Page 26 of Rejected By the Alpha King

So submissive, but it wasn’t her natural state. Anna and her wolf were too close for that, and Anna was anything but submissive. No, this was the result of conditioning.

Dirk had done this. To his own daughter.

Goddammit, it didn’t change anything. It couldn’t. My pack would kill her before they accepted her as my mate, and I still couldn’t trust her.

Fuck. Too late, I realized I wasn’t paying attention to my wolf. He’d laid down next to her and was nuzzling her.

Annoyed, I surfaced. We’re here to hunt, I said sternly. Leave her be.

He snarled at me, but he rose. His frustration coursed through me. This was his first chance to impress his mate. He wanted more freedom.

I would never be able to get him to understand that she could never be ours. That once this was done, she would leave me, and we would never see her again.

I couldn’t focus on that, so I focused on the hunt. My attention was split. I was keeping an eye out for danger and keeping an eye on her. Her movements were timid, so I slowed so she could actually keep up. Every now and then, I saw a glimpse of joy on her face. When she spotted a rabbit, I let her take the lead. When she trotted back, rabbit in mouth, her eyes were wild with excitement.

Pride swelled inside me, but I squashed it down. It wasn’t just my wolf that was happy for her. It was also me.

We were in dangerous territory, and it had nothing to do with rogue wolves.

I caught my own prey quickly and headed back to our camp. Clearly also uncomfortable, Anna immediately shifted back. I let my wolf do a quick perimeter check and joined her. By the time I was human again, she was already dressed.

“Feel better?” I asked gruffly.

“Yes. Tomorrow morning, we can head toward Wisteria Wood. If you can, you’ll want to pull in your power. Try to make yourself seem even smaller. It’ll be better to try and stay as human as possible. Your wolf makes it hard to not immediately feel an alpha in the vicinity,” she said dryly. “Let me take the lead. I’ll spot the magical traps before you.”

After taking a swig of her canteen, she settled back on her sleeping bag.

“You know, I have been there once. It’s not a safe place, but you aren’t scared at all. You almost died last night.”

“Because you didn’t listen to me. We do it my way, we might be okay.”

I studied her closely. “I was told you let your father through, but you said he retrieved you. Which is it?”

“Both,” she said as she lay down and stared at the overhanging branches. “He followed me in, step-by-step, to avoid the traps that he couldn’t see. I was halfway in when I discovered it.

So I guess you could say I lead him in.”

“And?” I prompted.

“And I let him get a little further. I wanted his guard down, wanted him to think that I was none the wiser. Then I led him straight into a trap and left him to what I’d hoped was a slow and torturous death,” she said coldly.

I stared at her, but she still wouldn’t look at me. “Obviously, it didn’t work. Not all the traps are lethal.”

Only then did she turn her head and smile at me. “Don’t worry, mate. Now that we’re alone, I certainly am not planning on doing the same to you. You should get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”

12

Anna

Whether it was exhaustion or lack of blood, I did manage to get a couple of hours of sleep. Just as the sun started to creep over the horizon, we headed out. Like I asked, Jax pulled his power in, and even I was fooled. He wasn’t hiding his wolf. That wasn’t possible, but when I focused on him, he just seemed like an average wolf shifter.

That would make things easier. My injuries were mostly healed, so I moved faster and easier on foot. Jax was never more than an arm’s length away from me, and I liked that even less.

He was also in a chatty mood.

“You didn’t respond to my order to shift,” he said casually as we walked. “Care to explain how that’s possible?”

“Maybe I’m stronger than you.”

---