Page 92 of Alpha's Rejected Warrior
“Just an observation,” Ethan corrects. “Not saying she’s in on it, but if she can read his mind, she probably knows something.”
I nod.
“She did seem genuinely concerned about her father,” Akila points out. “Even when she was the one—”
“Could be an act.” Conan cuts in before Akila can finish.
“Either way, we need to question her.” I push off the wall, falling into Commander mode. “We need to determine what she knows and what she’s been hiding.”
Xander considers this, a muscle ticking in his cheek. “Agreed. But not tonight. She should have time with her father, in case...” He doesn’t need to finish the sentence. We all know Stasio might not wake up.
“First thing in the morning then,” I say. “Ethan and I will handle it.”
Why do I have to do everything around here?Ethan’s voice drifts through my mind, tinged with amusement.
Shut up.
“Okay,” Xander says. “But be careful. If she is involved, she’s had plenty of time to prepare her story. And we still don’t know the full extent of what they might do.”
“Understood.” I straighten, already running through interrogation tactics in my head. “If there’s nothing else?”
Xander dismisses us with a wave, and we file out of the study.
“Rhiannon.” Ethan catches my arm as the others disperse. His touch sends electricity shooting up to my shoulder. “What the hell just happened in there? Was I mind-linking with you? Is that even—”
“Stop.” I jerk away from him, my skin still tingling where his fingers were. “I don’t want to deal with this right now.”
“Deal with what?” That familiar spark is ignited in his eyes, the one that makes my wolf pace restlessly. “The fact that we just had a freaky telepathic conversation? Or the fact that you’re still running away after we—”
“There is nowe, remember?. You’re leaving after the summit. Whatever this weird new development is,” I draw a line through the air between our foreheads, “it doesn’t matter anyway.”
His eyes narrow. “Right. Because you’ve already decided that for both of us.”
“Ethan—”
“Save it.” He turns and walks away. “I’ll see you in the morning,Commander.”
My wolf whines, wanting to follow him. I force my feet to take me in the other direction.
Chapter 35 — Rhiannon
My feet carry me through the courtyard without conscious thought, past the training grounds where moonlight glints off the trove of practice weapons, past the eastern tower where guards patrol in steady patterns. I need to think, to process whatever the hell just happened with Ethan.
Lycans can’t mind-link with other species. Especially not humans.
The impossibility of it makes my head spin.
The entrance to the Seers Hall appears before me, and I realize where my feet have been taking me all along. My conversation with Mahal from earlier echoes in my mind. His cryptic words about my fated mate — a wolf that walks among us — are difficult to forget, but even more difficult to decipher.
I have a feeling he offers more riddles than answers.
The stone door banded with iron gives way as I shove it open, the crescent sigil carved into it barely visible in the pale evening light. Incense smoke drifts upward in lazy spirals. The chamber opens up into the vast circular room, lit by the moonlightfiltering through the fractured glass dome overhead. The mosaic of triangles catches and scatters the light in drifting beams across polished stone walls so smooth they reflect my blurred image. At the center lies the perfectly still pool with deep blue cushions forming a ring around it, where the seers meditate.
I follow the familiar path across the silent chamber, all sounds dying the moment the door closes behind me. The sacred hush swallows even my careful footsteps. Only Mahal occupies one of the deep blue cushions beside the pool, positioned precisely where I discovered him during my last visit.
“Commander.” He rises from the cushion. “You return sooner than expected.”
“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” I say.
