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All Chapters of His Rejected Mate (Game Of Wolves Book 3) : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

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31

His Rejected Mate (Game Of Wolves Book 3) /Lindsey Devin

A chill went up my spine when he looked into my eyes again. I didn’t dare speak. Whatever he was about to say was obviously painful, and I didn’t want to interrupt.Tears welled in his good eye as he continued his story. “They came to my house and gave me an ultimatum. I reject Chelsey and choose a more appropriate mate, or there would be…consequences. They handed me a folder full of pictures of Chelsey and her family that had been taken from a distance.Simple pictures of them going about their lives. Her parents, her little brother, one of her cousins she’s really close with—the whole family.” He let out a bitter laugh that broke my heart. “My mother pointed at her little brother and said, ‘It would be a shame for this little boy to have his brains blown out in front of his sister.’”“Holy fucking gods,” I breathed, putting a hand to my mouth.“Then my father said he’ll have every one of them killed if I chose to mate with Chelsey. He looked me in the eyes, Kira—the man who taught m

32

His Rejected Mate (Game Of Wolves Book 3) /Lindsey Devin

It was the most tragic fucking thing I’d ever heard. Both Crew and Chelsey were dealing with terrible heartache. I understood why he’d done what he had, but the only way this would be resolved was for Chelsey to give him a chance to explain.As I got to my feet, I gave Crew a friendly pat on the shoulder. “I’ll see if I can make any headway with Chelsey. Maybe if she hears you out, you two can smooth things over.”Crew snorted. “Sure, yeah. I’m not holding my breath. I pissed on her heart and kicked her out the door. I don’t know why she’d ever give me a chance to redeem myself.”Leaving Crew to wallow in his misery, I went to find Chelsey. The first thing I had to figure out was whether she actually hated Crew as much as she let on, or if it was only heartache and sorrow making her act that way.My search didn’t take long. Chelsey stood with her arms crossed, face cloudy with some emotion I couldn’t pinpoint, leaning against the wall of a storage room. The place was filled with a cou

33

His Rejected Mate (Game Of Wolves Book 3) /Lindsey Devin

That idea had been at the back of my mind for days leading up to the fall of the mansion. It had worried me at first, but now? The further I strayed from following the old dogmatic beliefs our society had clung to for centuries, the easier it was to see that none of it mattered.“When people feel as strongly about each other as you and Crew do, who gives a damn what some acolyte in a dirty robe says?” I laughed. “I mean, the only true way to know what connections are real would be to talk to Heline directly.”As soon as the words were out of my mouth, a lightbulb went on in my mind. My joke was more than that—it was a glimpse at a path forward. If we found Heline, the moon goddess herself, we could get real answers. We could show her the proof that her acolytes were meddling with the connections. There might even be a chance that Heline would step in and stop the war.My heart rate sped up, and chills coursed through my arms.“I guess you’re right,” Chelsey said. “I’ll do it. I’ll tal

34

His Rejected Mate (Game Of Wolves Book 3) /Lindsey Devin

Wyatt groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. “Well, that doesn’t sound at all ominous. I know that look on your face. This little idea you have is going to put you in danger, isn’t it?”I shrugged helplessly. “I wouldn’t call it dangerous per se, but it might be risky.”“I can’t let the woman I love dive into something risky on her own. I guess I’m in this with you. Whatever it is.”My stomach gave a happy little flip, as it always did whenever Wyatt told me he loved me. The words came easily for him, like he’d been saying them his whole life.Grinning back at him, I reached forward and poked him in the stomach. “You know you love my little plans.”Wyatt groaned again, then laughed. “Yeah. We’ll see about that.”Chapter 8WyattThe next morning, I woke just as the artificial fae lights of Haven brightened in a sort of simulated sunrise and sunset the magic users of Haven had set up after Crew created the place. Kira lay curled against my side. As I looked down at her peaceful face,

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His Rejected Mate (Game Of Wolves Book 3) /Lindsey Devin

“I’m starving,” J.D. said with a heavy sigh. “I’m going to grab a bite and come back.” He looked through the bars at Leif. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?” he said to him.Leif, having calmed down again, nodded. “Okay. Yeah, you need to eat something. I’ll, uh…” He glanced around at the ten-by-ten cell. “I’ll be here, I guess.”“I’ll go with you,” Mika said to J.D. “Zoe, do you want me to bring you something back?”“Yes, please. Either oatmeal. Or oatmeal, or if there’s no other option, I’ll take the oatmeal.”Mika chuckled. “Good one. I’ll be back in a bit.”Leif walked to the lone bunk at the side of the cell and lay down, mumbling in that mad way of his.“So,” I said to Zoe, “how have things been going?”Zoe rolled her eyes. “Oof. This place has been busy since Mika showed up. After him, you guys got here, and then?” She blew out her cheeks and used her fingers to simulate a bomb exploding. “Full crazy ever since.”“Why was it busy when Mika got here?”“Oh, that,” she said, t

