Page 29 of Rejected Alpha Mate

“There’s only one way to draw it out,” she says. “His true mate has to do it.”

My breath catches when every head turns toward me.

“You mean me?” My voice comes out small, unsteady. But I’m not surprised. Delilah is a witch.

Delilah nods once. “You’re connected to his life force more deeply than anyone else. If you channel that link, you can pull the darkness out through your bond. It hasn’t been done before, but I think it can work.”

“Channel the link? Didn’t Hunter have to cut you so you could bleed—” I start, but Nicholas cuts me off, voice raw.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“She has to,” Delilah insists. “It’s already spreading, and fast, Nick. We’re talking hours, not days. You were bitten by someone who carries the darkness.”

“Find another way,” Nicholas snaps.

My spine straightens at that, defiance flaring hot in my chest. I wanted to help him because I care, but he’s refusing to take that help. “What? You’re afraid of me cutting you?”

“No, that’s not—” Nicholas begins, but Delilah cuts him off.

“You wouldn’t have to cut him or injure him in any way, Donna,” Delilah explains with a sigh, but Nicholas holds a hand up to stop her.

He turns sharply toward me, eyes blazing in a menacing shade of green. “You don’t even know what you’re dealing with, Donna. This isn’t your fight.”

Delilah’s voice slices through the rising tension. “It is now.”

I turn to her, confusion and frustration colliding in my chest when she exchanges a glance with Arianna. “Wait…what do you mean, I wouldn’t have to cut him? I’m not understanding.”

“We don’t have time to walk on eggshells around either of you,” Delilah says with a sigh, her gaze sharpening when she glances at Nicholas, but she turns back to me. “You’re just like me, and Arianna. You’re a witch, Donna.”

The statement makes the room tilt for a second, my hands instinctively curling around my cup of tea, and I feel it again—that faint pulsing warmth in my palms. The same one I felt when I touched Nicholas last night.

Arianna steps closer to me, saying, “Donna…you’ve been feeling it, haven’t you? Your hands feel strange…the tingling, the heat. The nightmares, too.”

Delilah moves toward me, eyes softening. “Gwen had a vision last night. She saw another witch in our group—a healer who hadn’t awakened yet. The healer was helping us brew a potion that could end the dark lord.” She pauses, looking straight into my eyes. “She saw you.”

I blink, shaking my head as I back away a step, but tingling sensations begin to pulse in my palms. I’m still in denial, though. “No. No, you’re wrong. I’m not like you. I’m not…” my voice tapers off when words fail me.

“Magic?” Delilah finishes for me. “You think we asked for this? None of us did, Donna. But the Moon Goddess doesn’t ask for permission. She chooses.”

Nicholas moves in front of me, blocking me from Delilah like a shield. “You’re not experimenting on her. End of discussion.”

I cross my arms, curling my tingling hands into fists. “That’s funny…you didn’t mind forcing me into a marriage without asking.”

He flinches as he turns toward me like I struck him. “That was different.”

“Was it?” I challenge, my voice trembling with something between anger and adrenaline. Perhaps it’s the latter that blurs the shock I should be feeling, the former making it easier to defy Nicholas. That’s the only reason I’m not reacting to the revelation that I’m a witch. I’ll do anything to make Nicholas’s life difficult, and I can do that by going against his wishes, no matter what that looks like. “You made your choice for me then. Now I’m making mine.”

Delilah’s gaze flicks between us, then she nods once. “Tonight. When the moon rises, the connection will be at its strongest. You’ll need to hold his hand, focus on your bond, and pull. The darkness will fight back, but don’t let go. If you do—”

“What happens if she does?” Nicholas practically growls.

Delilah hesitates. “Then it takes both of you.”

The room falls into stunned silence, and Nicholas turns on me, fury and fear warring in his expression. “You’re not doing it.”

I meet his glare head-on. “You don’t get to decide that.”

He steps closer, eyes wild now, chest heaving. “I’m not losing you if this doesn’t work.”