adeline acted with malice, Halle, but she should never have put you in that position in the first place. You would have been safer without a pack.”

“She’s a Beauford. Everyone would have knownsomething was wrong if she went lone,” I say. My head is throbbing, this time not because of a vision or memory but because of the stress of what I’m learning. “I had to be told who I was. I didn’t even remember my name,” I tell him, laying myself bare to him. I feel exposed, but I can’t stop the words from spilling out now they have started. “She had to teach me everything again.”

Going to the basin, I run the faucet and cup some water in my hand, which I use to rinse my mouth. I was starving before we pulled into the diner, but now my stomach feels crampy and hollow.

“We don’t know anything yet, but whatever is happening, we’ll figure it out,” Cade assures me, rubbing the nape of my neck in a way that makes me want to lean into his touch.

“It’s not too late to run.” I meet his gaze in the mirror in front of me. “You and the others can drive away and leave this shit behind.”

“Yeah, and what will you do?” He keeps kneading my neck.

“I’ll figure things out.”

The growl he makes in the back of his throat makes my eyes flare. That was not the right thing to say. “You think I can just walk away from you?”

I swallow hard and shake my head. I know he can't, even though he should. I’m putting everyone at risk. “I don’t want anyone getting hurt because of me.”

He snorts. “If you think those assholes will be able to fight four vargr, you’re wrong.”

I tear out of his grasp, needing distance so I canthink and collect my thoughts. “Jackson nearly died fighting normal wolves.”

“He was outnumbered. It wasn’t a fair fight.”

My brows climb up my forehead. “And you think this is going to be a fair fight? You think the hunters will just send one or two wolves after me? Dalton despises me. He’ll have made sure they send as many as possible.”

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