Page 3 of Rejected Pregnant Mate

I murmured the incantation under my breath, raising my hands over the candle, palms toward the flame. At first, it was beautiful. The candle flames burned brighter, almost white-hot, as the charm began to lift into the air between my palms.

But then… something shifted. That dark thread wrapped around my spine like hundreds of tiny claws sinking in. It was barely a blip in the overall feeling of the spell working, but it was totally different from anything I’d felt so far. It had to just be an aspect of the spell, something that popped up with stronger magic, not the tiny spells I’d tried before this. I pushed forward, continuing my chant, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling.

Bit by bit, I became more anchored in the spell, and I could feel the change inside of me, my magic burning brighter and brighter. But with each success, memories started to creep in, unwelcome and distracting.

They were harmless, at first. Bittersweet. My mother’s laugh, the way my dad used to scratch his head when he wasthinking. My parents were never far from my mind, so that wasn’t much of a surprise.

The next face to drift across my consciousness, though, instantly made me angry. It was Scott, again, his mouth curved into that know-it-all smirk. Why him? Why now?

My concentration wavered, the image of Scott in my mind becoming clearer as the magic started to slip through my fingers. No! He wasn’t going to take this away from me!

But the harder I tried to push him away, the more his memory persisted. The dark thread of magic pulsed, and I could feel everything starting to spiral out of control. I was so sure that I’d gotten over Scott’s rejection and that I was coming into this spell with a clear mind, but he was ruining my chances without even knowing it.

I lowered my hands closer to the flame, unbothered as the heat became painful, and used all my mental strength to banish Scott from my mind and force the spell back under my control. It fought me, starting to spiral, the previously graceful candle flame flaring chaotically.

It was almost like I could feel him. Like I could sense him so close that it was interfering with my magic. But that was impossible…wasn’t it?

A pit formed in my stomach, and I opened my eyes, desperate to reassure myself that I was really alone.

The figure standing in the treehouse shocked me to such a degree that I gasped, and in that moment, I completely lost control of the spell.

It was, of course, Scott Nevada. The man who had once looked me in the face, scented me, knew what I was to him—and rejected me anyway. He was right there, in my secret place, theone piece of the world I was supposed to be able to escape pack politics and nonsense.

He looked…different, I realized, as the magic slipped away to swirl around the room. Scott was always grinning, relaxed, and aloof. Tonight, though, he looked wild, dark, and furious. I moved to extinguish the candle to stop the spell, but the flame grew impossibly high. Before I could do anything, the magic, still connected to the very core of me, coalesced into a single entity, sharp like a spear—

And hit Scott directly in the center of his chest.

Chapter 2 - Scott

I hadn’t meant to follow her.

Okay. Maybe I had, but it wasn’t the main reason I’d shown up to Samson’s kid’s birthday party, of all places. Going to small children’s parties wasn’t a habit of mine, but pack alliances like the one I have with Samson are rare, and it was important for me to keep up appearances, even if I hated it.

Not that I had a problem with the kid. He seemed like a normal, pleasant kid, which was surprising since Samson was such an ass. Kit must have taken after his mother.

I’d arrived with a gift and an excuse to leave immediately after speaking with Samson and making my presence known, but then I scented her. Nayeli. I should have expected it—she’s Kit’s older cousin, after all—but it was starting to seem like I’d never get used to being around Nayeli. I could do a good job of hiding my reaction on the outside, but inside, the woman made me feral.

Once I’d sensed her, I meant to simply ignore her until I could escape the party, but Nayeli was acting odd. She fled the party while I was watching her out of the corner of my eye, and to my surprise, she didn’t return. Instead, I watched out the window as she headed into the forest and out of sight.

The wolf inside me sat up and took notice. I had been at war with myself ever since I rejected her, and watching her disappear into the treeline had all of my instincts on edge. I didn’t like that she was walking away from me, and I definitely didn’t like that I had no idea where she was going, even if it wasn’t my business.

I’d rejected her, which meant I’d given up any right to concern myself with her day-to-day activities. Too bad my wolf didn’t feel that way.

So I followed her, stopping by to greet Samson and his kid and drop off the gift at the gift table before setting out in search of Nayeli. It might have just been Alpha curiosity, but something made me think that she was getting into something a lot more interesting than a kid's birthday party.

I tracked her scent through the trees, her perfume, and natural scent combining to form the irresistible smell of sun-ripened peaches. She stopped to talk to another wolf, one of Samson’s, which made me feel a stab of possessiveness before she dismissed him and continued on her way.

The farther Nayeli went, the more her delicious scent was tainted by the astringent smell of anise and something slightly burnt, like extinguished candles. When she made it to her destination, I gave her space so she didn’t sense me right away, and was utterly amused at what I saw.

A treehouse. There had been no secret meet-up or long walk just to clear her head. Nayeli had gone to a treehouse, and I grinned as I watched her climb the ladder. How unexpected. She was always different from the others, but still found new ways to surprise me.

I considered my next move carefully. The smartest thing to do would be to leave, but I wasn’t always a smart man. I’d been avoiding Nayeli and the unresolved issue of our rejected mating bond for a long time, but part of me still wanted her attention, good or bad. The temptation to go to the bottom of the tree and call up to her was strong, but I resisted, thinking just how disastrously things could play out if I confronted her.

Then I heard her voice.

Nayeli always talked too fast, her words getting quicker when she was speaking about something she was passionate about. Her nerves made her talk fast, too, her sweet voice rising in volume as she went. This was different. Nayeli spoke slowly, her tone deep and confident. At first, I was just absorbing how sexy her voice was, but after a moment, something strange registered with me—I didn’t know what in the hell she was saying.

I didn’t recognize the language, either, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. My instincts were at war, half of them screaming at me to get the hell out of there while the other half was demanding that I go and check that my mate was okay. I could see the flicker of a candle within the treehouse, and the wind was picking up, but otherwise, there were no outward signs that I needed to worry.

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