Page 27 of The Alpha’s Rejected Arranged Mate (Bluebell Valley Wolves #3)

Using her foot, Elin lifted her bag again. She felt as if she was about to tear in half, and she panted through gritted teeth, fighting back the pain as Finn’s blue eyes remained locked on hers. Fear danced in them, but his expression grew harder and more determined. He kissed her again. Elin clutched the bag in one hand, cupping his head with the other as she passed the bag back to Christine.

Look inside it , she silently begged.

Dukiel let out a harsh laugh. “Are you really ready to condemn her to death to save your own selfish skin?” he yelled.

He was trying to provoke Finn into giving himself up to be the host. Elin heard a note of hysteria in the archdemon’s voice. She squeezed Finn’s arm one last time before she pulled back from him. Another pain ripped through her abdomen, and she bit back a groan as she grabbed her belly. It seemed to move beneath her touch.

“Don’t let me distract you,” she whispered to Finn.

He nodded once and whirled toward Dukiel and his possessed rogues. With a shout that turned to a howl, Finn shifted to wolf form and threw himself forward. The pack surged after him, following their alpha into battle. They met with a clash of howls and flashing fangs. Elin’s wolf howled, her eyes locked on Finn. Even with the pain she was in, she wanted to go to him and fight at his side.

An arm snaked around Elin’s waist, and she jolted, instinctively shoving the person away. Christine grunted at the impact but didn’t release her.

“The bag,” Elin gasped as another pain ripped through her.

Christine ignored her words and instead focused on her. She checked Elin’s pulse, and a worried gleam came to her eyes. The sounds of fighting grew more savage, but Christine seemed to be blocking it all out.

“You’re in labor,” she hissed through gritted teeth.

Elin’s eyes widened. Labor? But it was too soon! Had whatever Dukiel had done caused her body to start rejecting the baby? Her heart pounded in her throat as her mind whirled. Christine’s eyes grew firey as she yanked Elin’s pants down. Elin yelped in protest, but a sudden, intense pressure bore down on her, and she could only groan.

“You’re losing a lot of blood,” Christine said. She did something with the IV, but Elin didn’t see what. Her head was spinning, her stomach heaving. Everything seemed to be growing darker around her. Was the sun going down? No, it had been morning when they left Moon Lake. The sounds of the battle grew distant. Elin reached out blindly, searching for Finn. Her hands met nothing but air as the darkness overwhelmed her.

But it didn’t stay dark. The sound disappeared, and the pain became a throbbing ache—present but not so sharp.

She sat in the kitchen, her feet dangling off the chair, a plate of cold noodles in front of her. Tears streaked down her face as she stared at the plate. Daddy had been eating noodles when he suddenly grabbed his chest and fell. Mommy said it was a heart attack. If she ate noodles, would she have a heart attack, too? It was difficult to breathe, and her chest hurt. Was she dying?

She whimpered as she held her hands stiffly at her sides. She wanted to touch her chest as though she could hold it together. But what if that was what caused a heart attack?

Mommy turned from where she was washing the dishes. “Elin, you have to eat.”

Elin shook her head.

“You have to. Noodles are your favorite.”

Elin shoved the plate away with so much force it skittered across the table and crashed onto the floor with a loud clatter. She flinched from the noise and bit her lip as she looked up at Mommy. Mommy stomped across the kitchen and grabbed her arm.

“Go to your room,” she said, her voice angry.

Elin struggled to free herself. A sob escaped her as she raced from the kitchen, down the hall, and into her room. She slammed the door as hard as possible and threw herself into bed. Sobs overcame her as she listened. Would Mommy come to tell her not to slam the door? Seconds turned into minutes, and she didn’t come.

Elin got up, went to the door, and opened it. “I hate noodles,” she screamed as loud as she could and slammed the door again.

It was a long time later before Mommy came to her room. Elin lay under her blankets, hugging Mr. Scratches tightly to her chest. The old plush rabbit had seen better days but was Elin’s favorite. Mommy didn’t yell as she pulled the blankets away. Instead, she pulled Elin into her lap and rocked back and forth, even though Daddy would have yelled at her for being such a brat.

“I know it’s hard,” Mommy said. “But it won’t always be like this.”

Elin buried her face in her mother’s shoulder. “I’m just so lonely.”

“You won’t always be. One day, you’ll have a strong mate. He’ll save you from the pain and loneliness. You just have to hold out for him.”

Then Elin was standing next to a grave. The dirt was piled over the space where her mother lay in the ground. She hadn’t looked into the coffin, hadn’t had the courage. She hadn’t been the one to find the body, but Echo, who had gone to check on Elin’s mother, told her that she had seemed peaceful. Elin wasn’t sure she believed that. Since when had her mother ever been peaceful?

Here she was, barely out of her teens and alone in the world. Had her mother been waiting for her to be considered an adult before she gave up? Or was the slow descent to death finally over? Elin stood there, her thoughts tumbling over each other. Over the years, her mother told her more than once that she was glad Elin’s father was gone, and it gave her the chance to find her true mate.

