Page 6 of Rejecting his Mate (The Wolves of Black Mountain #2)

Chapter 6

Halle

T he pressure on my throat lifts, and reflexively my lungs stutter back into use. I suck in a huge breath, gasping, spluttering, and sobbing.

The dark spots that were invading my vision lift, and I blink frantically to see my aunt. Dalton is on his knees at my side, defending his head as she rains down blow after blow. The last blow hits hard, and he slides bonelessly into the dirt face-first.

Dropping the log she used to hit him with, Adeline rushes over to me. The concern that ripples across her face makes me sob more. The pack might not care about me, and they might hate me, but there’s still one wolf who loves me.

“Oh! Halle, can you sit up?”

I nod, even though I’m not sure I can. Her hand under my back, Adeline helps me up, and my gaze slides in Dalton's direction. He’s not dead. The mating bond is still buzzing beneath the surface, but he’s not conscious either.

Adeline grabs my face, her hands cupping my jaw and bringing my attention back to her. “What happened?”

I swallow past the burn in my throat, but my words are hoarse when they come out. “He wants me… dead… to sever the… mating… bond.”

Adeline’s face is ashen as I finish speaking. “You have to leave. Get as far away as you can from him. He won’t be able to sense you once you’re a distance away.”

I’m not sure I have the strength to run, but I let her help me to my feet. As soon as I’m standing, I wobble, my vision rolling. My wolf whimpers and I send soothing waves to her. I need her focused.

“I was leaving anyway. Klaus took the pack bond from me.”

Her expression is sad. “I know. I felt it the moment he did and rushed back to the house. He wouldn’t tell me where you were, but I could scent you.”

I throw my arms around her, ignoring the pain that slices through my body. “I didn’t think I’d get to say goodbye.”

“I’m glad we have.” Adeline kisses my forehead and closes her eyes. “I should never have brought you here.”

My brows come together. “You couldn’t have known I’d be latent.”

The guilt that ripples across her face makes my spine straighten. “I’m sorry, Halle. I… suspected. I just… I hoped you would be the exception, not the rule.”

I don’t know what she’s talking about, but an ugly feeling is spreading through my body. “I don’t understand.”

Adeline glances over her shoulder at a still-unconscious Dalton before returning her attention to me. “I don’t have time to go through it properly, but your mama loved you dearly. She sacrificed everything so you would be safe.” Pain stabs through my chest at the mention of my mom.

“Why?”

She licks her lips, moistening them before she speaks. “Because your mama was different, and so are you.” She takes my face between her hands. “You’re special, Halle. I wish I had more time to explain things.”

“What am I?” I demand. There are so many questions rolling around my head.

“Your father tried to protect you both, but all he gave you was borrowed time. They came for your mom, and I had no choice but to do what I did. They would have killed you.”

What did she do? Dalton groans, shifting on the ground, cutting off the questions I'm dying to ask.

“Go!” Adeline shoves me. “Run and don’t stop.”

I stumble away from her as Dalton moves again. “I love you,” I whisper.

Adeline’s eyes brim with tears. “I love you too.”

Giving my aunt one final look so I can memorize her face, I turn and flee into the trees. I’m still light-headed, but I push through it, moving as fast as I can. My legs are jellied, but I don’t stop moving, no matter what comes into my path.

I stagger over a fallen branch, nearly falling on my face, but right myself at the last moment. I need to keep moving.

I suck lungfuls of air past my bruised throat as my legs pump. What I really want to do is lie down and sleep. My eyes are gritty and burning, swallowing is painful, and breathing is excruciating.

I don’t stop.

Death lies behind me, life ahead, and I desperately want to live. Branches slice my arms as I race through the trees and undergrowth. Stones catch my footing, slowing me down, but I keep going, too scared to stop, even though every inch of me hurts.

A howl fills the air, and I stumble to a halt, twisting and looking behind me. It didn’t sound close, but I know it is Dalton.

I recognize his wolf.

What did he do to Adeline? Is she safe?

Did he hurt her?

My gut fills with bile even as the mating bond urges me to go to him. It’s a pull that is hard to ignore, like a rope between us that he’s tugging on his end.

No, fuck him. I’m not going near that bastard.

I stagger forward, away from Dalton, and deeper into the trees. I’ve never been this far from pack lands. Nothing is familiar and I don’t know where my path leads. What if there is just an endless forest? What if I’ve turned around somehow and I’m going back toward the pack?

I suck oxygen in, my lungs and throat burning like I have poured acid down them. My scent is thick, and he will follow me like a bloodhound. The trees will slow down Dalton, but not enough.

I can hear noises coming closer, crashing through the undergrowth in my direction. I can’t outrun him in his wolf form, and if he catches me this time, he will finish what he started.

He will end my life.

My sneakers are caked in mud as I press forward, trying to escape my mate.

A huge brown wolf erupts out of the trees to the side of me.

Dalton.

Shit .

Startled, I slip in the mud, hitting the ground with force. Unable to stop myself, I cry out as pain races through my back and ass.

Lifting my head, I see Dalton’s wolf readying to leap at me, his teeth bared. He’s a huge animal with a thick tail and white on the front, breaking up the brown.

He’s also lethal.

I’ve seen him sparring with other members of the pack and I’ve seen him hunt. I know what he’s capable of.

I close my eyes and try to find inner peace with what is about to happen to me. Death will be fast, or so I hope. Being torn apart doesn’t sound quick.

A scent infuses my nose, a familiar one. I pop my eyes open as Dalton launches at me. At the same time, a black missile launches out of the trees, leaping in front of Dalton’s wolf. They collide in a mass of fur and a tangle of limbs.

Blood sprays and a high-pitched whine echoes around the forest.

Dalton’s, I realize.

