Page 95 of Rejecting his Mate

Apryle says to me, “I’m going to check on Roux and fill her in on…” She waves her hand vaguely. “All of this.”

I nod and make my way into the house. Abel remains close to me, my silent bodyguard. I lead everyone into the living room, gesturing for them to take a seat on the large sectional that fills the space. Thisroom normally seems open and big, but with these huge males, it feels small and closed in.

I sit next to Abel, his hand slipping into mine and resting on my lap. Two of the vargr wolves choose to stand, while Hester directs Cade to lie on the chaise part of the couch.

He does as he’s asked, his legs hanging off the end. Halle stays close to him, even though I can tell she is struggling to keep her eyes open.

“I can heal him,” Halle says. “I’ve done it before. I just need a minute.”

“That’s your gift?” Hester asks. Despite Halle’s assertion, she peels back the makeshift bandage on Cade’s shoulder. “You can heal?”

The bleeding has slowed, but it’s still trickling from the wound site. He winces, glancing away from the injury.

Halle nods. “I’ve done it twice now, though I don’t know how. It just seemed to work. I wanted to heal him, and I did, and with Jackson, it was the same.”

Hester stares at her, and I wonder what she is thinking. “Try.”

Cade snaps his eyes toward Hester. “No way. She’s barely standing on her feet as it is. I won’t take any more from her.”

Halle leans over him, trailing the backs of her fingers over his cheek. “You think I can just sit here and hope you’ll be alright when I can save you?”

His mouth pulls into an annoyed snarl. “Save me? As far as I know, I’m not dying. You could be. You’ve pushed your mind to the limit. You need to rest. Youwere bleeding from your eyes, your nose, and your ears. Don’t you understand? Your body is telling you it was too much.”

“I feel stronger now. And I remember things.”

“What things?”

Her expression turns serene. “My mama. I used to heal her all the time. Little cuts and grazes. I liked practicing, and I was good at it. I feel my power in every cell in my body, thrumming away, ready for me to use it.”

“We’ll teach her how to use her magic safely,” Hester says. “But you have to understand Halle is one of the strongest tau I have ever come across. She may even be more powerful than I am.”

Those words floor me. I didn’t think anyone could be more powerful than Hester. Her magic is a conduit for the rest of us to explore our own power. I stare at Halle, but I realize Hester is right. Even with no training, Halle was able to communicate with me by connecting our minds, which is a very difficult power to wield. I can only do it because the four of us learned to do it together. It was one of the first things Hester taught us. We aren’t a pack, so we don’t have a pack link to communicate. I’m not even sure if we would be able to create one because our wolves aren’t the same as other shifters.

Most of us can’t turn into our beasts. Roux is the only one who has managed it, and only for short spells. She is not the norm. Most tau have more witch in them than wolf, and our magic represses that side of us.

“If I’m so powerful, then I should be able to heal Cade.”

“Yes,” Hester says.

I snap my gaze in her direction. “Hester.”

She doesn’t look at me, even though she addresses me. “Those hunters will keep on coming for her and us. Especially now. The destruction we left behind in Spencer will raise questions. We need to be the strongest we can be, and that means she needs to learn to use her power.”

“I don’t doubt that,” I say, “but no one wants her to be hurt.”

“And she won’t be.” Hester takes Halle’s hands in hers. “As individuals, our strength only goes so far. When we combine our power with another witch’s, we can double that power.”

“Tell me what to do.”

Chapter 23

Halle

The tension between Tessa and Hester is unmistakable. I understand Tessa is trying to protect me, but I don’t want that. I want to fix Cade. I can feel his pain throbbing through the pack link, and I want to take that from him.

As I grip Hester’s hand, I feel her power pushing between us. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I listen to her soft voice directing me on how to access my magic.

I focus, doing as she commands. I reach inside my mind and push all my energy out of my body and into Cade’s.

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