Rejected and claimed by the alpha beast Novel by Paige T

They trailed down the hill in silence. Elise made sure she was at least five feet apart in front of him at all times; she dared not turn, and she never gave him the satisfaction that he might have some kind of hold on her.

After a while, they made it to the roads, she recalled. She felt it was close enough to use her powers as she tried her telepathic channel to call for Hayden.

“Can you at least act like I am not a ghost?” Rygan interrupted; moons, he was so stubborn. The moment she turned to him, she could see his gaze momentarily move to her lips. A look that caused a warm rush down her spine.

“It is taking everything in me not to punch the f**g daylight out of you,” she retorts. “He is close, so please…”

“I won’t speak a word if you do not want me to; I’m not that dishonorable,” he says to Elise. A flash of hurt crosses his face, and Elise’s shoulders slump in return.

They stare at each other until the sound of dry leaves crunching gives a sign that someone is getting closer, turning their attention away, and Hayden immediately comes to the clearing.

Elise sees him, and her heart thumps with guilt and then with relief that he is okay, but she should have known that even though Rygan had promised about the sex being secret, he never said anything about not attacking Hayden the moment he saw him, and that he did.

“You f**ng b**d,” Rygan calls, pushing roughly at Hayden’s chest, “do you know the type of situation you put Elise in because you want to play hero so badly? You put her in harm’s way!”

“You should be thankful you are still alive because she decided to save you, p**ck; if it were left to me, your a** would be in Newman’s cage,” Hayden snarls before he faces Elise, and his gaze softens.

“You shouldn’t have done that, you should have told me, I would have figured it out Elise muttered.

“It wasn’t supposed to play out like that; they weren’t supposed to shoot when she was in there. I’m sorry, angel, please believe me, he mutters.

Elise reached Hayden, holding his face in her palm, to assure him that she wasn’t against him and that she could forgive him, but the expression on her face formed into a serious one; her brows furrowed, and her forehead creased in worry from his cold. His skin was cold as she pressed her palm harder against Hayden’s forehead.

“Hayden, you’re cold, more like freezing; this temperature isn’t normal,” she says, her tone laced with panic. “You need rest; it’s too dangerous for you to continue,” she says.

“It would have been better if you had rested and waited for us,” she says, but Hayden shakes his head. She peered up to see that his orbs were darker than usual, like the light in his eyes had dimmed. The poison was spreading.

“Oh, Hayden.”

“She is right; it would have been better if you just waited at the moon city instead of coming: you are still suffering from the poison.”

“I’m fine, Hayden snarls at Rygan before he turns to Elise, whose eyes are still glazed with worry. Her gaze moves to his palm, which is laid on top of her wrist. She sees a black-lined spot on his skin and immediately reaches for his hand to open his sleeves and check, but he pulls away.

“Angel, I am not the priority, so you don’t need to worry. I think I found a way in-a back door we can follow-but right now we need to head to the cabin; the plans are there,” he says to Elise. She turns back, giving a weary stare to Rygan, who has

Every twist in the series is surprising been silently watching the whole ordeal.

They walked back to the cabin, which was a few minutes past the hill. With Hayden and Elise in front and Rygan watching them from behind, he couldn’t help feeling something amiss in the air.

Elise’s eyes were concentrated on Hayden; she could see Hayden’s breath was getting harsher and thicker, as he could hardly breathe with each step. This time, she made it to his front, blocking his movements.

She takes his right arm, drawing the sleeves of the shift up to see that his once clear skin now has black gaunt veins protruding from his skin. “You are not fine!” Elise says as she looks at his neck to see it’s gotten worse, and maybe Rygan was right.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because it looks worse than it feels,” he says. “Don’t worry, angel, soon we will be heading to the mansion of the human guilds so we can get the cure, but all the more we need to find Ethan,” he says with gritted teeth.

“Can’t you see this is poisoning you?”

“I said I’m fine!” Hayden’s voice gets louder and then more annoyed; the calm hold he had on her wrist before was now a strong grip that had Elise hissing.

“Hayden, you’re hurting me. Let go.”

“I told you I’m fine. Why won’t you see that?” He says with a dark tone that Elise had never heard him use on her before. This poison was making him worse.

“You are hurting me, Hayden. Stop!”

“She told you to f**et go!” Rygan snarls, coming in between them both, his chest rising with anger and snarl, his body towering over Elise and covering her from danger.

That look in his eyes, his stares between them, and how protective Rygan was acting-and how she didn’t even deflect any of his touches-didn’t take a second for Hayden to whiff out that scent coming from Elise’s body; it was far too thick to mistake for anything else than the alpha beside her.

“Something happened between both of you, didn’t it?” He questions with a snarl. Elise’s heart drops to her stomach as she freezes at Hayden’s words. She can’t look up as shame fills her body. She knows Hayden could read her well as she turns away. But that proved everything to Hayden.

“It’s always been him, hasn’t it?… Angel..”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Hayden… I don’t know what came over mer Elise called with a lone tear sliding down her face. God, she felt so horrible. She couldn’t stop the tears from running down her face.

“If you blame someone, blame me; I forced her into it after her heat came, and I took advantage of it,” Rygan says instead, stepping forward.

Elise felt her stomach churn; she felt like throwing up. How did she end up being such a trashy being to Hayden of all people? There was no way she could explain herself.

It felt like the world had been so far out till she heard Rygan speak, “Look, you can do what you want to me later, but we have Ethan to save Hayden.”

“I’m going to f**ng kill you!” Hayden snarls, launching forward, his pupils flickering with darkness, and the white orbs in his eye look like they’re turning darker from the poison spreading.

“Hayden, you can’t fight-right now. Don’t do this. You need to be treated. I can help.”

“Don’t touch me!” He snarls, lunging forward towards Elise. It feels like a fever dream; in a million years, Elise never, especially Hayden, lunged for her; she knows it’s the wolfbane in his blood, the mad drug that is making his emotions haywire.

“Hayden don’t!” But Rygan had intercepted his attack, taking the clawed attack to his chest. Hayden shifted immediately, while Rygan hissed as he saw the b**dy claw marks on his chest.

Hayden wasn’t letting this go; his eyes glazed with bloodlust as he lunged for Rygan. The quick alpha barred another claw attack in a quick reaction as he snarled back at Hayden.

They both knew there was no one way to solve this, and there was no way out of this; they were going to have an alpha duel.

Fight to the death.