The black wolf is huge, a good two feet taller than my former mate. His jaw snaps at Dalton’s hindquarters, making him whimper again.

I scramble back, trying to avoid getting in the way of the fierce battle between them. This is a dark and dirty fight. It seems to last forever, even though it has been only a few minutes. The coppery scent of blood is thick in the air, and I can tell Dalton isn’t winning this.

I can’t help but feel a little smug at the panic and fear I sense through the mating bond. Now you know how it feels to be looking death in the eye.

Dalton barks and turns, fleeing into the woods toward pack lands. I watch him go, stunned.

The wolf who has always played the big man has tucked his tail and run.

Asshole.

I hope he bleeds to death before he gets back to the pack.

Movement behind me makes me freeze. Slowly, I turn back to the black wolf. He lowers his head as he stares after Dalton, a low growl sounding in his throat before he snaps his teeth.

Then he turns those red eyes to me.

Have I traded one monster for another wolf just as terrifying?

My heartbeat stutters, but it’s not fear I feel. For the first time since my failed first moon ceremony, I feel a calm wash over me, and it’s because of him.

Why does this wolf affect me like this?

When he stalks toward me, that low growl still rumbling in his throat, I feel the first tendril of doubt. Maybe I’ve read this wrong.

My eyes don’t leave his. I’m not sure what he’s about to do. Saliva mixed with blood drips off his incisors as he skulks toward me, his body still in attack mode as he stops in front of me, lowering his head.

I should be terrified, and part of me is. He seems feral, possessed by madness as his teeth snap inches from my face.

I squeeze my eyes shut, his breath hot against my skin. Turning my head to the side, I whimper, waiting for him to tear my throat with his teeth. The seconds tick by, turning into minutes, and nothing happens, so I pry open one eye and then the other.

He snaps his teeth at me and growls.

I lean back as far as I can to avoid his teeth. “Please don’t eat me,” I murmur.

Despite the show of aggression, the wolf is standing in front of me, but he has made no move to attack or harm me. I can smell the blood on him. I try to calm my pounding heart as I raise my chin and meet his eyes.

There is blood matting his muzzle, wet and glistening through the fractured sunlight that has sneaked through the leaves overhead. He looks demonic, but his eyes are transfixed on mine and my body suddenly feels awake.

I reach out toward his head with shaky fingers. Touching him will calm him, though I don’t know how I know that. There’s every chance I might lose a hand, but I don’t pull back as he freezes in place.

Panting hard, my fear no doubt seeping from my pores, I keep my gaze locked on his as I touch his fur. His body flinches away from my fingers at first, but he doesn’t step back as I stroke his head gently.

“Thank you for saving me,” I say. “I was dead for sure.”

The wolf backs away from me, snarling and barking. I snatch my hand back and lick my dry lips.

Lesson learned. My wolf stalker is not friendly.

He pads through the trees, stopping after a few feet to look back at me.

I frown at him.

He wants me to follow.

Shit.

Dalton is gone for now, but what if he comes back? I don’t want to hide behind my stalker, but I also know I’m only breathing because of him.

Better the devil you know, right?

I push my hands into the dirt and lurch to my feet. Everything feels hazy, and I use a tree to steady me. How am I going to go with him when I can barely stand?

“I don’t think I can,” I say, my head lowered, my palm pressed to my throbbing temple. I’m really dizzy.

The wolf hesitates for a moment before padding back over to me. He nudges me with his nose, urging me to walk. I take a step, and my knees fold, driving me to the ground.

My hands take the brunt of my fall, and I curl over, trying to still my wobbling vision. Saliva pools in my mouth as nausea swirls in my gut.

A wet nose presses against my arm, and I lift my head to look at him. “I can’t.”

The wolf steps back, lifts his muzzle, and howls into the air. The sound is loud.

A call for help.

Who the hell is he calling?

That is enough to make me scrabble to my knees. Whatever happens, I won’t just roll over and give up. I’ll fight to my last breath.

My body has other ideas. The movement makes me wheeze out a breath as pain flashes through my ribs. Adrenaline is flooding my system, heightening my primal response to the danger I’m facing.

Even so, terror skitters down my spine as I crouch in a fighting stance, ready to defend myself. I’ll not die on my knees in the dirt.

As I prepare to lash out, the wolf lowers into a bow, and the air around him feels charged with static. I know what is coming because I’ve seen and felt this same thing a hundred times.

I watch as he shifts from wolf into his human form. Bones break and crack, shattering apart and reforming, his body changing in the time it would take me to move from standing to sitting. It truly is magic, and I’m in awe as his wolf morphs into a male figure, crouching on the balls of his feet.

All I can see is dark hair and pale skin covered in scars, some pink and fresher than the white lines on his ribs. A tattoo runs from his neck down his arm to the base of his wrist.

His scent seems to have intensified, and my wolf comes alive, thrashing against the walls of her prison inside my mind. I don’t understand her reaction, but I don’t have time to dwell on it as he raises his head.

Blue orbs lock onto me as I take in his dark beard and the scar from his eyebrow to his mouth.

My wolf paws at the ground, whining, and my heart clenches tight, but I keep still, not sure if the human form is as dangerous as the wolf.

He unfurls from his crouch, straightening, and he seems to go on for days. He’s taller than Dalton, who was easily six-foot, and his cock is at eye level.

I’ve seen more naked bodies than I can count, but this one… I want to go to him, to touch him and explore his body. He’s thick and veiny. His shaft looks silky soft and the thatch of dark hair around the root of his cock matches his happy trail.I don’t understand why I feel this way. Touch isn’t something I enjoy, at least not with Dalton, but I crave this wolf’s.

I raise my gaze to his, and my pulse quickens as he steps toward me, crouching in front of me. “On your feet, little wolf. We need to run.”