Page 12 of The Alpha’s Rejected Arranged Mate (Bluebell Valley Wolves #3)

Finn’s hands tightened on Elin’s waist. Though part of him still wondered if he was being clear enough about future expectations, he didn’t want to let her go. He stared at the floor just at Christine’s feet, debating whether to get her to tell the former Alpha to go fuck himself. However, that would be the opposite of getting the pack to work together.

He groaned as he released Elin. “I suppose I should see them.”

“Help me set the table,” Elin said. “We can speak with them over the meal. I made enough for leftovers, so we’ll have enough to feed them. Christine, is Derek in the house?”

Christine shook her head. “He’s working with Seth’s Beta to make talismans and to ship in a few truckloads of salt to create a barrier around town.”

Finn nodded his approval of that plan. If he was going to step up as Alpha, he needed to be proactive about these things. Right now, protecting the pack was at the top of his list. It had to be. Even higher than his own personal issues. Perhaps that was why Seth had decided to come here, to set aside their differences and start working together.

Soon, Elin was seated next to him at the table with a pot of pasta between him and Seth. Rosemary sat next to her mate, across from Elin. Christine had bowed out of the dinner. Finn’s nerves were on edge, his wolf growling in his chest.

“It smells delicious, Luna Elin,” Rosemary said politely as she speared a long tube on her fork.

Elin smiled back, but it looked pained. “Thank you. But please, call me Elin, at least while we’re in private. Despite what you may think, we didn’t come here to take over the leadership of the pack.”

Rosemary reached across the table and patted her hand. “I figured. It’s been quite apparent by the way you’ve been acting.”

“And that’s not going to help the pack have any confidence in us.” Elin shook her head, sighing, then glanced at Finn. “We’ll have to work on that if we’re going to drive out the demons.”

“We’re supposed to learn more about them,” Finn reminded her. He didn’t look at Seth as he added, “That’s why I came back. To learn more about where I come from.”

Seth tensed. He growled softly.

Rosemary laid down her fork. “Yes. That. We need to clear the air before we’re able to work together. Seth.”

“It’s clear you’ve come to certain conclusions,” Seth said, grinding his teeth as he did so. “But you’ve got it all wrong.”

Finn’s wolf lunged, snapping its teeth. He barely held it in. “I saw my records at the orphanage. You dropped me off there and made sure I’d never be adopted. You knew who I was the instant you saw me and wanted me gone. Sounds a fucking lot like someone hiding his guilt. So, what exactly in all of that did I get wrong?”

Elin put her hand over his, her eyebrows knitting together. It was a comforting touch but also a warning. Don’t jump into accusations. Listen to what he has to say.

Finn swallowed hard, fighting back the words he wanted to hurl at Seth. Elin was right. He needed to listen. Needed to hold in this hurt until he had the full story. He took a deep breath, squeezing Elin’s hand to ground himself. All at once, he was grateful that she was here and hadn’t left despite every reason to do so. He needed her.

“Let’s start with the whole ‘guilt’ thing,” Seth growled.

Rosemary put her hand on his like Elin was holding Finn’s hand.

Seth glanced at her, and his eyes softened. “I have no reason to feel guilty over you. Your mother wasn’t a rogue or demon. She was my little sister, Beth. And, of course, I recognized you. You look exactly like her.”

Seth’s voice broke over the last word. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, some of the hardness coming back.

“I have photos,” Rosemary said. “Beth was a surprise baby for Seth’s parents. He was already grown when she was born. We’d been mated and struggling to conceive, and we… we didn’t adopt her, but we had moved Seth’s parents in with us, and so we were a strong part of raising Beth.”

She produced a handful of old Polaroids, which she pushed across the table. Finn sat frozen, staring at them. Suddenly, he wanted to run away. He’d never wondered about his parents—at least, he’d tried not to. Even as a kid, before he knew the truth about his heritage. He’d always had the philosophy that there wasn’t a point in wondering what couldn’t be changed.

Beth. With shaking hands, he picked up the photos. The first one was the image of a child with long red hair and a cheeky grin sitting in a tree. The next was a teenager, her hair pulled into a ponytail as she practiced hand-to-hand with a red-haired man, Seth, in his younger years. Last was a grown woman with a mega-watt smile holding a university degree over her head like a trophy of triumph.

Seth and Rosemary were much older than Beth had been. Old enough to be her parents. But Seth wasn’t Finn’s father after all. Uncle. Still a blood relative, but at least he wasn’t responsible for Finn being brought into the world. Finn’s opinion of the former Alpha softened slightly. He hadn’t betrayed his mate by fucking a demon.

“How did it happen?” Finn asked, his voice low.

“I don’t know how they met. Only that somehow, he made her fall in love with him,” Seth answered bitterly. “We didn’t know about demons until Beth became pregnant. Then she told us about them. How the father of her baby claimed to be an archdemon who sought to escape hell and turn his life around. She called him Dukiel.”