36

His Rejected Mate (Game Of Wolves Book 3) /Lindsey Devin

When I mentioned all that, Kira acted like it didn’t matter. “I think she wants to do something about it, too,” she said. “Do you remember, right before she transported us to Zoe, she said something about meddling? I think that was her saying something was wrong on the island and she wanted to fix it.”“But like I said, how do we even go about finding her?”Kira sighed and glanced around to make sure no one could hear. “We’ll figure it out. Look, I know we’re going to help teach these people to fight, but if we go against Simon like we are now, with no backup, it’s going to be ugly. Lots of these people are going to die, and I don’t know if I can shoulder that kind of blame. I have to try.”Gods, this was a fucking dangerous idea. The Shadowkeeper could kill us all with a snap of her fingers. But the look on Kira’s face sealed it for me. She was right that we didn’t have a large enough force to go against Simon. Plus, as fired up as Kira was about this, there would be no stopping her.

37

His Rejected Mate (Game Of Wolves Book 3) /Lindsey Devin

At the mouth of the cave, Zoe grabbed Kira and hugged her. “I’ll keep my mouth shut, but I’m only giving you guys a few hours. After that, I’m spilling the beans to Crew. Got it?”“Got it,” Kira said, extricating herself from the embrace. “We’ll be back soon. Promise.”Zoe went back down the tunnel, rearming the traps and wards as she went.“Where to first?” Kira asked.I pointed to the south, in the direction of the mansion. “I’m pretty sure I can find the waterfall where I first met her. I can’t think of a better place to start than there. We can try to catch her scent while we work our way toward the river.”“Okay. Lead the way.”The jungle was already roiling with noises, even as early as it was. The attack on Simon’s lab and the fall of the mansion had the creatures and beings of Bloodstone in a state of agitation. Kira and I spent the first twenty minutes of our trek hiding from passing beasts, one of which was another of Simon’s abominations: a weird combination of snake, bear,

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His Rejected Mate (Game Of Wolves Book 3) /Lindsey Devin

Seeing my face, Kira’s grin vanished. “What’s wrong?” she whispered.I gripped her forearm tight, a signal to stay quiet. My eyes darted around, panic welling up within me as I became sure the scent was what I thought it was. Kira’s eyes widened. She’d noticed it, too.Pressing my mouth to her ear, I spoke, my voice barely louder than the terror-filled breaths I was taking. “We have to run. It’s close.”Kira nodded. Holding up three fingers, I lowered them in a countdown. When my last finger lowered, we leaped up and rolled out from under our cover. An angry wet hiss came from behind us as a massive silver blade sliced through the palm fronds. The revenant stood, glaring at us from under its moth-eaten black hood, glowing red eyes pinning us in place.Lifting the scythe again, it opened its mouth, black tongue flicking over rotting gray teeth. We must have stumbled into the territory it had claimed for itself. We couldn’t fight it; Kira and I didn’t have the skills to do that. We’d ne

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His Rejected Mate (Game Of Wolves Book 3) /Lindsey Devin

“You’re talking about Simon Shingleman? The ‘mad one?’”“Hmm, is that what the hybrid calls himself? Very well.”As I looked at her, my mind whirred with everything I knew about the being standing before me. She’d always been a huge question mark on the show—only appearing at random intervals, sometimes years apart, always bestowing gifts or power and favors. There had even been a course in TO training—Unknown Beings and Their Histories—that had two full chapters devoted to her. From what I’d seen her do, she reminded me of some type of wraith. But wraiths had no scent, and no wraith could have taken down a revenant.My gut told me what she was, but the thought was too crazy to seem real. They were all known. None were hidden. Were they? Could she possibly be what I thought she was? And if so, how did no one know?“Are you a goddess?” I blurted.Wyatt glanced at me like I’d said the craziest thing ever.The Shadowkeeper, for her part, only gazed at me with an introspective look on her

40

His Rejected Mate (Game Of Wolves Book 3) /Lindsey Devin

“What’s the plan, then?” Wyatt asked. “How will you help us?”Lucina smirked at him. “I’ll be there when you need me.”“What does—”Before Wyatt could finish his question, Lucina’s robe of shadow burst off her, and she devolved into a swarm of bats that rushed away into the jungle, leaving us alone.Wyatt stared off after the last of the bats and shook his head. “It fucking worked? How the hell did we do that? We have a goddess on our side now?”“I know,” I said, grinning like an idiot.As determined as I’d been to find her, I had assumed the Shadowkeeper would be much more difficult to entice into helping us. With her agreement, we were no longer hopelessly outmatched or stranded. We had a fighting chance now.“Let’s get the hell out of here,” I said. “I’m sure Zoe will try to stay close to the entrance to let us back in, but if we don’t hurry, someone will ask why she’s hanging around so long.”Hands clasped, Wyatt and I began the hike back to Haven. Lucina’s presence must have terr

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