Page 169 of Rejected By the Alpha King

Anna

I slept fitfully that night. I wouldn’t have slept at all except that Saul slipped something in my drink. I’d been furious with him, but he reminded me that I was still healing.

And that Jax needed me at the top of my game.

Still, I hated sleeping alone. Strange. I’d gotten so used to sleeping alone that it was strange sleeping with Jax. There was a time I’d felt so fucking trapped by his side. Then, I was alone again and trying to remind myself that it was for the best.

Now I knew that I wasn’t giving Jax up without a fight. We had our problems, but he was mine now. So when I glanced out the window at just a few hours before dawn and saw the figures emerging in the parking lot, I knew who it was.

“Kenzi,” I barked at the woman still sleeping in the bed. “Emerson is here.”

Finn, who’d been on guard, was already opening the adjacent door. Saul, Amelia, and Janelle filed quietly behind him. “It hasn’t even been twelve hours,” Finn grunted.

“Emerson has never been known to be a man of his word.” I pulled the curtain back, and my stomach flipped. Emerson, Elonso, and two guards stood under the streetlight facing my room.

Cindy was motionlessly standing right next to him.

“Oh God,” I whispered as I looked at her. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“She is not your friend, Anna. She is not your pack. And if she dies tonight, it is not your fault,” Kenzi snapped as she pulled me from the window. “What you do is whatever is necessary to protect yourself and your pack. Just a few hours ago, you were willing to kill several humans.

Remember?”

I glanced at Saul who immediately turned away. He wasn’t wrong. I’d grown harder in the past few weeks. Having something like the mating bond ripped away can do that to a girl.

“Cindy is a good woman,” Janelle cried softly. “She doesn’t deserve to die.”

“She wouldn’t even be vulnerable if it wasn’t for you,” Amelia hissed.

As much as they wanted me to do nothing, I knew it would fracture them to see an innocent wolf killed while they stood by.

There was a polite knock at the door. “Don’t open it,” Kenzi barked.

“Saul, take Janelle into the other room,” I said softly. “Take her and run if Emerson attacks.

She’s got secrets that Jax can use when he’s free.”

It wasn’t until the adjacent door was closed that I ignored Kenzi and slowly opened the door. A body flew at me and fell in my arms.

Cindy.

We tumbled down, and Finn, Amelia, and Kenzi stepped forward.

“Shula,” a soft voice whispered, and they flew back against the wall.

Goddamn it, Emerson had brought a witch.

I looked down at Cindy, but she was already calmly standing. Recognition lit up in her eyes. “Anna,” she said and smiled. “What are you doing here?”

“Times up, my darling,” Emerson said loudly as he walked in with the other wolves. “Time to make a decision, Anna.”

“You said one day.”

“I’m fairly certain I said within one day,” he said cheerfully.

My heart hammered in my chest, and I grabbed Cindy’s hand. “Look at me, Cindy. Do you know why you’re here?”

She nodded. “My alpha has an important job for me. Are you going to help me?”

---