Finn flinched at the name. “The rogues said they were in league with him. Has he been attacking Moon Lake all this time?” How had the military not known about this?

Seth shook his head. “After Beth was pregnant, he disappeared. He came back months ago with the rogues. He got what he wanted from her.”

The bitterness in Seth’s voice was laced with pain. Finn set the photos down. He did look like his mother. Red hair, blue eyes. He could see himself in her ears, the shape of her face, even the quirk of her smile. She was dead. He knew that without having to ask. But if the demon left after he impregnated her, what was the point? Had Dukiel just been looking for amusement?

The thought made Finn’s chest hurt. Was this worse or better than the darkest possibilities he’d feared?

“This is a lot to take in,” Elin said, speaking his thoughts aloud. “But we have to know. How did she die?”

Seth stared at his hand clutching Rosemary’s. He opened his mouth, then turned his face away and closed his eyes.

“It’s all right,” Rosemary murmured to him. “I’ll tell them.”

Seth nodded as though it was too painful to say.

“The pregnancy was accelerated,” Rosemary said, turning back to Finn. Her gaze was soft, with no reproach in them, but Finn felt her words like a punch to the gut. “You were born after only a month. Fully formed, a perfect little baby. But it took a heavy toll on Beth’s body. Between the damage of the pregnancy, the trauma of the birth, and her own broken heart… it was just too much for her. She was always fragile. There was nothing we could have done.”

“What about an abortion?” Finn asked, his voice harsh. “If she hadn’t gone through the pregnancy… couldn’t you have convinced her?”

Seth looked back at him for the first time. Shock played out in his blue eyes.

“It wasn’t an option,” Rosemary answered. “We’re a small town, and at the time… I don’t know whether she would have gone through with one, even if she had had the option. But it simply wasn’t a choice. Certainly not by the time we realized what was really happening.”

Finn turned, struggling to keep the emotion off his face. His wolf had gone quiet in his chest. As he took a deep breath, his gaze locked with Elin’s. Her brown eyes were wide, shocked even. As though she couldn’t understand why he’d ask why his mother didn’t simply stop the pregnancy that ended her life. A chill stole down Finn’s spine, though he wasn’t sure why.

“When she died…” Seth’s voice broke. “I won’t lie about this. I was going to kill you. I thought you were a demon, and that was how they reproduced. I thought… Rosemary’s the one that protected you.”

“It was your mother’s last wish,” Rosemary added quickly.

Finn didn’t look at them. Nothing about what Seth said surprised him. He’d have done the same.

“We spent a month in a standoff,” Seth spat.

His voice continued to shake, and Finn got the sudden mental image of the former Alpha holding a knife in hand, repeatedly plunging it into Finn’s chest with every word. It certainly seemed that he was trying to cause pain.

“By then, it became clear you were a normal baby. You weren’t growing at a freakish rate,” Seth continued, and his voice softened, losing its sharp edge. “You weren’t a demon. It should have made me feel better, knowing my sister hadn’t died for nothing. She’d died for her son, who looked so much like her. It made everything worse. If Rosemary hadn’t stepped in, I would have killed Beth’s baby… for nothing.”

Ah, so he did feel guilty. For wanting to do something he didn’t do. Finn slumped in his seat. The smell of the pasta Elin had cooked wafted up from the table, but the thought of eating at all made him sick to his stomach. All that work for nothing.

“So you couldn’t kill me. But you also couldn’t stand to look at me,” Finn supplied. His tone was matter-of-fact like they were discussing the weather.

“More or less,” Seth agreed.

Rosemary sighed. “This must be very difficult for you to hear. I’m sorry that—”

“I don’t want apologies,” Finn interrupted, wincing. He didn’t want empathy, either, not from them at least. “It’s not important. The only reason I came back looking for answers was because we needed more information on the demons. We need to find a way to drive them off for good instead of continually putting out fires as they pop up.”

“Don’t speak to her in that tone,” Seth said.

Elin reached a hand out toward him. “How about we focus? Tone policing during an intense conversation isn’t going to help. Let’s all take a deep breath and drink some water, okay?”

Finn grabbed his water as a show of solidarity.

“We put you in that orphanage so we could keep an eye on you,” Rosemary murmured. “We made sure that you would receive the care you needed. We wanted you to be close.”

Seth downed his water in one gulp, his expression clearly stating that the ‘we’ was false. “None of that matters. Not if you’re really here to fight the demons. Because Dukiel is back. And he’s looking for you.

Finn put down his glass untouched. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“When Dukiel came back with his little army of rogues, he demanded that we hand you over to him. ‘Give me my son,’ he said.” Seth glared at Finn as though it was his fault for being born. “Apparently, he created you to be the perfect host to house his true form. His current host is failing, and he needs a replacement.

“That’s what he wanted. That’s why he seduced and killed Beth. To create a body that could house an archdemon without falling apart.”