Page 67 of Alpha's Rejected Warrior
“You actually believe it would be that easy?” Her voice drops, becoming sharp and cold. Her façade of control is regained. “This isn’t some fairy tale, human. This world doesn’t bend for whatwewant. It breaks us for daring to want it. I won’t gamble your life, or my own, for a hopeless crush.”
I force myself to hold her stare. “A hopeless crush?That’swhat you’re calling this?” My teeth clench. “You know damn well it’s more than that. Everything and everyone in this world keeps telling me I don’t fit, that I’m not meant to be here. But when I’m with you?” I let the silence speak for me for a beat. “If we’re a mistake, it’s the first mistake I’ve made that has allowed me to feel like I finally belong somewhere, whether it’s Kortan, the Outer Lands, or any other dimension.”
The room becomes still. I see in the way her hands loosen and then curl tightly again that she’s fighting the urge to reach for me.
“Belonging is not the same as being safe.” Her voice wavers a little. “And safety is the first vow I made to this pack. . .and to you.”
“I’m not asking you to keep me safe. I’m asking you to let me in.” I close the remaining distance between us. I’m close enough now that if she swayed forward even an inch, we’d be touching.
“I’m also not asking for easy. I’m asking for a chance.” My voice drops. “Since when do you let other people decide what you fight for?”
She rolls her eyes, but I can see that they’re glassy. “You’re naive.”
“Maybe. But I’m not wrong.” I hold her gaze, refusing to let her look away. “You’re using all these reasons as a wall to hide behind: politics, laws, danger. It’s easier than admitting the truth.”
She glares at me with defiance. “And what truth is that?”
“Tell me you don’t care about me,” I challenge her. “Tell me, and I’ll walk away right now.”
Silence hangs between us. Her lips part, but no words come.
I reach for her hand. She tries to pull away, but my palm brushes her fingers and she freezes. Neither of us breathes.
Her skin is warm. Warmer than it should be. And where we touch, a current runs beneath the surface, one that has no name and no business existing between a human and a Lycan.
And then I hear it: her heartbeat. Wild. Thundering. Almost like it’s my own, thrumming through my veins. Two rhythms syncing into one, defying every law she just listed and even ones she hadn’t.
We both go still. Her guard drops, and for one suspended second, I see everything she’s trying to hide. The longing. The fear. The desperate, aching want that mirrors my own. Her fingers curl, just barely, around mine.
Then she tears her gaze away and lets go.
“It doesn’t matter how I feel.” The words come out defeated. “It doesn’t matter how either of us feel.” Her hands press together against her chest, fingers laced like she’s physically holding herself together. She steps back until her desk forms a barrier between us. “No one can rewrite destiny, Ethan. There’sno point in pretending that there will ever be a future between us.”
“Rhiannon—” I stand there, gutted, watching her retreat behind that untouchable mask.
“I don’t have a choice.” Her voice is mostly steady, but it’s on the verge. “Please go. This is. . .over.”
That final word just barely breaks as it leaves her mouth. Just enough to shatter something inside me.
“Fine.”
I do as she asks, and am left standing listlessly in the hallway after her door closes behind me with a soft click. Sunlight still stripes the floor. Same golden rectangles, same cold stone. But somehow everything looks different now. The air presses against my lungs until breathing becomes a conscious effort.
I can’t believe that I opened up to her like that, tore down every wall I’ve ever built, and she flat out rejected me, rejectedus,without even giving us a fighting chance.
How could she give up so easily?
Scarface’s voice drifts back into my mind:Every minute she spends worrying about keeping you alive is a minute she’s not protecting the ones who belong here.
His words crush me like a ton of bricks. It’s like Rhiannon said, she finally came to her senses.
Whatever we have — orhad— it’s not worth the cost.I’m not worth it.
Rhiannon has everything she needs already. She’s devastatingly beautiful, fierce and strong in ways I’ll never be, respected by warriors who could tear me apart — in her words — without breaking a sweat. She’s supporting an entire pack that depends on her protection and leadership. Her presence commands admiration, her decisions shape lives, and her very existence is integral to every Lycan in Kortan.
And what am I?
Just a powerless human who’s required saving not once but twice in the short span of time I’ve been here. I’m a weakling wrapped in fragile skin and breakable bones, stumbling through a world of predators with nothing but my smart mouth and a bogus gift.
