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

Chapter 29 - Tess

Bait.

Tess felt like a worm wriggling on a hook as she and Elin carefully picked their way through the forest. Everything was still and calm around them, with no sign of demons or the special ops. This made her stomach churn in a way that had nothing to do with morning sickness.

“What’s that?” Elin gasped, grabbing her arm.

Tess jumped and turned, searching the forest. Nothing seemed to have changed, but the faintest scent of brimstone wafted toward her. It was there for only half a second before it disappeared once more. She swallowed hard, shaking her head.

“There’s nothing there, Elin. Remember, there was another salt circle laid down,” she said. She projected confidence. “Mica told me that it would be done this morning. If you’re going to learn how to fight, you need to stop being so twitchy.”

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Elin asked, her voice trembling.

Tess nodded. “You need to know how to fight with the demons focused on us, and fighting in the forest is different than fighting in the town.”

Elin fingered the pouch at her hip. It contained her gun, ready to be used at a moment’s notice.

The second protective salt barrier was almost fully in place. But one section had experienced ‘delays’ in the morning. Just enough for the demons to slip through and keep causing havoc. Or, in this case, to come after Tess and Elin. They’d been public in discussing their plans in town earlier, meaning that the moles in the pack would have passed that information along to the demons.

She only hoped that this would be worth it.

They were nearing the clearing that she had trained with Ryder. Emotions swept through her. They had done so much more than spar in this place. It was some here, in the woods with their bodies aching pleasurably from sparring and sex, that their baby had been conceived.

A smile started to cross her face. But as the two women emerged into the clearing, the smell of brimstone grew stronger. A man waited for them in the clearing. He was naked, his face drooping heavily on one side. Deep scars lashed across his torso. Tess gasped. Some part of her recognized this man, but she couldn’t identify who it was.

“Don’t run,” the man said, his voice garbled. “We have the Beta. Come quietly, or he dies.”

Tess froze.

This was a trap for the demons. She knew what they were meant to do—run. Lead the demons to where the team waited. But those few words caused the plan to flee from her mind. They had Ryder. He was still alive! But if she didn’t do as they said, they’d kill him.

“How do I know?” she squeaked.

“Fuck that!” Elin howled, startling Tess from her thoughts. “He took advantage of her. We’re better off without that bastard!”

She shifted to wolf form, her clothes bursting off her except for the pouch with the gun. Then she nipped Tess’s leg and sped off, back the way they’d come. Tess didn’t allow herself to hesitate or let herself have another second of doubt.

Shifting to her wolf form, she took off after Elin. She quickly outpaced the other woman, then slowed to stay close to her. The sound of pursuit chased them, but Tess didn’t dare turn to see how many there were. She dodged around trees and over logs, careful to keep close to Elin. Elin was soon panting, her footsteps flagging.

Just a little further! Tess nudged her, urging her to continue on. Elin put on a burst of speed, and they bolted through the last few bushes to the edge of a cliff. There, they came skidding to a stop. Tess turned, dropping to her belly. She whined as the demons emerged. Five of them came at the two women with their heads low to the ground.

Elin let out a plaintive whine, rolling to her back to show surrender. The demons strode forward confidently—and salt-soaked nets dropped from the forest above them. They landed on the demons, twisting around them.

Within seconds, all five of them were completely immobilized.

Grappling hooks came up the small cliff, and the special ops soon joined them. Finn held out two dressed while the others moved forward to ensure that the demons weren’t going to free themselves. Tess shifted to human form and pulled the dress on over her head.

“Will they be able to be exorcized?” she asked as Hayden and the others dragged the demons away.

Finn shook his head. “I don’t know. We haven’t been able to save any of them for some time. The exorcisms aren’t working. I think that whatever the demons did to mutate themselves, they also found ways to make them immune to this particular ritual. It’s just another reason for us to go on a fact-finding mission.”

“But why don’t you know more?” Elin asked. She held the dress, not putting it on. The pouch hung weirdly at her hip, the gun weighing it down.

Finn ran a hand through his red hair. “Does everyone in town know about my… parentage?”

Elin winced. “Um…”

Tess frowned. “What do you mean by parentage?”

