The Rejected Mate-Jessie

ation hung thick in the air, the stench of violence imminently to be perpetrated. Cade said nothing, his eyes

ted, his long strides marking the floor as he moved before the tattered assembly of rogue wolves. "It's one of the

ed to the pack laws. Violence ran in their veins, but even they knew

as about destruction, about tearing down everything Jessie had built with Lucas. He fisted h

om the inside. Their strength is in their unity, their loyalt

rest but with sharp eyes, spoke out

Miller-she's not one of them by birth. She's the outsider. If we can spread discord about

full of cracks. Use them. Remind the pack who she was before Lucas-le

e begin with rumors. Let doubt seep into the pack about her co

won't bring down Bloodfang. How

t in their Luna starts to crack, we strike from the borders. Bloodfang can be

at, her whole new life crumbling around her. And when the pack turned against her and Lucas could no longer protect her, she

r the river. That's where they guard the least. We'll send in a small contingent to test the

gues. Bloodfang was not to expect this. Complacency had set in with their strength, their uny

than a broken shell of the woman she had become. He couldn't wait to s

idden behind her hooded cloak, listened to every word. Cade may have been consumed by revenge, but Vanessa had ano

ed to knock her off. She had an alliance with the rogues, one Cade knew nothing about. She would let him

Of late, she had felt a hauntingly I-am-being-watched sense, as if something watched from just out of reach. Lucas reassured her all wa

ating as the cool night air that caressed him while he watched them vanish among the trees. Already,

hallenge came later, when Jessie's strength would be put to test, when she would have to

through the stillness. Jessie sat on the balcony of the Bloodfang packhouse, her face cast upwards to the moon. She coul

on seeping into their territory like a ghost. His instincts, whetted from years of leading Bloodf

came at the door. One of Lucas's warriors, Gregor

" Gregor said quietly yet urgently. "T