Page 90 of Their Rejected Queen

“Should?” I press. Either Godric thinks I won’t survive the games, or maybe he won’t.

He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You’re not meant to live like this, little moon. You deserve to go home. The Elite City is led by a Monster King. He’ll be able to reverse it for you.”

“What if I don’t want to go?” I ask. “What if Ze’ev doesn’t want me to go?”

“Ze’ev seems far too attached to you,” he agrees, “but Arwan could be convinced. I have a feeling you’ve only made his life more complicated and he could be reasoned with.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

“Didn’t you hear me? I don’t want to go,” I say as I try to ignore the sting in my eyes. “What I want matters.”

He strokes the edge of my ear. “Of course it does, but what you want and what you need can be two different things.” The gold flecks in his eyes seem to darken. “What my wolf wants is to claim you, but that would hurt you. So you must leave. You cannot stay.”

“You want to send me back?” I ask incredulously as I stare at him. “I can’t return to the Elite City. My family sold me. A refund would be demanded of my purchase price.”

Those are funds that I know my brother has already spent by now.

Horrible scenarios roll through my mind. My brother sold me to Monster Isle. What lengths would he go to if I returned and he had new debts to pay? Especially because I had escaped?

A shudder rolls over my shoulders as I consider the answer to that question.

I’ve seen previews of the kind of clientele my brother could find.

“You wouldn’t go back empty-handed,” Godric promises as he slides his necklace over his head. I go still as he loops it around my neck. “This would pay any debts you’re worried about.”

I run my finger over what I had thought was a wooden emblem, but I realize it’s not a simple piece of wood.

It’s infused. I can feel its magic now.

“What is this?” I ask.

His gaze remains on the necklace that’s long enough to settle the emblem between my breasts. “The inheritance of the Blood Moon Pack.”

My eyes widen. “Won’t the other members have a problem with me wearing this?”

“I’ll deal with that,” he says. Then adds, “You almost died because I couldn’t be there.”

“Because your pack must come first,” I whisper. It hurts to say it aloud.

He shakes his head. “It’s not just that, little moon. I cannot take you as my mate. If I did, it would kill us both. That is my curse.”

“Curse?” I ask, still tracing the emblem with my fingernail.

His amber eyes seem to glow with the pain I’ve watched him wrestle with every night. I had thought it was just unresolved lust caused by my heat, but it’s something much deeper than physical desire.

“Every soul on Monster Isle serves a life sentence. This is a prison for damned souls. King Njord gives every monster a curse, either when we’re born, or for any who steps on this isle.”

I chew my lip as I listen. “How do you know your curse is that mating would mean death?” I ask.

He seems pained to give me the answer, but he does so anyway. “Because it’s inherited. My parents were both killed by a rival pack. I told you as much. But what I didn’t tell you is that my mother had the fatal mate curse. She knew, but she chose to mate my father and bring me to term anyway. The curse brought the rival pack down on their heads. So if we did mate, we would both die brutal, agonizing deaths.”

“How do you know that was a curse?” I ask. “I’m sure rival packs do that sort of thing all the time.”

He peels up his sleeve and shows me part of his tattoo. Unlike the rest of his tattoos, this one is a jagged mark with two overlapping circles slashed through. “Because King Njord brands his subjects so that we know exactly who’s in charge and what the price of disobedience can be. He can add more curses anytime he wishes.”

“That’s horrible,” I whisper as I trace my fingers over the markings.

“It’s Monster Isle,” Godric states solemnly. “A place where you don’t belong.”