Page 22 of Rejecting his Mate (The Wolves of Black Mountain #2)

Chapter 22

Tessa

T he car is quiet as Abel directs us along the highway, heading for home. I wasn’t sure what to expect when Halle came to me in my visions, and even less sure when I managed to communicate with her. I got the impression of a scared young wolf, uncertain of who she is and what she is capable of.

But what happened back there, the way those members of the Order died, had nothing to do with the rest of us. It was all Halle.

“She’s strong,” I say, shifting my gaze in Hester’s direction.

She is the strongest of us and the one who set up the sanctuary for tau wolves and other wolves who fall prey to hunters. She is the one who will understand what happened back there.

Hester doesn’t look at me, keeping her gaze locked on the side window.

“Did you sense that much power in her when you first touched her?” I press .

Abel glances at the rearview mirror before shifting his gaze to me. I don’t need the luxury of our mating bond to know what is going through his head. What happened back there was not normal.

“I didn’t,” I continue when she doesn’t answer. “Her powers were bound, and then suddenly they weren’t. What happened?”

Apryle is watching the conversation intently, wanting answers too.

Finally, Hester looks at me, though I can’t read the expression on her face. “We needed her strength.”

I raise my eyebrows. “So you… Did what?”

“I used our combined power to release the binding holding her.”

I stare at her in shock, barely able to contemplate what she is saying. What she did was incredibly dangerous, and judging from the look on her face, she knows that. “You could have killed her. All that power coming free in one hit… It could have been too much.”

Hester runs her fingers through her hair, a hint of frustration in the gesture. “We couldn’t hold that protection any longer. Bullets were getting through.”

“So you risked shredding her mind?” My voice is shrill as I ask this question. We don’t know Halle or whether that was something she wanted us to test. She might not have wanted to regain her powers that way, and Hester took that out of her control.

I’m grateful for everything she’s done for me since I came to the sanctuary, but this ruthless side of her scares me sometimes. There are no lines she will not cross, consequences be damned .

“It wouldn’t have shredded her mind,” Hester argues. “And I did what I had to do to keep us all alive. It worked, didn’t it? They’re dead, and we’re not.”

I glance at Abel again, feeling anguished at her admission. This isn’t how things should be done, and it isn’t what I signed up for. I want to help those like me, those who are part witch and part wolf. Hybrids are hunted and killed all the time, but there’s an unmatched hatred for our kind.

“How exactly did you release the binding?” Apryle asks the question that is sitting on the tip of my tongue too.

“Does it matter?” Hester asks. “She’s free to be who she is now.”

“How?”

Hester blows out a breath as if these questions are beneath her. “We were all joined with our powers, so I harnessed both of yours to remove it.”

Apryle grits her teeth. “That should have been discussed between the three of us. You had no idea what it might do to us.”

Power swells through the car, coming from Hester. “Do you think I am some conjurer of cheap tricks? I have learned and I have adapted my powers into what they are today. I knew exactly what I was doing, and what effect it would have. She couldn’t stay bound. When I touched her mind, I felt her strength, and we would have died out there. So I decided in a split second to save our lives by using the gift she had hidden away. I’m not going to apologize for that, and if you really doubt my intentions that much, why the hell are you coming back to the sanctuary with me?”

The air crackles as her power recedes, leaving anger and guilt behind. Hester is right—we shouldn’t doubt her, but the way she handled things is going to make it hard for Halle to trust us.

I glance at the side-view mirror, making sure the truck is still following us. It is, and I wonder if I should have gone with them. Halle has to be scared and freaking out. Despite what Hester says, she can’t possibly know the effects of unleashing her magic like that.

I reach out in my mind, searching for Halle until I scrape over her consciousness. “Halle?” I speak her name in my thoughts, half expecting her to ignore me.

To my surprise, she answers immediately. “Hey.”

Relief floods me—we haven’t damaged the relationship between us before it even got started . “Are you alright?”

Her awareness flickers out for a moment before returning. “I don’t know.”

“What’s wrong?”

“When my magic was freed, it also released all my memories. When they bound me, I guess they were worried I might tell people what I was and what I’d been through. All I’m seeing are flashes of my past. It’s so confusing. Things that were lost to me are coming back faster than I can compute.”

Sympathy wars with the anger I feel toward Hester for how she’s handled this. It should have been done back at the sanctuary, under controlled conditions where we could talk Halle through what she is experiencing.

“I know it’s overwhelming, but just let your brain do what it needs to. You can decipher what it all means afterward. We are still a couple of hours from the sanctuary. If you need to stop, let me know. I don’t know what we can do to help, but there might be something.”

“No, we need to keep moving. We need to get somewhere safe. You say the sanctuary can offer that?”

She winks out for a moment, our connection briefly lost.

“Yes, Halle. The sanctuary has wards in place that protect us from the outside world, including hunters. Hester is a very powerful tau wolf. Her witch part is much stronger than any of ours.” Except maybe Halle’s. The power she unleashed is like nothing I have ever seen before, even with all the practice and progress we have made as a coven. I don’t want to blindside her any further, so I give her as much truth as I can. “There is another of us, called Roux. We had to leave her behind because the sanctuary cannot be empty for the wards to work. You’ll meet her when we get there. She can conjure, and like me, she is moon touched.”

