Page 88 of Rejecting his Mate

Before she can answer, a lone truck moves up the road in the distance, heading toward us. Behind it is another vehicle, kicking up dirt under its wheels. Then another appears on the horizon behind them. A caravan.

“We need to leave now,” Hester says.

It is the first time I have agreed with anything shehas said since we came out here. It could just be a group traveling together, but I know it’s not.

“Hunters!” Abel snarls.

I open the pack link and warn the others, telling them to come to us. “We need to run,” I say to the females.

Hester shakes her head and gestures to the back of the car. Another wolf climbs out, and I can smell the magic coming off her too. Another tau wolf—how many of them are there? She has hair nearly as dark as Hester's, but she’s young, maybe a few years older than Halle.

“What are you doing?” I demand. “Get back in the car and get the fuck out of here.”

“And how far do you think we will get with them following us?” Hester asks. Her words are calm, and I wonder if she has a death wish. Does she not realize the danger these hunters pose?

“So, you’d rather just stay here and die?”

“No one is going to die,” the other dark-haired tau wolf says. She gives me a smirk that does little to ease the tension rolling through me. “I’m Apryle.”

I ignore her introduction. I don’t want to get to know any of these hybrids. My sole focus is on keeping Halle and my pack alive.

“What’s going on?” Sawyer asks as he jogs up to me, Jackson and Wyatt behind him.

“Hunters.”

Hester reaches out and takes Apryle’s hand in hers. Tessa moves to the other side of her, slipping her palm into Hester’s.

I don’t care what they are doing. I give Halle my full attention, gripping her shoulders and dipping my head so I can focus on her. “If anything happens to us, you run.”

Her eyes fill with fear and denial. “No. I’m not leaving without you.”

“You have to. I need to know that you’ll be safe.”

Tears prick her eyes, and as one rolls down her cheek, I wipe it away with the pad of my thumb. I don’t want to see her cry, and I have no intention of leaving her here alone, but we are outnumbered, and there is nowhere to go.

I lean down, and despite my past misgivings about being with someone already mated, I kiss her. There is no regret, no remorse, no sense of betrayal as I move my mouth over hers. She tastes sweet, and I want more. My fingers splay over her cheeks as I turn her head slightly so I can deepen our connection. Dalton might’ve marked her, but she belongs to me. Hester was right when she said there is a connection between us, and I’m tired of denying it.

Dalton rejected her and threw her aside like she was trash. His loss is my gain because I will never walk away from this wolf. Even if I have to die to protect her and keep her safe, that is what I will do.

Halle is mine.

I pull away, reluctant to end the kiss, but knowing I have to because I can hear the engines getting closer. I touch my forehead to hers, needing contact before I let her go.

“You stay behind us. No matter what.” I turn to my brother and the rest of my pack. “Get ready to fight.”

“Do we shift?” Jackson asks.

“You won’t need to shift,” Hester says.

“Stay as you are,” I confirm, trusting Hester will do everything in her power to keep at least herself and the women with her safe.

With one final glance at Halle, I turn back to face the line of trucks getting closer, and then I drop, ready to fight.

Chapter 21

Halle

My head is swirling with everything that has happened in the last few moments. Hester says Cade and I are connected through our wolves, and I believe it. Even when I was with my old pack, I was drawn to Cade just as much as he was to me. I don’t know what it means, though. The mating bond between Dalton and I should have stopped any other connections from forming.

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