Page 30 of Rejected Mate

"This doesn't just affect Husk. It affects all of us."

I frown, trying to figure out what he's talking about. "What do you mean?"

He brushed a finger over my lower lip and let out a huff of air, bringing the scent of cinnamon flowing over me. "Our powers will start failing."

When they first told me they were my mates, I had a hard time accepting it. Then I bonded with Winter and Sky. But I didn't think a fated mate would be this hard to accept. It feels like Husk and I are enemies, not even close to even tolerated acquaintances.

"Fagua, mating is the only way to save him." Winter moved his arm, breaking our connection. "Just like you mated with Sky to save him."

"That was different." I pushed up from the bed and snatched my clothes off the floor, pulling them on. Even with Sky, I had fled from here because I didn't want to admit I could possibly have more than one mate. But I couldn't stay away, and when I saw Sky in the hospital and how sick he was—something inside of me shifted. But when I saw Husk crumpled in the middle of the kitchen, I was concerned but felt nothing like I did with Winter or Sky. He had to be wrong. They all did.

Winter climbed out of bed, hiking up a pair of gray jogging pants over his ass and came over to where I stood next to the dresser.

"You have to mate with Husk. If you don't, he'll die." Winter put a hand on my shoulder as I grabbed my shoes from the floor.

I turned and pushed him away. "I can't do this."

"I can't lose you either." He gripped my shoulders, forcing me to look into his eyes. "I love you. There's never a day that goes by that I don't think about you."

"What? You love me?" I hadn't expected him to say that. Maybe I had wanted to hear it from him, but now it was too late.

I wrenched away from him. "Husk isn't going to die. He's not." Tears rolled down my cheeks.

"Fagua—"

"No. You're wrong about me being his mate. I can't be." I pushed him out of the way and ran out the door.

"What's different?" Winter grabs my elbow, gently turning me to face him, narrowing his gaze at me.

"You, Sky, and I have something." I twist the hem of my shirt around my finger, not sure what else to say. "Husk… I don't know. I just don't feel it."

"Fagua." Winter's voice turned low and I knew he was trying to be patient. "You have to try."

"No." The word came out harsher than I wanted. "It's not that I don't want to save him." The thought of him dying was unbearable. "But I just can't do this. I can't give myself to him like that."

Husk and I have been at odds since the day we met. Getting close to him is like trying to pet a porcupine and not get stabbed.

I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. My makeup was smudged and I had just-fucked hair.

I grabbed a brush off the dresser and started to pull it through my locks. Everything in me wanted to scream, to run, to do anything but agree to what Winter and Sky wanted.

"Fagua." Winter grabbed my wrist, stopping the frantic movement. "I'm not telling you to do this because I want you to. I'm telling you to do this because it's your duty as his mate and ours. To save him and all of us. It's not a matter of what you or I want. If I had my way, you'd be only mine forever. But neither of us can deny fate. You have to mate with him." His fingers squeezed my hand gently. "Don't you see you're the only one who can save him? You're the only one who can save all of us."

I closed my eyes briefly before meeting his gaze. "Please don't ask me to do this."

"It's your choice." Winter raked a hand through his white-blond hair and headed toward the door. "But he will die without you. And our circle—our pack—will deteriorate."

I don't know how long I stood there staring at the spot on the floor where Winter had been. Maybe I was waiting for him to come back and tell me I was right.

Sky drifted in dressed in leather pants and a T-shirt that clung to his muscled chest. "Are you okay?"

I shook my head, tears stinging the back of my eyes. "I can't do this. I can't mate with Husk. I just can't."

"You have to." He dropped down on the bed. "If you don't, you'll lose everything."

"I can't." I pushed the hairbrush back on the dresser and crossed my arms. "I'm not his mate. It was natural with Winter. And even with you it didn't take me that long to realize the truth. But with Husk, it feels forced."

"Everything in me, even before Husk's test and mine, I knew you were our mate." He reached out and touched my arm. "I can smell it. You're his. It's fate."

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