Page 38 of His Rejected Mate

“Hey, bestie,” Zoe said with a wave, but the smile on her face looked strained. “I really hope you did what you said you were gonna do.” She cut her eyes to Eli and blushed.

Eli took a couple steps toward us, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at us like we were the dumbest people she’d ever met. “What the hell were you two thinking?”

I shrugged and gestured back to the jungle. “We went out to—”

“Of all the dumbass things I could imagine doing, this has to be at the top,” Eli went on. “Do you have any idea how dangerous this was? Simon could be out there looking for you.” Eli stepped forward until she was right in my face. “We losttwomen saving you. And how do you repay that? By strolling out into the jungle to get kidnappedagain? That’s a really heartless way to say thank you.”

Shame, intense and visceral, spread through me. I hadn’t thought of how this would look to those who’d lost friends. I hadn’t even known the two men who’d died. Eli was right, and the knowledge filled me with remorse and contrition. Our mission had been important and successful, but this place belonged to these people. We were their guests, and Wyatt and I had spat on that kindness by being reckless. The fact that I liked and respected Eli and Crew made it all worse. We were assholes.

“Eli,” I said, holding up my hands. “I’m sorry. I really am. We didn’t mean to be disrespectful. I can’t imagine what you guys have been through. You’ve lost people, and that is part of why we went out. We don’t want anyone else to die if they don’t have to, so we went to find help.”

Eli snorted. “Yeah, Zoe told me. That was fucking dumb. You wentlookingfor the Shadowkeeper? Gods almighty, do you haveany clue how powerful she is? She could kill you with a snap of her damn fingers.”

“We know,” I said. “We…uh, saw. She saved us out there. And she agreed to help us when we go for Simon.”

Eli blinked and shook her head, all traces of her anger gone. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” Wyatt said. “She agreed. Didn’t give us details, though. All she said was that she’d be there when we needed her.”

“Um…” Eli’s mouth opened and closed, like she couldn’t quite process the information. She looked like we’d just told her water was no longer wet. “Well, all right, then. I guess that’s, um, really good news.” She regained a bit of her composure and pointed at us again. “Even so, that doesn’t excuse what you did. This is your one and only warning. Got it?”

“Yes. We’re sorry,” I said.

Eli let out a heavy sigh and waved toward the entrance. “Get the hell in there, then. Go see your friend.”

“Which one?” Wyatt asked, sounding confused.

Zoe, who’d been uncharacteristically silent, finally perked up. “Oh, yeah. Abel’s awake.”

At that news, Wyatt and I couldn’t get into Haven fast enough. Having to take our sweet time while Eli and Zoe guided us through the security measures was misery. Probably a good punishment for our recklessness.

I tried to focus on my hope for success against Simon as we made our way deeper into Haven. With Lucina’s promise to help, I couldn’t help but imagine getting off this island soon. The thought had a weird, surreal feel to it. I’d only been on this island for a few weeks, but if someone told me it had been years, I would have believed them.

Once past the entry corridor, Zoe, Wyatt, and I and through the dirt tunnels to get to the medical area. As we entered theroom, Abel looked up weakly. His face was deathly pale, and he looked like he could fall asleep at any moment. Still, he managed a smile when he saw us.

“Hey, guys,” he said.

Wyatt and I went to his bedside. “How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Like I’ve been hit by a truck,” he said. He pinned me with his eyes. “Kira, thank you. They told me what happened. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you saved me. That…man.” Abel shuddered. “He’s a fucking monster. A psychopath. You have no clue how awful he is.”

I actually had a pretty good idea, but I refrained from telling him that as I put my hand on his arm. “No problem. Hell, I owed you one for rescuing me from that basilisk.”

“Abel, do you remember anything about what Simon did to you?” Wyatt asked.

Abel flinched at hearing Simon’s name. “Not really. It’s all a big blur. I don’t even remember what happened in the jungle. One minute, we were all together and those weird creatures were attacking us; the next, I was in the lab. I was fucking terrified, man. Simon let his vampire assistants feed on me, then he hooked me up to this weird machine. After that, nothing. Just black. That’s all I remember. Sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Wyatt said, patting his shoulder.

Abel nodded, but tears sprang into his eyes, and he swallowed hard. “I’m not feeling great. I think I need to rest.”

“Yeah, okay. You take a nap.” I nudged Wyatt toward the door.

“Sorry about earlier,” Zoe said when we were walking down the hall. “Eli asked why I was hanging around the entrance. She’s…well, she’s pretty intense. I tried lying, but she saw right through it. Anyway, she’d come looking for you two because there’s a group of people ready to start training. She left them towork on their own until you were ready to help. Do you want to head that way?”

“Sure. It’ll get my mind off everything else,” I said, again feeling a weird mix of excitement and shame at what we’d done. Excitement for our success, but shame at betraying Eli and Crew’s trust.

“Hey, guys,” Zoe said as she led us into a big antechamber-type room. A half-dozen Haven citizens were gathered there. They looked at us expectantly.

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