Page 24 of Rejecting his Mate (The Wolves of Black Mountain #2)

Chapter 24

Cade

H alle has this bewildered, dreamy look on her face when I help her into the bathtub. The water sloshes around the sides as she lowers herself into it. There’s a bruise on her side, a purple stain that makes me want to find Dalton and tear his fucking head off.

I meant what I told her. He never deserved her, and I’m going to make sure he never has her again. It is the one thing my wolf and I both agree on.

He wants to claim her.

So do I, mating bond be damned.

That fuck doesn’t give two shits about Halle and I—Well, I don’t even know how to describe my feelings for her.

The first time I caught her scent in those woods, it mesmerized me. I followed it until I found her sitting alone. The solitude she sought always surprised me. Wolves aren’t solitary creatures. The pack is life, and yet she spent so much time alone.

I didn’t realize Dalton was hurting her until the day I saved her from him. Had I known, I would have torn his throat out before.

Halle isn’t delicate, not by any stretch, but she was weaker in that relationship, and he took advantage of that. He used his strength, his dominance, to control her, and I can see it in her. She’s never been taken care of, despite having a mate all this time.

Something is happening to their bond, though. I don’t smell him on her anymore. Their scents are no longer mingled in the way they were when we first went on the run, and the claiming mark has nearly completely faded.

I don’t know what it means, and I don’t care because whatever happens, she’s not going near that asshole.

She's mine.

Mine.

That word resonates through my mind, and as soon as I hear it, I know I’m never going to give her up.

I leave her sitting in the water, her knees pulled up to her chest, and rummage in the cabinet under the basin. There are some supplies under there, so I grab a bottle of shower gel and go back to the tub.

Then I strip out of my clothes. “What are you doing?” she demands.

“Scoot forward.”

She does as I ask without question, though her face suggests she has plenty of them. Climbing in behind her, I grab the shower gel and squirt some onto my hand. “Lean forward.”

She does and I massage the soap onto her back.

“Are you okay?”

She tips her head forward as I massage her back and shoulders.

“I’m tired,” she admits. “It was a lot. My magic and my memories came out at the same time.”

“What was your mom like? Do you remember her?” I knead her shoulders, making her moan a little.

“I don’t really know. Kind of like me, I guess. I got most of my looks from her, I think. I don’t know what my dad looked like.”

Just another thing that has been taken from her. I don’t understand why her aunt never gave her pictures of her father. Surely she has them. I make a vow to myself that I will find at least one fucking photograph of her father so that she can at least see him.

She sits slightly forward, hugging her knees tighter to her chest. “What I remember is that we were running for our lives from hunters. They were in their wolf forms, pursuing us like we were easy game to them. Mom seemed terrified.” She sniffs, and a tear rolls down her cheek.

My chest caves in watching that. I want to kill every single wolf involved in giving her those memories. I gather her against me, pulling her back against my chest. I want to hold her, to keep her tight in my arms and never let go.

“I’m sorry, little wolf.” It’s an inadequate thing to say, but I can’t tell her about the rage filling me. My wolf and I both agree that blood needs to be shed to make this right for her .

I reach down and swipe her tears away. She peers up at me through watery eyes.

“I hate that she's so scared in all the memories I have with her.”

They’ll pay. I don’t care how long it takes, but I will make every single member of the Order suffer for what they have done to Halle.

I force my voice to remain calm, knowing this is not my time to be upset, and go on. “You think she was tau, like you?”

“I don’t know.” She shifts her shoulder. “I don’t recall her ever doing magic in front of me. Or at least I’ve not seen it in any of the memories I’ve had, but I know she had a wolf, like me.” She blows out a breath. “When I first became ‘aware’, that freaked me out the most. I didn’t understand why there was a creature living in my consciousness. Adeline had to explain it and assure me it was normal, but for a long time, I wasn’t comfortable with who I was, and neither was my wolf. I had to learn everything about myself again. It was all taken from me.”

My teeth mash together, my jaw so tight it’s painful. How could they do that to a little girl? She was a pup, barely grown, and they stole everything she was. The more I hear about it, the less I can justify what Adeline did. Maybe she thought she was protecting her niece, but there were other ways of doing it, less cruel ones. They could have gone lone. They could have lived in the human world, away from wolves and any risk of being caught. She could have explained to Halle the dangers of telling anyone what she could do.

But no. Adeline put her own need to have a pack above the needs of an eight-year-old pup.

And I can never let that go. I don’t care about her reasons; some things cannot be forgiven.

“I’m sorry they did that to you,” I say, meaning every word.

I watch her nose wrinkle. “Things keep coming back to me, moments in time, but there’s lots of stuff that I’ve lost. I can sense… holes… where there should be memories.” She drags her fingers through her hair. “I don’t know if this is making sense.”

“I understand what you mean, even if I don’t understand what you’re feeling.”

This seems to give her the strength to keep talking. “I remember Adeline taking me to the witch who bound me. I even remember her name. It was Delphine. She was French, though I didn’t know that at the time. I’d never heard anyone speak anything but English. Delphine didn’t want to do it, but I got the impression she owed Adeline.”

