Page 10 of The Alpha’s Rejected Arranged Mate (Bluebell Valley Wolves #3)

Everyone was looking at him.

Finn’s wolf growled, bristling under the attention. Having strangers stare like this usually meant something terrible had happened. And the hostility in their glances proved that many wanted to do terrible things to him. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he stepped onto the small stage at the front of the Moon Lake town hall.

It was his first day as Alpha. A title he never thought he’d have. When this was all over, after the mating was broken, he would have to decide how to set aside the title. He didn’t want to leave a power vacuum in his wake. Giving it back to Seth was too strong a blow to his pride. He’d have to find someone else who could take the responsibility.

For now, Elin stood at his side as Luna while Christine and Derek took seats in the front row. His first town meeting, and now that he stood in front of the pack, with their hostile glares drilling holes into his skull, he didn’t know what to do.

“All right,” he started, his voice steady despite the uncertainty brewing inside of him. “Let’s get straight to it. There’s an archdemon in league with the rogues who are attacking you. If we’re going to stop it, I’m going to need your cooperation. Any of you that have information—”

“And what are you going to do about it?” A silver-haired woman got stiffly to her feet. “You came in and immediately challenged our Alpha. Do you think your chaos is going to help? Stand down and give us back our Alpha, Pup!”

Murmurs of agreement swelled through the crowd.

Finn took a deep breath. “We have the backing of the military—”

“Who has never bothered to send help before,” someone cried.

“We weren’t aware of demon activity in the area,” Finn snapped. “Maybe if your Alpha actually reached out for help, you would have had aid by now!”

One of the young warriors of the pack, no more than eighteen, jumped to his feet. “Don’t you dare disparage Alpha Seth! I challenge you! To be Alpha in your place!”

The kid shook with the arrogance and self-righteous fury that only someone so young could have. The middle-aged couple next to him, no doubt his parent, looked on with horrified expressions. His mother reached for his arm, but he pulled it from her grasp and lifted his chin, glaring at Finn. He really thought he could beat a seasoned soldier.

Finn stared him down, remembering what it’d been like to be that age. All testosterone and certainty while having no fucking clue as to how the world worked.

“Hey, let’s not get into that so soon,” Derek said, standing. “We know ya’ll aren’t happy with this, but Alpha Seth stepped down. Retract the challenge, kid, at least until after the demons have been dealt with.”

Derek’s words had the opposite effect as was intended. In response, another young man jumped to his feet.

“I challenge you, too!”

A third kid started to stand, this one even younger than the other two. But even as he began to speak, Elin clapped her hands together, creating a loud smack that echoed in the hall.

“That is enough! In-fighting isn’t going to help anyone. We have demons at our door. Bluebell Valley sent us here for an alliance, and we still want that. We have faced down demons before. An archdemon possessed the former Alpha of Bluebell Valley. It was only through the special ops that we survived it.” Elin glared out at the gathered crowd. “What do the demons have to do if we’re the ones tearing each other apart?”

Several expressions within the crowd shifted from hostility to doubt. Sitting near the front, Seth glanced away with a deep furrow between his brows. Rosemary offered Elin a soft smile, like she approved of her words.

Finn took a deep breath, calming himself. He didn’t want to be Alpha, so there was one clear thing he could promise to the pack. If they loved Seth so much, they could restore him after he stepped down; he didn’t need to name an Alpha in his place. But before he could, the first kid who challenged him let out a raucous laugh.

“Get back into your place, female,” he taunted. “We don’t care what sort of magic cave you’ve got. You’re not our Luna.”

“Shut your fucking mouth, or I’ll do it for you,” Finn snarled back at once. His muscles tensed, and his wolf howled with the desire to teach that punk a lesson at once. “If you wanna challenge me, do it like a man instead of a little boy who takes cheap shots. I’m your Alpha and will put you in your grave if you don’t show some respect.”

The kid’s eyes widened. His father jumped to his feet with a snarl while his mother’s face turned ashen. Nobody moved or spoke. Even Elin stared at Finn with a shocked, uncertain expression. Right. Because losing his cool like that was the right way to respond. Threatening to kill the kid was the way a proper Alpha dealt with these situations.

The challenges were going to keep coming.

And he wasn’t going to defeat the fucking demons if this fucking pack didn’t trust him.

He needed to win their trust. So far, all he’d done was challenge their Alpha and start threatening kids who didn’t know better.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself. After a moment, he opened his eyes again and gazed at the kid. “I will not be answering any challenges until after the town is safe from the demon threat. What that means precisely will be determined after I find out the extent of that threat. In the meantime, if you have problems with me, leave them leveled at me, not my mate.”

The kid sank to his seat again. His father narrowed his eyes but slowly sat down as well.

