Alpha’s Thrice Rejectedd Mate By Ida Rowe

Chapter 11 

He seemed a thousand miles away from me. 

Yet, he was close at hand. 

I felt a tingling on my check, hardly aware of the gasps and protests of the crowd behind me. Hale was staring into my eyes, an unreadable expression in them. 

Shocked beyond measure, I raised my hand to my cheek and felt a smooth, unscarred surface. 

“M–Mason?” I whispered, almost instinctively, I felt something damp in my eyes, but I soon held it once I got my reasoning back. Years had passed, I already forgot how to shed tears. 

Hale simply nodded at me, turned, and left the altar. The crowd parted, but the shouting immediately died down as Hale passed. Only a fool would challenge the Alpha–especially an Alpha as strong as Mason Hale 

a confused blush 

Then, I was standing alone at the altar with more than a hundred pairs of accusing eyes fixed on me. I hid a behind my hand and hurried away through the crowd before they could close ranks again. 

I didn’t see Hale anywhere as I returned to the castle. I didn’t even know where to begin to seek him out. Perhaps his office? But then, if he wanted to speak to me, wouldn’t he have waited for me? 

Unsure what to do, I went back to my childhood room and sat down on the bed, staring into space as I tried to process what had just happened, Hale had accepted me as his mate. Mason Hale, the Alpha of the Fullbright Pack, had accepted me as his 

mate 

Mason had accepted me as his mate. 

My heart panged, and feelings I’d thought were gone forever bubbled to the surface of my mind. I couldn’t make sense of them. I couldn’t believe… 

Oh, Goddess I was going to be Luna when Hale married me! 

The very idea banished all other confusing thoughts back into the darkness. How could I, Kora Monroe, daughter of the traitor who had murdered the previous Alpha, ever be Luna? The possibility had been so far from my consciousness that yesterday if someone had told me I would even be considered for the position, I would have laughed in their face. My father killed Hale’s father. And I was going to be his Luna. 

I dropped my head into my hands, the weight of shame and responsibility crashing over me. 

The people would never accept me. Never. 

No, no good could come of this. Love was for children, and that was where I should leave the feelings of my past for Hale. Hale was smart, calculating, a strong Alpha of our pack. He would never be swayed by such childish emotions, so what could possibly have been his motive in accepting me? 

What was the plan here, and how was I a part of it? 

It would have been so much easier to just marry Shawn and get the information I so desperately desired about my betrayal 

Shawn. 

Oh, Goddess! I had proposed to Shawn! What was I to do about THAT?! 

father’s 

I wondered if Shawn was going to be okay after this. We had already agreed to marry. He might be upset, or something awful might happen to him now. Would Hale..? 

It all became too much, and after a nervous giggle, I decided to lie down before I actually came apart at the seams. Mason Hale my childhood love, whatever have you done? 

I went straight to my study. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, didn’t want to be grilled about anything. 

I especially didn’t want to examine the unexpected words that had come out of my mouth. 

Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed the peace of thought, or not thinking, that would have come at the bottom of a bottle. 

“What the HELL was that?!” Giselle asked, marching into my study before I could close the door. “Just what the HELL was that 

“Keep your voice down,” my mother said, entering the room after her. 

Moon Goddess be damned, was I not to ever have any peace! Kora wouldn’t be pursuing me like a hound to the fox when T just needed a moment, just one moment, alone, 

I went to a decanter along the side wall and poured myself a generous glass. 

“Oh, that’s going to help?” Giselle sniped. 

“It’s going to help me,” I said, downing it in one swallow and pouring another. 

“If you’re that upset, son, why did you accept her?” my mother asked quietly, “Did you even think about the pack?” 

1 ignored her question and poured another tumbler, right to the brim. 

“Mason…” My mother walked over and put a hand on my wrist. “Mason, this isn’t going to help. Please, tell me why you accepted Kora?” 

“Yes, why DID you accept the sll” Giselle added. 

My mother frowned slightly in disapproval at her, but I was so f*cking tired, and the brandy warmed my insides as well as my temper. “Who are you calling a slet?” I asked evenly. 

Giselle’s jaw dropped. “Are you implying I’M a sl*t?!” 

I shrugged but set my brandy down at my mother’s bidding. “You’re the one who’s been f*cking me. 

“Of course, I have been! I’m going to be your Luna!” Giselle shrieked. “Or at least, I was supposed to bel” 

I scowled at her. “Whatever gave you that idea?” 

“What do you mean, what gave me that idea?! We’ve been making love-” 

“And I’m the most delicious one of all your buddies?” I didn’t give her a glance, leaving my mother in shocked silence as 1 went to tower over the shrew. Giselle nervously pulled down her sleeve to cover the teeth mark on her wrist, and to whom it belonged to, who cared? 

“You were never going to, nor will you ever, be my Luna. I looked into her eyes. 

“Mason,” my mother admonished me, “you should never have led Giselle on. She is an excellent choice for Luna, as I’ve always said.” 

“But Kora isn’t,” I replied sardonically. 

“No, Mason. Kora isn’t, and you know that. You KNOW that, my mother said. “For Goddess’s sake, her father killed my husband, your father!” 

“She’s a useless b*tch. She deserves to die in some brothel or as a slave. She’s below your recognition, much less your lovel Giselle shouted. “She’s a stupid, traitorous c 

“Giselle. The only reason she should be sent away is because she is a threat to the pack. Please keep your low opinions and unbecoming speech to yourself,” my mother said. 

My head rang with their scolding, and I turned back to the brandy, downing that glass as well. 

“Mason, drinking is not going to solve this problem you’ve create my mother began. 

I slammed the tumbler down on my desk, cracking it and leaving a dent in the wood. “Would you two mind leaving me the F*CK alone? I need to think, and all your squawking is giving me a headache.” 

“I would think it’s the alcohol giving you a-” Giselle started. 

“GO!” I roared at them in my Alpha voice. 

It wasn’t as though they could resist. The two of them marched toward the door. 

I watched them leave, then saw them in the hall, pausing. 

They exchanged a long look. 

I didn’t know what it meant, and I found I didn’t really care. I went back to the brandy. 

Everything they had said was true, but all I knew was I wasn’t going to lose my Kora to the likes of Shawn Norman. 

I growled low in my throat 

Mine.