“He can see the demons, Tess,” Elin said, gesturing toward Finn. “And he has special abilities nobody else has. Isn’t it obvious?”’

What was she talking about?

“I’m half-demon,” Finn growled. He rolled his shoulders. “At least, genetically. And don’t ask how it’s possible. I can only assume that it’s through the usual means. I was raised by humans. I know about as much as you do when it comes to demons.”

Tess’s eyes widened. Out of instinct, she took a half step back. Finn’s expression hardened further. She shook her head slightly—he was a special ops member. He was a valued and trusted member of the team. She didn’t need to be afraid of him.

“The possessed wolves,” she said, speaking a little too quickly in her eagerness to show she still trusted him, “it’s because of the Demon Seed that they’re resisting the exorcisms, right?”

Finn nodded toward town and started walking. The women fell in step next to him, with Elin between Finn and Tess.

“It’s not the Demon Seed. The initial possessed wolves that were infected by the Seed were able to be exorcized. The process just killed them. No, this is something else.” Finn shook his head. “Maybe a new breed of demon. Or perhaps, like how we have the talismans, they have something, too. We’re still working on how to free them.”

“But it might still have something to do with the Demon Seed,” Tess insisted. “Maybe the most times it’s used, it gets stronger. Or…” she remembered the day she’d accidentally killed the demon. “Where do they go when the hosts are killed? They’re aura demons. Maybe their auras are drawn to the seed. And the more demons we kill or exorcize, the stronger the Seed is.”

Finn’s brow furrowed. “What brought you to that conclusion?”

“The day the demons attacked Ryder and me as we trained, when I dragged the wolf over the salt line, I saw a red light ripped out of the body. The Seed absorbed it,” Tess explained. “I thought it was normal. It didn’t even occur to me that you might not know about it.”

“That is… good to know,” Finn said slowly. “I will discuss it with Hayden.”

They were quiet as they made their way back to town, where Hayden thanked the two women. They went to the Alpha’s house, where Mica and Echo waited for them. Mica was trying to settle Denzel, who was as stiff as a board in her arms, fussing and fighting against her. On seeing Tess and Elin, Mica visibly relaxed. And, just like that, Denzel did as well.

“I’m so glad you two are okay,” Mica said, sagging into a chair.

Elin nodded, shaking as she saw on the couch. “I didn’t think I could do it, but I did. I finally feel like I’m actually useful. And I didn’t even use the gun!”

“Does that mean you’re getting rid of it?” Echo asked. There was a note of clear displeasure in her tone.

Elin glanced at the pouch on her hip. She still hadn’t put on her dress, though she held onto it limply. Tess admired her ability to be naked and not feel self-conscious. But then, Elin was shaped like an extra curvy statue of Aphrodite. If Tess had a figure like that…

Actually, it probably wouldn’t have made any difference. Even when Tess had been considered one of the most beautiful women in the pack, she’d been riddled with insecurities. She had never liked to be naked in front of anyone.

The door burst open, and a man stumbled in. Tess leaped to her feet, her breath catching in her throat. It was the same man that had been in the forest! She jumped in front of Mica, rolling to a defensive crouch as the man stumbled in.

Elin pulled the gun and pointed it at him.

The man looked up at them and fell to his knees. Massive welts rose along his bare skin in the pattern where the netting had touched him. Blood bubbled out of his deformed mouth.

He started laughing at them. Finn and Hayden were there in an instant, grabbing the man. He didn’t fight them, only continued to laugh.

“Your fates are sealed,” he crowed. “It doesn’t matter how many of us you think you trap. Our leader will crush you all. Bow down if you want to live! But not you,” he added, shouting as Hayden dragged him away. He pointed at Mica. “You are doomed. You and that brat of yours!”

He was still laughing as Hayden punched him in the face. They dragged him outside and carted him toward the prison, but the laughter kept ringing through the air. Tess slowly straightened from her crouch and turned to Mica. Her face was pale as she held Denzel close.

“He’s bluffing,” Echo said.

Tess nodded, but her hands were shaking. Doomed. Oh, how she wished that Ryder was here. But she could only pray to the Moon Goddess that he was alive and would come home soon.