Page 24 of Rejected By the Alpha

“We have to.”

I’d been leading for years without a mate. I could survive forty more.

“She needs us.”

“We don’t need her.”

I didn’t care what anyone said, especially my sister. I could live and lead without a mate by my side. Dad had marked Mom, and that had only turned our pack into pure chaos when she died. I didn’t need that shit.

“Mate needs to be marked.”

“No, she doesn’t.”

Except … the more she touched me, the harder it was to convince myself that this was exactly what I wanted and needed. I wanted to drag my hands and my canines all over her body, mark her up so every other male knew she belonged to me.

When I reopened my eyes and looked into hers, the reflection of my wolf stared back at me, my golden irises reflecting in her eyes. Her eyes grew even wider, and suddenly, the scent of her cunt drifted through my nostrils.

“Take mate! Right now!”

I needed her.

Goddess, I needed her badly.

A twig split in the woods to our left, and I snapped out of the Goddess-damn trance that she had put me in and gently pushed her hand away. I didn’t want her far from me, just wanted her to stop touching me because it was fucking with my head.

“Get your hands off me.”

Instead of shuffling back an inch, she tripped on a branch behind her and fell on her ass, immediately grabbing her head. After dropping to my knees, I ran my hand over her head to search for any bruises or bumps.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said.

“We hurt mate!”

“It’s not you,” she whispered, eyes filling with tears. “It’s my broken—” Then she stopped.

“Your broken what?”

“I had my blood drawn today.” She got up and grabbed my bottoms that I had pushed off, pulling them onto her body to cover herself. She fixed her bikini top and crossed her arms. “I’m just dizzy from that.”

“For what?”

Her glare froze over. “Oh, so you finally care?”

My jaw twitched, and I balled my hands into tight fists, pushing my wolf back for good.

“You’re right,” I growled. “I don’t.”

“We do!” my wolf howled inside me. “Tell mate that we do!”

“Stop it!”

Ember crossed her arms and curled her lip in disgust. “You’re crazy.”

“I’m not crazy.”

“You literally just shouted, ‘Stop it!’ to yourself.”

“That doesn’t make me fucking crazy. My wolf is—forget it.”