Page 7 of Rejecting his Mate

Am I a tau wolf?

“Not even the witch part?” Adeline says.

“I can’t help you. I’m sorry.”

Delphine tries to close the door, but Adeline presses a hand against the frame, stopping it from shutting fully. Her touch is light, but Delphine tries to shove it closed and can’t. Her mouth pulls into a sneer. “I’m not one of your wolf pack. You can’t order me to do what you want.”

“I’m not ordering anything,” Adeline snaps back, then softens her tone. “She’s my niece. Please help us. I have money. Lots of it. I’ll pay whatever you want.”

Delphine glares at her. “Ten thousand.”

“Done.”

She narrows her eyes. “If anyone finds out I’m involved—”

“No one will know,” Adeline assures her.

Her gaze casts to the side, her jaw tightening, and I wait for her to turn us away.

“What am I doing?” she mutters. “Don’t make me regret this.” Delphine steps aside, and Adeline’s palm on the small of my back forces my feet to move.

The door shutting behind me feels like a cell locking, and I glance back as my chance to escape disappears.

My eyes are everywhere as I take in the rooms we pass through. Strange knick-knacks are covering every surface, and the smell of something pungent clings to the air. I wrinkle my nose as Delphine leads us into a large kitchen. It’s nicer than the kitchen Mama and I had, big and bright with white cabinets and a view over the yard.

“What do you want from me, Adeline?” Delphine leans her hands on the island in the middle of the room.

The look that crosses Adeline’s face makes me shiver. My wolf wants me to run, urges me to with a desperate whine. I glance at the doorway, which Adeline is blocking.

“I need you to bind her magic.”

I stop considering escape as my head snaps toward my aunt.

Magic?

I have magic?

The perfectly arched brow that Delphine raises does nothing to calm me. “She’s a child.”

“I want to keep her alive.”

Delphine shakes her head. “You want me to take away the thing that makes her who she is?”

Adeline closes her eyes as her shoulders sag. “The Order of the Crescent Moon is searching for her.”

I’ve never heard that name before, but I’m hit with a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach the moment I do.

What is the Order of the Crescent Moon? And what do they want with me?

Delphine lets out a noise in the back of her throat that sounds somewhere between a groan and a sigh. “And you think binding her will help?”

“It’s the only option we have. I know this goes against everything you stand for, but Delphine, she’s an innocent child. She doesn’t deserve to die for what she is.”

There is a desperation in Adeline’s expression, even as Delphine remains emotionless. I don’t understand the stakes, but part of me realizes they are high.

I want to ask what I am and about this magic, but Delphine’s amber eyes snap toward Adeline. She says something in a language I don’t understand, but I hear the frustration in her words.

“Delphine,” Adeline speaks her name softly.

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