Chapter 157

Chapter 157

*Isla

Pay you? Threaten you? What did they promise you that made you betray us?!” Jamie’s voice filtered through the fog that clouded my mind.

I moaned and struggled to get up. “Jamie…?”

“I didn’t- Freya insisted.

“Shut up. Just shut the F*CK up. Go stand over there, I need to tend to my mate,” Jamie said.

Jamie’s smell surrounded me even before his arms did. I could also smell the sharp, coppery tang of his blood. “Jamie? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, love. Don’t worry about me,” Jamie replied kindly, hugging me to him. I pushed on his chest so I could look up at him. “Margot?”

Jamie’s face fell. “She’s gone. They took her. I tried my best to stop them.” My stomach clenched. I didn’t know if it was from anger, desperation, or the knowledge I was about to be sick. Or all three. “Help me up. Hurry!” Jamie carefully stood with his arm around me. “Isla, don’t push yourself-” “Don’t push myself?! Our daughter’s been kidnapped! I could crawl across hot coals at this point!” I yelled.

“Isla, I think Freya had something to do with this. We need to question her,” Jamie replied.

wouldn’t hear it. “Freya is my friend. And we have bigger problems now than questioning her. We need her help. We need to go find Margot.”

“I think Freya is working for the council, Isla. I think they took Margot. So I’m not running off anywhere until I get my answers,” Jamie said. “We need to think about this. We need to be smart. There will likely be superior forces-

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“We’re going to find her NOW! Right now!” I shouted, my hands balling into fists. “For Goddess’s sake, Isla, listen to yourself! Just listen! Listen to ME. We can’t go off half–cocked-“Jamie argued.

hat do vo

think you’re doing with Freya right now? How does your shouting at her get my baby back?!” I shoved Jamie away, grabbing the shell–shocked Freya’s wrists. “You didn’t have anything to do with this, did you?”

“N–No! Of course not!” Freya responded.

I searched her eyes, then nodded. “Then help me get my daughter. Jamie…”

“That’s not any kind of questioning,” Jamie said.

“It’s the best we can do for now. Freya’s going to help us get Margot back. That’s all I need to know right now,” I replied.

Thrice Rejected Mate

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“We should go now,” Freya urged. “Before they get too far.”

I nodded. “Yes. Let’s go.”

Jamie stood right up next to us, looming over us. “I’m not letting you go anywhere with that traitor. I don’t think this is the first time she betrayed us. The accident-

“She’s not a traitor. I looked into her eyes. She would never hurt me that way,” I said. “We’re going to find our daughter now, and that’s final.”

“Isla, I swear, it’s almost like you were in on it yourself! How can you be so sure about this, about her?!” Jamie demanded.

It was like he’d stabbed me in the heart. “What did you just say to me?”

I thought he’d realize his mistake and apologize. Instead, for some reason, my husband doubled down.

“It seems like you’re willing to put aside an awful lot, and the only reason I can think of is that you know our daughter’s alright and were in on the whole thing,” Jamie seethed.

I slapped him across the face. “How dare you! How DARE you say something like that to me!”

Jamie touched his cheek, reeling back and blinking. “Isla, I…”

“Don’t speak to me. Freya, do you know which way they went?” I asked, turning my back on Jamie.

“Yes. I saw them just as I was leaving the temple.” Freya pointed at the tree line. “They went that way.”

“Alright.” I lifted my skirts and began marching in that direction.

Jamie caught my wrist. “Isla, I’m sorry, I-”

I shook him off. “I don’t want to talk about it. It’s not important right now. You, me, us, WE’RE not important right now. Come with us or don’t. I don’t care. anymore. I have to find my daughter.”

Freya pushed past Jamie and took my hand. “We’ll find her, Isla. Don’t worry.” Determinedly not looking back at Jamie, I ran for the trees with Freya.

Never in my whole life, or what I remembered of it, could I remember wishing so hard that I could shift. I mentally cursed my family for poisoning me to the point. of weakness that I couldn’t call my wolf.

“You should go ahead,” I said to Freya. “You can still shift.”

Freya shook her head vehemently. “No. You need to come with me.”

I sighed. “What is it with you and Jamie? Stop worrying about me. Start worrying about Margot!”

“I am worrying about Margot. What’s she going to think if I show up without her

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mother?” Freya pointed out.

“She’ll probably wonder about her father as well,” I mumbled, worry washing over me. Perhaps I should have taken the extra time to resolve things with Jamie. “He’ll be along. I’m sure. Probably with the strength of the pack behind him,” Freya assured me. She patted my arm. “He’ll be able to follow your scent. You’re his mate. We’re doing the right thing by scouting on ahead.”

I nodded. “Yes, you’re right. We’ll be able to lead the pack straight to her. Then Jamie can rip through them and get our daughter back.”

Freya smiled. “Exactly.”

“Still,” I said. “I think we should pick up the pace.”

“Of course.” But Freya didn’t go any faster.

“Freya, I said we need to pick up the pace,” I repeated, exasperated.

“I don’t want you to trip and fall.” Freya stopped altogether, turned, and took my hand again. “You might have a head injury.”

“Wh

are you doing?” I asked. “We need-

Freya drew her fingers in a symbol on the back of my hand.

I suddenly felt very woozy. “Freya?”

“Don’t worry, Isla. Everything is going to be okay,” Freya said.

There was a blinding flash of light, and Jamie was on the ground. I was wedged between the seats, trying to reach Margot. Her little head was bleeding.

The pain told me I had some wounds of my own, but nothing compared to the stark, gripping terror of seeing Margot bleeding from her head.

“Get her,” a voice said. “Get her; leave the babe and the king.

Someone reached through the open front door of the car and grabbed the back of my shirt, hauling me away from my daughter.

“No!” I shrieked. “No! Margot, she’s hurt!”

The masked person who’d grabbed me slapped me across the face. “Did you could escape me forever?”

Oh, Goddess. My fiance, Jasper Talton.

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“Slap her around later; we need to get out of here,” another voice I recognized said.

I turned my head. This one was not wearing a mask. “Hera?”

Jasper removed his mask and looked at Hera. “I still don’t know why we’re bothering.” He leaned over and k*ssed my sister passionately. “We’re so good together.”

Hera pushed him away. “Later. We need to leave before he wakes up. I don’t know

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how long he’ll be out. The witch didn’t say.”

Jasper made a face but hauled me over his shoulder.

I kicked and clawed at his skin.

Jasper giunted. “A little help here?”

A cool hand touched the back of my n*eck.

“Don’t worry, Isla. Everything is going to be okay…”

Then the world went black.