Rejecting the Alpha

Kylie

Alpha Gavriel led me back through the dining room and to his own room. Heart in my throat, I walked inside. The door firmly shut behind me and I heard the sound of it locking. I slumped down against the door in relief.

After somehow finding the strength to get up, I put on clothing for bed, and crawled into it. There was nowhere for me to go so I might as well try to sleep.

I was awoken by an unpleasant pain around my heart and the spot where he had marked me throbbed in time. I sat up, but found myself doubling over in pain as another wave hit.

I called out for someone to help me, but it seemed that no one could hear. I was going to die alone, locked in my mate's room, with no one, not even my mate, to see my passing. At least I would see my parents again.

Where was he? A trickle of suspicion formed in my mind as a wave of pain subsided, before the next began to rise.

I felt the bond, and his satisfaction seeped through it. He was with another female.

My wolf howled at the bitter truth, but I felt oddly unmoved by the idea. It hurt my pride that he would cheat on me so soon after he found me, but it only confirmed my suspicions that he did not care.

The thoughts were scattered as the pain redoubled and I curled up in a little ball under the covers, wishing for it to be over. Why did he mark me if he was just going to do this to me? Did he want me to suffer?

I doubted it. I would have assumed he had a sadistic love of inflicting pain, but it almost seemed more like he did not even notice it, like an unfeeling robot. It seemed that most of his emotion stemmed from his wolf whereas the man ran on cold immoral logic.

I had almost fallen back to sleep when I heard the door click, bringing me instantly back to full wakefulness.

He walked in, as if he had not done anything wrong, the scent of a different wolf filling the room along with his return.

"You stink," I told him, unable to help myself.

He looked at me across the darkened room. "I must smell of Levenia. I'll shower before I come to bed if it bothers you."

He was so matter of fact about his indiscretions.

"It does."

"Are you feeling jealous?" he asked. It seemed a true question, as if the simplest of emotions were something he could not quite fathom.

"No. I'm disgusted."

"Disgusted?"

"That you slept with her. And upset. It really hurt me."

"Hurt you? You don't want to, so I took care of it another way."

"With another woman," I accused.

"So, you don't want me to fuck you, but you don't want me to fuck someone else?"

If he hadn't marked me against my will, I doubted I would have much cared, bond or no bond, not after what he had done. "It hurts me, Alpha. Not my feelings, but real pain."

He frowned. I did not know how to explain it to him more clearly. "You'll just have to endure."

I gritted my teeth, remembering the pain. I wanted to avoid it. "I'm going to hate you." It was a lie, because I already hated him.

His annoyance licked me through the bond as he inspected me, like I was a strange creature. "You already do, I think."

Damn the mark, and damn this bastard for forcing it on me, and damn whatever cruel fate paired me with him. What was I supposed to say? It was true. I did hate him, and not just for the mark, but for everything he had done to my people, and probably a ton of people before that. The fact that the mate bond and my wolf found him somehow attractive was entirely beside the point.

"But that doesn't matter. I still need an heir and you're the one most biologically fit to give him to me. Nothing will change that, mate."

My heart sunk as he moved closer and it was all I could do not to run away...or step closer. He kissed me, much like he had when he had marked me, his lips and tongue claiming mine—

Moments after he had just slept with another female. Barely days after he had swept in and killed my people.

I shoved away from him. Alpha Gavriel looked annoyed. "Until you submit, I'm going to keep visiting Levenia."

I gritted my teeth. I wanted to shout at him over the injustice of the situation, but I thought back to my pack sitting in the cells and bit my tongue. I tried to control my seething emotions so he would not feel them. "It hurts."

"Then let me have your body without complaint."

I forced myself to exhale slowly. "I need some time. It's so soon. I still miss my parents."

He was staring at me with those burning eyes. "I'll give you a small amount of time. Go to bed. I'm going for a shower." He strode off into the adjoining washroom and shut the door firmly behind him, leaving me to wonder exactly how long he meant.