“That witch would never have helped your aunt if she didn’t.” The feud between our kind spans millennia.

Her face crumples, and fuck, I want to take her pain away. I feel it in my chest, squeezing my heart. “I wish I could see what happened to my mom. The last thing I remember is leaving a motel room and being chased. Then the house where Delphine bound me. There’s a gap between those things.”

“Give it time. Your brain was subjected to a lot of information and power in one hit. It’s going to take time for it to fall into place. ”

Her smile is a little forced, and I hate it. “Why do I feel closer to you than I ever have to Dalton?”

“I don’t know.” I sluice my hands off in the water, cleaning the shower gel off my skin.

“I don’t deserve the way you’re looking after me,” she says quietly. “I made everything hard for you and the others. Sawyer. Wyatt never wanted to come in the first place. I nearly got Jackson killed, and you—”

I stop wiping, giving her my full attention. “What about me?”

“You took a bullet because of me.”

I grab the back of her neck, pulling her toward me and forcing her face toward mine. The angle is awkward but I need her to know how serious I am as I speak these words. The water sloshes in the bath, but I only care about her. “And I’d do it again.”

Need and desire pulse through me. I dip my head, leaning closer so I can claim her mouth. She lies against my chest, her head tipped to the side so she can meet my mouth.

Now that I’ve tasted her, I can’t stop my body from reacting to her. I want Halle, and my wolf doesn’t give a shit if she is mated to that asshole. My need for her is overwhelming. My body itches to be inside her, to fully claim her as mine.

I force myself and my wolf to calm down as I pull back from the kiss. “I need to finish washing you before the water turns cold.”

The smile she gives me goes straight to my cock. “I don’t give a shit about the water.” She pulls me in for another kiss .

There is a certain amount of satisfaction in the way she takes me and the confidence with which she does it.

I let her take her fill until she is breathless and forced to stop. I want to ask her what we’re doing, but I don’t care. My wolf and I want this. I’m tired of denying the pull between us.

Besides, that son of a bitch Dalton rejected her. He doesn’t get to take her back. Not when I want her to be mine.

When I gaze into her eyes, I see her pupils are blown wide, and there is a lazy, contented look in them. It makes me feel good to have that effect on her, and I wonder how my own eyes look.

But there is something more. My skin feels hot, and judging from how flushed her chest is, I’m guessing hers is too. There is a dizzying need inside me, and I feel the urge to claim her as I glance at the claiming mark on her neck, hating everything about it.

Fuck him. He doesn’t get to keep that mark on her any longer. I turn my head, rubbing my nose along the length of her neck and shoulder, ignoring the way the claiming mark feels against my skin.

Ours.

That is all my wolf says. She is ours and that mark means nothing.

Without thinking, I sink my teeth into her neck, breaking the skin. She sucks in a breath, hissing between her teeth before it becomes a moan of pleasure. Blood fills my mouth for a moment, the coppery tang of it coating my tongue. I pull back just enough to swipe my tongue over the bite, sealing the mark .

She whimpers, letting out a shuddering groan as my saliva touches the claiming mark. Her fingers go between her legs, under the water, to touch herself as my body burns for her.

I take her hand, moving it away from her pussy, returning my attention to the claiming mark that I have given her. The one Dalton gave her is no longer there, or it’s hidden beneath mine. I don’t give a shit. I feel fucking triumphant.

I swipe my tongue again over it, making her throw her head back and moan. “Cade…”

I keep my tongue locked to it as she tries to tug her hand free, but I'll be the one playing with her clit. Mine. The water splashes as I apply pressure, circling it slowly and then fast. She grips the edge of the tub, spreading her legs wider for me.

“Oh!” She gasps again, the word raw and ragged as it is forced between her lips. “Right there,” she tells me, but I don’t need that instruction. I know exactly where to press to bring her to orgasm.

Her pants become more intense, building to something beautiful as my dick is painfully hard pressed against her ass.

My chest feels tight like every breath is a struggle. Is it possible to suffocate when there is plenty of air? My wolf whines, his ears up. I ignore him, focusing instead on what my tongue and my fingers are doing.

Halle’s scent surrounds me, clinging to my nose and making me feel dizzy. I don’t stop what I’m doing, though. She’s close, I can sense it. If she wasn’t in the water, I would smell it .

I grind my thumb against her clit, and her body twitches. Her orgasm rolls through her, and I love seeing her like this. Her dusky pink nipples are hard little buds as they thrust up at the same time as her hips, and her pretty pussy glistens with drops of water as it surfaces before sinking back under. She sags bonelessly against me, her skin flushed and a contented look on her face. I take a moment to just stare at her, taking her in as she looks at me with adoration.

For a while we just sit together, her back against my chest, my arms wrapped around her. Once the water gets cold, I force myself to move. “We need to get out.”

“I’m not even sure I’m clean.”

This makes me laugh. “You’re clean enough. Let’s get out before I make you dirty.”

I stand and help her out of the tub before wrapping a fluffy towel around her body.

I’ve never wanted to take care of someone before. Never cared enough about anyone to do it, but with her, it’s all I want.

My wolf lifts his head and bays into the sky. As he does, one word floats across my mind.

Mate .