“How many pack members have you lost to possession?” Finn asked, turning his gaze to Seth.

Seth’s gaze darkened. A challenge sparked in them, making Finn’s wolf respond with a growl.

No. I’m not going to lose my temper. So what if this man abandoned me? So what if he’s my only living blood, and he thinks I’m a monster? He’s fucking clueless.

Finn let out a slow breath, relaxing his shoulders as he softened his gaze. He wasn’t going to respond to challenges. He’d just said it. And so here was his chance to prove it. No challenge. No anger. Just expectation. Seth would answer—or someone else would. Next to him, Elin’s presence was a palpable thing, though she wasn’t even close enough for him to feel her warmth.

“We’ve lost one or two people every month for the last two years,” Seth answered. “They seem to be stepping up. But we’ve come to learn the signs that a person is possessed, and we deal with it.”

“I’m sorry for your losses,” Finn said. And he meant it. He’d lost friends to demons, too. Lost them to possession before they knew how to deal with it. “In the last year, Bluebell Valley has uncovered a means of not only how to prevent possession but also how to exorcise a demon possessing a person. When used in the early stages, chances of survival are high.”

Seth’s jaw dropped open. A fresh burst of murmurs went through the town hall, disbelief and hope warring through the pack. Finn waited for the murmurs to die and gestured Derek onto the stage.

“There are different modes of protection,” he said. “Originally, we required a talisman carved with the protective symbols to be surgically implanted in the body. Now, we can achieve the same effect—and have it more permanent—by putting those protections on the body as tattoos.”

Derek whipped off his shirt. Spiky, swirling tattoos covered his shoulders and back. He turned, showing off the thick black marks with a grin. When his back was to the crowd, he winked at Finn to show his support.

“It was the Luna of Blood Moon, Mica, who found the exorcism process,” Finn continued. “Alpha Hayden was briefly possessed by an archdemon, but Mica rallied the women, including Elin,” he added, giving her a slight nod, “and they were able to force the demon out of him.”

Elin nodded. She explained how to perform an exorcism, then added, “Once the demon is trapped in the inanimate object, they can’t get out until that item is degraded. And thanks to their military training, Finn, Derek, and the other special ops know how to track and kill the beast demons.”

Someone near the back of the hall called, “And how do we know you’re not possessed and just giving us false hope?”

“You don’t,” Finn said bluntly. Because there was nothing he could do to convince them otherwise.

“Finn can see the aura demons that possess people,” Elin said. “He can see their influence before the possession even happens. It’s why he was recruited by the special ops in the first place.”

Finn tensed. He wouldn’t have shared that!

“Those of you who knew him as a child will remember,” she continued, clinging his hands into fists. “You remember what sort of child he was. That sweet kid who was always stepping in to make your jobs easier. Who would see terrifying things but still try to comfort others.”

His hands fell out of their fists. Sweet kid? But she didn’t even know him back then! How could she speak to the sort of child he’d been? And yet, a handful of faces he recognized in the crowd nodded.

“So,” Elin said, tossing her hair behind her in a fair imitation of Tess. “Are you willing to give us a shot?”

***

Finn leaned against the kitchen counter, his arms folded as he watched Elin work. She’d left the meeting early to return to their interim home and start making food for the delegation from Bluebell Valley. Her movements were quick and precise in the kitchen. She seemed so at ease it left him wondering how she felt about all of this. She hadn’t asked to be Luna, and yet here she was. Mated to the man who rejected her, Luna of a pack that distrusted her.

“Did it go well?” she asked, breaking the silence.

“I think so,” Finn answered. “They were willing to try out the talismans, at least. Christine is teaching them how to implant them safely.”

He never wanted a mate. Or rather, he never thought he’d have one. Finn did want a mate. He wanted a family, the way he saw other wolves have. But he knew deep down it’d be selfish of him to put a woman into the position of being his mate. That was exactly what he’d done to Elin. And since the ceremony, their relationship had palpably shifted. His wolf always wanted to be near her, but now, he was restless every time they were separated. His wolf longing to be back together. It was as though if anything happened to her, it would be his fault.

“Taste this, will you?” Elin brought a serving spoon over to him. “I can’t tell if it needs more salt.”

She held it to his mouth, and he licked the spoon. “Tastes good to me.”

His gaze dropped to the tiny, almost imperceptible rise on her collarbone. It was where her protective talisman had been implanted. The one thing keeping her from being possessed by demons in this clusterfuck of a world they found themselves in. He reached out idly and brushed his fingers across the tiny scar.

Sparks burned where their skin touched. When Finn looked up and met her gaze, hunger burned in her eyes. The same hunger that ripped through him like wildfire. The kind that made him want to press her against the wall, right here, and take her until they were both breathless.