The Wolf’s Pregnant Rejected Mate (Bluebell Valley Wolves #2)

Chapter 20 - Ryder

Ryder grimaced as he stared at his naked form in the mirror. They had run into a beast demon during this last hunt in the forest. A long gash ran along his side. Christine had stitched him up and taped gauze over the injury, but the pain throbbed through him. The heavy scowl on his face couldn’t stop the fear he saw burning in his own eyes.

It had been two months now since Hayden charged him with hunting down the big wolf—a month since the last attack on Tess and Elin.

And he was no closer to catching the wolf than he had been at the start of this. Every time he thought he was near, the big wolf would slip through his fingers. Every trap was evaded, every hunt unsuccessful.

The demons were growing bolder, too. In the last month alone, they had lost two more of the pack to the Demon Seed. They’d been out in the forest, just inside the protective circle, when they were attacked. The demons didn’t need to touch them to possess them. Those two both had tried to break into the vault where Zealuv’s prison was held.

One, they’d taken alive. They had tried the exorcism ritual on her, but it didn’t work. The demon had laughed at them. They threw her in the prison, where she promptly shifted into wolf form and tore out her own wrists. She’d bled out in seconds.

The other one didn’t give them any chance to question him. He’d nearly got Finn by the throat and kept fighting until they’d had no chance but to kill him. So the team knew the demons were still trying to free Zealuv, but it didn’t give them any way to trap that big wolf.

The one thing that seemed to be a bonus was that Sebastian didn’t seem to be with the demon pack anymore, and none of the current demons had any sort of mutation. Finn guessed—or hoped—that the host body couldn’t survive the process.

Blood, sweat, and dirt still clung to him. He’d refused to allow Christine to clean him up at the clinic; he only wanted the injury taken care of. She had told him not to get the bindings wet, so he submerged a washcloth in his sink and started to scrub the grim off his body. The coolness of the air against his damp skin helped to relax his body.

His mind, however, didn’t relax. He was failing the pack. He needed to catch that fucking demon and put him down before he could cause any more damage.

What did he need to do differently? This current approach wasn’t working. The traps weren’t useful. For years, the pack had lived in fear of Monroe. Now, Hayden was Alpha, and Ryder was Beta. They had sworn to the pack to protect them.

They could use Zealuv’s prison as bait in a trap if it weren't so risky. But what if it failed? They couldn’t risk that bastard getting free again.

Unbidden, Tess’s words from the cabin came back to him. You should use us as bait .

A low growl reverberated in his chest. His wolf, but him as well. No fucking way. They didn’t need bait, and he sure as fuck wasn’t going to risk the women. No. There had to be another way, something he was missing. Maybe he needed to prioritize finding out the host’s identity. It would give them the chance to figure out what innate knowledge the demon had.

If the host was a wolf from the region at all. He could be a rogue, so there was no knowing where he came from.

Ryder rinsed out the cloth, shaking his head. He was so tired that he’d just end up spinning his wheels if he tried to figure things out now.

A knock came on the bathroom door, making him jump. “I’ll be out in a minute, Mom,” he yelled.

“Tess is here to see you,” Echo answered.

Ryder’s hands stilled. Tess. Over the last month, they hadn’t spoken much. He'd been avoiding her since he called an end to their sparring sessions. She had confronted him once, near the start, and demanded to know why he’d decided to stop.

The truth was, he saw the look on her face when she dragged that demon over the salt line in the forest.

He’d seen the way she realized that she had killed the body it possessed.

And he knew that he couldn’t keep training with her. The more they trained, the more confident she got, and the more likely she would insist on joining this somehow. Of being bait and fighting.

It would end in only two ways.

She’d kill again. She would have to deal with the emotions of killing someone she knew. The one she took out was already beyond saving. But what if the next one wasn’t? What if she killed someone that, in other circumstances, they could free?

The other option? She’d be killed.

