Page 94 of Rejected By the Alpha King

Tall and thin, he was hardly imposing as a human. He preferred suits, even when he was on his town territory, and had a seemingly soft personality.

When dealing with other wolves, he might have seemed easy-going, but we could all sense the power, and we’d seen firsthand how violent his wolf could be. None of us were fooled by the gentle appearance.

“And I am sorry that I was late. There was some trouble on my trip here.”

“Trouble?” I didn’t like the sound of that one bit. “What kind of trouble?”

“On the road, about ten miles from your border, we made a pit stop. When I returned. My guard had been injured and our vehicles disabled. We had to camp overnight while we waited for another to arrive.”

“Ten miles? Why didn’t you call me?” Something didn’t smell right about this story.

“I had considered it, but before my guard was injured, he implied that the rogue wolves who attacked us were working on orders of another.”

“You thought it was me,” I said flatly.

“Do you have any reason to harm me? I ultimately decided my guard may have misinterpreted something, or perhaps that even the rogues had organized themselves, but I always air on the side of caution, so I arranged for my own transportation. Did I miss anything?

My witch is precious to me. I would see to her safety.”

He planted the idea of sabotage and dismissed it. Clever. London and Maeve would spend the rest of the time paying special attention to me.

“And where is your witch?”

“Resting. It was a trying night for her. She would like to visit with the other witches, but your second said they were not to be disturbed, so she decided to enjoy the quiet while she could.

Replenish her magic reserves. Truthfully, I have no idea what she does to rest.”

“Her name?” I asked patiently.

“Janelle.”

“Janelle?” London repeated with narrow eyes. “I thought your witch’s name was Yasmine.”

Emerson dropped his gaze. “Yasmine? Did you not hear? My poor beloved Yasmine died about eight months ago. Tragic, really. I found her body just beyond my boundary. She’d been killed by a rogue wolf.”

A rogue wolf had killed his witch, and Emerson was putting on quite the performance.

Tears in the corner of his eyes. Hands folded together.

London and I exchanged a look. If our witch had been killed by a rogue, we wouldn’t be sad. We’d be furious.

“You tracked that rogue down, I assume?” Maeve asked.

“I did indeed. Yasmine came to me several months ago. She’d heard I had no witch, and she needed protection. She feared a coven was after her.”

“Did she name the coven?”

“She did indeed. The Darkwyn coven.”

43

Anna

After dinner, Jax excused us, citing pack business that needed seeing to. I had no idea where we were going, and he didn’t say a word until we reached The Fanged Smile. With a few quiet words, he dismissed the guards, and we headed straight up to the small apartment I used to call home. When he closed the door behind us, he leaned heavily against it and closed his eyes.

“How are you feeling?” Agitated, I started to pace the small area.

“Drained. The spell saps you of the change, but it’s takes everything we have in us. That ability is written in every cell of our body. It’ll take time to recharge. Why are you running from me?”

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