Page 8 of Rejecting his Mate

“Merde. If I do this, it can’t be undone.”

“I know. Do it anyway.”

I glance between the two adults, a dark feeling spreading through my veins. What are they going to do to me?

“Sit on the stool,mon trésor.” When I don’t move, Adeline pushes me forward, and I slide onto the stool in front of the breakfast bar. “Hold her shoulders.” This is said to my aunt, who grips me tight enough to leave marks on my skin. “I’m sorry, but when you wake, you won’t remember what I did to you.”

She places her hands on either side of my head and mutters something under her breath.

Pain explodes through my skull, a crushing agony that has me seeing white flashing lights. I’ve never felt anything like it, and it leaves me gasping for breath as a thousand pinpricks stab my head. My vision swirls and only Adeline’s hands on my shoulders keep me from slumping off the seat.

“Mama!” I call for her, my voice ravaged as I scream the word, but there is no one—no one is coming for me, no one is going to save me.

“Hurry up,” Adeline begs, but Delphine doesn’t. Shekeeps her hands locked on the sides of my head, continuing to speak words I don’t understand.

My brain feels as if it is being pulled out of my eyes. Every inch of me aches fiercely, and my chest is so tight I can hardly pull in air. Jolting back, I try to pull away from the agony infusing my head, but I can’t move. They won’t allow it.

It feels like something is being torn inside me. My wolf growls and whimpers, but I can do nothing to comfort her; I don’t even know how to comfort myself. Delphine is trying to kill me. That is how it feels. My body is electrified, my heart is pounding, and blood is rushing through my system, trying to save me from the threat it faces.

There is no saving, though.

Whatever Delphine is doing is working. There is a part of my brain that is awake and fighting back. She subdues it quickly. “Je suis désolée,” she mutters.

It is as if someone turns the lights off. My brain wipes completely, like an eraser moving over a chalkboard. I reach for a memory, for anything, but my mind is empty.

Fear clogs my throat.

Where am I?

Who are these people?

Who am I?

The woman behind me releases her crushing grip on my shoulders, and I wince as blood rushes to the area.

“Halle?” she says as I blink, trying to clear my cloudy vision. “Halle?” she repeats, and I realize she’s talking to me.

“I’m Halle?”

My gut swirls and ice fills my belly. Nothing is familiar, and that terrifies me.

“You took everything?” the blonde woman behind me hisses.

“I can’t control what is taken. You wanted it done. Now it is done. Wolves,” she mutters, “never satisfied.”

She doesn’t elaborate on whatever she’s done, and I don’t ask. The blonde woman comes to stand in front of me, bending down so she’s at eye level. “I’m Adeline, and I’m your aunt. You’re safe now, I promise.”

These words are given freely and with a smile, but still dread slithers through me.

Safe from what?

Chapter 2

Halle

PRESENT…

I’m being watched.

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