But she never left the house, only sat around waiting for him to stumble onto her.

At least Elin knew where she’d be. She came home every day to find her in the same spot. Now what? She didn’t even own the house she grew up in. Alpha Monroe was taking it back. “You don’t need that much space to yourself,” he said.

Where was she supposed to go now?

Her mind flashed to Mica. They’d been friends for years… until one of the boys in school told Elin nobody would want her for a mate if she kept hanging out with the human outcast. Stupidly, Elin took it as that boy saying he’d be her mate if she didn’t have such embarrassing friends. So Elin had changed herself. She broke away from her only friend and joined the bullies in a desperate attempt to get male attention.

She didn’t even like him. Just wanted a boy to pick her.

It was the worst mistake she’d made. Mica was worth more than any male in the pack. But now it was too late. How could Elin go sobbing to her after the way she’d treated her? It was too late to ask for forgiveness.

Elin turned and walked away from her mother’s grave, stumbling over her own feet. She wasn’t a true outcast, not like Mica was. The pack didn’t care enough about her to bully her or treat her like shit. But she wasn’t worth embracing, either. They didn’t care enough to take care of her. She didn’t belong here.

But she had nowhere else to go.

Please , Elin thought as she lifted her face to the sky. Even though it wasn’t quite night, the moon hung round above her. Please, Moon Goddess. Bring me a mate so I don’t have to be alone.

Over the years, she’d stopped praying. She stopped hoping a man would step in and save her from her lonely existence. When she felt as though the physical need would drive her insane, she went to the human town. She found comfort and solace in the arms of strangers, with no hope that it would be more than a patch letting her continue on.

She got used to being lonely. She grew comfortable with her own company and no longer thought someone else could solve all her problems.

Then Hayden and the special ops returned to Bluebell Valley.

Elin walked along the dark street, lost in her thoughts as she played over the scene at town hall. Mica’s expression, furious and startled, kept playing in her mind. What had Hayden been thinking, arrogantly assuming Mica would just take him back? But jealousy churned in her gut, too. Maybe it was a terrible thing to do to Mica, but Elin couldn’t help but feel that if she were in that situation, she would have found it terribly romantic…

The sound of footsteps interrupted her thought. She looked up, and her breath caught in her throat. The red-haired wolf that stood with Hayden at Town Hall strode along the sidewalk. Elin froze, hidden in the shadows. He stopped suddenly, his head swinging toward her. He said something—she didn’t understand over the blood rushing in her ears.

She stepped into the light, and they stared at each other.

And suddenly, she saw her future as plain as she saw him now. She worked in the flowers surrounding her house while he played with their children in the front yard. Laughter filled the air. A little boy ran over, carefully holding a butterfly in his hands. He smiled at her, his warm brown eyes shining beneath a mop of red curls.

The way he looked at her made her wonder if he felt it, too, this draw. He was so tall and seemed so strong. For a moment, she couldn’t understand how a wolf with such a powerful aura could submit to anyone. Why wasn’t he an alpha in his own right? It seemed impossible that he wasn’t.

Something in his eyes seemed to spark. Her wolf howled in celebration, though Elin didn’t yet understand why. She’d never felt this way before, never felt this powerful draw. She wanted to run across the pool of light and throw herself into his arms. But she remained rooted to the spot, every reason why she couldn’t ran through her head.

He had the aura of an Alpha, and she was the sort of woman who turned against her best friend in an attempt to fit in.

A wolf like him didn’t want a wolf like her. So she did the only thing she could do to stop herself from making a fool of herself—she turned and ran.

The moon shone overhead, filtering softly through the branches of the cedars that leaned toward one another. Elin smiled, warm and thoroughly sated in Finn’s arms. The forest was a source of fear these days with the demons running about, but the moment Finn touched her, she cared about nothing else. Her lips still tingled from their kisses. The rest of her? Tingles was hardly strong enough to describe the sensations sweeping through her.

Finn’s hand tangled in her hair as he let out a lazy groan. “That was fun. It’s been too long since I’ve last had sex.”

“Me, too,” Elin agreed. Normally she didn’t like to admit that she had experience. The males in the Bluebell Valley pack would call her a slut just for kissing someone who wasn’t her mate. Finn was different, though. She could be honest with him.

Nothing felt more right than this moment; their bodies were sweaty and still pressed together. The feeling of completion was more than Elin had thought could ever be possible. She’d never been this close to anyone, not even her past sexual partners.

She lifted herself onto an elbow and smiled down at Finn, gazing into his eyes. Her wolf practically purred—she knew what this meant. She had finally found her mate. A thrill went through her, followed by inexplicable terror. How could she be so happy and afraid at the same time?

What if he rejects me? What if he gets to know me and realizes I’m not worthy of him?

“Want to go again?” she asked teasingly.

Finn laughed.

Then suddenly, pain tore through her. The darkness returned, and everything went black.