Neither of them was an option Ryder would allow to happen. And so the training was over.

That wasn’t what he told her, though. Instead, he’d looked into her eyes and said, “I can’t afford to be distracted right now. It’s been fun, but I have to concentrate on my duties for the pack. Blayke teaches self-defense to the she-wolves. You can join that group.”

“Ryder?” Echo called through the door. “Are you going to see her?”

Ryder grabbed a robe and threw it on. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

He listened to Echoe’s footsteps retreat and ran a hand through his dark hair. He stared at himself in the mirror again, taking deep breaths to calm himself. Echo told him once that he looked like his father. Ryder hadn’t cared. He was never curious about who his father was or how Echo had come to be pregnant with him.

People in town thought she’d hooked up with a random stranger during one of her trips to the city. It wasn’t true. He wasn’t an accidental baby any more than Mica had been an unintentional adoption. His father was a sperm donor. But the pack would think even worse about Echo if they’d known she’d used medical intervention to have a baby than they did thinking that she’d slept around.

Ryder combed his hair flat and stepped out of the bathroom. Echo was at the entrance, putting on her shoes.

“What are you doing?” Ryder asked.

Echo gave him a pointed look. “Going for a walk.”

Ryder bit back a groan. He really needed to get his own place. Once he had a few days of downtime, he’d see what was available for rent. Someplace close by for when Echo needed him, but somewhere he’d have privacy.

At least Echo was leaving to give him and Tess privacy now. Ryder’s wolf pawed at his chest, demanding he go to her. Even though it wasn’t going to go the way his wolf wanted. Images flashed through his mind of how beautiful Tess had looked that day, straddling him.

Fucking demons. The least they could have done was wait until after they tried it out with Tess on top.

Ryder shook his head, driving out those images.

He entered the living room. Tess sat on the worn couch, looking down at her twisted hands. Her head came up, and she held her breath as he stepped in. Looking at her, he instantly knew what she was here to tell him. She sat so rigidly that there could only be one thing. Her lips parted slightly, but she didn’t speak.

Her sweet scent curled into his nostrils. There was a change, a subtle increase in the scent she gave off. He’d smelled it on Mica when she got pregnant. Smelled it on other women before they even knew they were pregnant. He’d always had a sensitive nose.

Pregnant. This couldn’t come at a worse time! He was busy with that fucking big wolf. He had a duty to the pack. There were enough distractions in his life right now. And now, Tess was pregnant. Which meant they had to figure out co-parenting. How to work out custody agreements. Child support. He’d step up for her and their child; he wasn’t a deadbeat dad. A place of his own would have to wait; first things first, he was going to get Tess into a nicer place. Somewhere comfortable with space for the baby.

But he didn’t speak. He sat down opposite her and rested his hands on his knees. She’d come to tell him, and he wanted to hear the words.

“I’m sorry for bothering you,” Tess murmured, looking away.

“You’re not bothering me.”

Tess twisted her sleeve around her wrist. “It seems as though I wasn’t very smart. When I didn’t insist on using protection.”

“I should have brought it up,” Ryder murmured.

“Please don’t. This is hard enough.” Tess took a deep gulp of air and straightened. She looked him in the eye and whispered, “I’m pregnant. The baby’s yours. You’re the only one it could be. I haven’t slept with anyone else. Not that it matters because we’re not mates. I mean, I understand if you were sleeping with other women. I don’t know why I’m saying that.” She bit her lip and looked down again.

Ryder opened his mouth and stopped.

Warmth swept through him. It was as though he’d spent his life standing in a miserable, drizzling rain. Now, the sun had come out. The darkness fled, and he could see clearly for the first time.

What was he thinking? For so long, he’d told himself they couldn’t be mates. That he wouldn’t be good for her or she wasn’t what he wanted. He’d been an idiot. She was his mate. Somehow, deep in his bones, he’d always known that.

He stood. “We’ll have the mating ceremony tonight.”