The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate (Five Packs, #1)

by Cate C. Wells

“I yanked the mate bond out of you.” She waggles her arched eyebrows. “Didn’t touch his now, did I?”

I want to sink through this sagging mattress, under the floorboards, down and down until I pop out the other side of the earth. How do I face the pack?

My wolf kind of checks out what’s going on behind her, and then she sits, careful of her bad back leg. She doesn’t cower or run. The happy idiot plops down on her rump and begins to lick herself. I like her. We’re gonna die, but she does not care. She’s not gonna let Killian’s wolf see her sweat.

He slides a finger along my temple, tucking my hair behind my ear. Then he traces the shell. I shiver. His mouth softens into something almost like a grin. He leans close, and when he whispers, his lips brush my earlobe. “And what are you going to do with him, little wolf?” A husky whine escapes from deep in my chest, a demanding, impatient sound dripping with raw lust. I press my palm to my mouth, cheeks flaming, and Killian laughs, backing off.

Come out. Come out. Come out. My wolf lets forth a series of yips and snarls. Go. Go to the other female. Go on. Go. Then, she daintily crosses her paws, rests her chin on them, and dramatically closes her eyes. No way. She’s pissed that he let Haisley rub up on him. I guess the rush of his dominance show has worn off, and she’s remembered that she has beef.

“But, ah, my wolf—apparently, he’s into your wolf.” He almost sounds embarrassed. Like his wolf’s a pervert or something. He’s such a dick. “She’s not interested.” I hike my chin. He’s

“He won’t—” Killian clears his throat. “He won’t let me leave.”

He said witches dance between raindrops. Any male who thinks to control one doesn’t understand nature.

would have stomped his own child to death if not for Una Hayes. She put her little body between Thomas Fane’s wolf and that baby, and she nearly died. She would have.” Abertha pins me with blazing eyes. “Except?” “Except for Killian Kelly. The alpha’s nine-year-old son. He raced to the rescue, and on his way, he shifted for the first time. His wolf was a beast. He rent Thomas Fane limb from limb. It took Declan Kelly and three enforcers to drag him away from the corpse.”

“You knew this. She told you she was your mate. You rejected her. She told you I fixed it. You must have found her nest in the woods. I can scent traces of her heat on you. You know all of this. But you’re deaf to it. Because you are getting in your own way.”

And then he laughs. From his belly. Like I’m genuinely funny. If I had a knife, I’d plunge it into his throat and listen to him gurgle, and then I’d laugh, too. I’d laugh and laugh.

I need her to smile at me. I need not to have fucked up the best thing that’s ever happened in my life before it even happened.

“That’s the whole thing, though. That’s why I sell things at the market. I don’t want to be just a female. Or a mate, or whatever.” She says it slowly, as if she’s working it out in her head as she speaks. “I want my own thing.” There are responses on the tip of my tongue. Of course she feels this way. She thought she was mateless. She had to make peace with her lot. She doesn’t need mushrooms anymore. She’s my mate.

“You’re in heat.” “No, I’m not. Heat hurts.” His eyes crinkle in sadness. “No, baby. It doesn’t.”

I press my palm to my chest. The sensation runs over the back of my hand, like a shaded stream in summer, a lazy current that soothes feverish skin. I can’t suppress a small smile. This is magic.

But I’m stuck. And it’s not only because of the hours in the briar patch or Killian’s rejection in front of the pack. Somehow—and I don’t understand, but it’s true anyway—the wound is a lot older than a few days. The hurt goes back to long ago before I can remember. And that doesn’t make sense, but it’s real.

She owns me, and that makes her the most powerful wolf in the five packs.

I can’t change what happened, so I have to change what will.

He whispers in my ear, “Everything I’ve ever done, I’ve done for you, Una Hayes.”