I feel her confusion. “What is moon touched?”

“The white in our hair. I don’t know if it actually comes from the moon, but that is what people say.”

“I need to sleep. My brain feels so overwhelmed.”

“I understand. Rest. There will be plenty of time for questions when we reach safety.”

I cut the connection between our minds and grit my teeth. As necessary as it was to remove that binding, the way it was done was not.

I feel Abel through the mating bond, his support, and his love for me. He reaches across, placing his hand on my thigh. I love how his strong grip on me makes me feel, the ownership it conveys. And he does own me. I am his in every way imaginable.

I place my hand over his, taking his warmth and love. It calms my mind in a way nothing else can. I never understood the way the mating bond worked until Abel and I found each other.

Fated mates are a once-in-a-lifetime event, and yet we were both in the right place at the right time. A million to one. I want to nuzzle into his side, wrap my arm around him, and enjoy his presence, but there isn’t space in the front of the car for me to do that.

“I know you think what I did was cruel,” Hester speaks. “Leaving her as she was would be worse. Her magic was already breaking through. It was only a matter of time before it happened on its own, without anyone there who would have known what she was and what she needed.”

As much as I understand that, I still think we could have handled it better. “She’s fragile. She’s never known who she is, and now she’s being overwhelmed by eight years’ worth of memories. I just think we could have pulled that out of her carefully, let her digest bits at a time.”

Hester sighs. I respect her, like her even. She is the reason Abel and I were able to get over our issues with his moon sickness. But it does worry me that sometimes she doesn’t think about the long-term effects of what she does. I have no doubt there will be more hybrids coming to us. We need to learn to do better for them.

“A binding can’t be removed inch by inch.” There is no anger in her voice as she speaks, but there is perhaps a small amount of frustration. “The witch who did it originally put a band-aid over Halle’s magic. There was no option other than ripping it straight off. We’ll help her with whatever she needs, but if we hadn’t let her be who she is, we would be no better than the assholes who did it to her.”

None of us speak for the rest of the journey, lost in our own thoughts.

When Abel turns into the track that leads to the main house, I feel a hint of relief to be safe again. I feel the moment we pass through the wards, the way the magic wavers for a moment to let us pass. It makes my entire body relax.

I glance behind, making sure the other truck is still following. It is, though a lot slower as if they are expecting danger. I don’t blame them for being suspicious. Anyone would be.

Abel parks in front of the garage, their truck pulling up beside us. Everyone climbs out, and my gaze seeks out Halle, trying to discern what state she is in.

The wolf who has been at her side comes straight for her, even though he is standing there with blood on his shoulder. We’ll need to look at that and see if we can patch it up. Wolves are hardier than humans, especially vargr, but they are still prone to infection.

Despite how tired she looks, Halle slides under his armpit, dragging his arm around her shoulder in an attempt to help him walk. One of the other wolves tries to take over, but she bats him away.

Hester is right about the link between them. It is faint, dampened down, but it is there. I have never known a wolf to be mated and yet connected to another. Usually, when pack magic is used to tie two chosen mates together, their love grows, creating an unbreakable bond.

As far as I know, the only way to remove a mating bond is using the same magic that created it in the first place, but while alphas know how to put a mating bond into place, they don’t know how to remove one. Only witches know that secret.

Halle and Cade are an anomaly. When I look at these two, I see a connection so deep I refuse to believe they are not mates, but they aren’t joined that way.

I stare at them, watching their interactions. The way they touch each other and have to be in each other's space every second is the same as with fated mates. It is how I am with Abel.

When we are apart, it is as if I have lost half of myself. Halle and Cade do this without even realizing it.

I wonder how damaged her mating bond with the other wolf is for her wolf to have turned to Cade, and if that was what allowed him to catch her wolf’s attention in the first place.

Hester comes around the front of the truck, a smile on her face. “Welcome to the sanctuary.”

Their eyes are everywhere, taking in the house, the cabins beyond, and the lake in front of the mountains. There’s a beautiful tranquility about this little slice of Montana. I was able to find peace myself here and forgive my sins. Members of my pack died getting me to safety. I know my father lives only because I asked Abel to check in when he was doing a supply run.

I miss him every day. My father knew what I was. I was different enough to be on the radar of dangerous wolves, but he still treated me with love and affection. He was my father to the very end. And I know it probably pains him knowing I am out here without his protection.

I wish I were able to tell him I am happy and that I am settled in my life with my mate and my coven, one that is about to grow.

“Let’s get him inside and take a look at that wound.”

From the looks of it, they’ve patched it as best as they could in the back of the truck, but I can imagine the pain he must be feeling.

The vargr wolves huddle together, exchanging glances. There is still a lack of trust between us, which I understand. We came out of nowhere, expecting them to follow us. I hope we can somehow ease the tension they are feeling.

Cade slides his hand into Halle’s, which tells me he has no intention of letting go of her.

“Come inside. We could all do with some caffeine.” I turn to walk up the porch steps, expecting no one to follow, but they do.

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. This room 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. You were 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.”