Page 4 of Rejected By the Alpha King

It became a hub for shifters passing through, whether they were Black Diamond wolves or not. We even started getting some of our own as regulars, although most came to enjoy the good food and harass me.

“I’d heard that Jax let her live. You working off your father’s crimes, little girl?”

My wolf threatened to surface, but I shoved her down. When he reached for me, I snagged the knife next to him and embedded it into the wood, right next to his pinky finger. With a gasp, he jerked his hand back. “First of all,” I said calmly. “I’m no little girl. If that’s your fantasy, you let me know, and I’ll show you just how much of my father I have in me. Secondly, there is nothing that would make me spread my legs for you. Do you understand?”

“Anna,” Danny growled and pulled me away. “Is that any way to treat the customers?”

His hand curved over my hip, and I turned and slammed the palm of his hand against his nose. Blood spurted out, and his growl turned feral. When he turned to me, his eyes glowed gold.

“On your knees,” he howled. “Now.”

I couldn’t control her anymore. I’d gone too far, and now my wolf, always prickling just below my skin, rushed forward. Her fear overwhelmed me, and I hit my knees and exposed my neck.

Luckily, I didn’t let her out. I never let her out. She was just as trapped as I was.

“Bitch. Beg for my mercy.”

I tried to will the wolf away, to ignore her submissive behavior, but tears pricked my eyes. “Forgive me. Please,” I whimpered.

He was my superior when it counted the most, and like everyone else, he could order my wolf. When she was this close, there was nothing that I could do to stop it.

Dirk had broken her to the point that she couldn’t stand up to anyone, and I was at her mercy.

The front door opened, and Danny looked up. I couldn’t see over the counter, but I knew exactly who had walked in. Not because Danny and the customer both bowed their heads in reverence. Not because I recognized his scent or the sound of his voice.

But because of the way my wolf shivered inside of me, keened with want and desire. It was all I could do to keep myself from launching over the counter and wrapping my body around him.

Can’t stand a man’s touch but his, and the man hated me with every bone in his body.

Really, my life was the stuff of dreams.

Sitting at the bar, Jax plucked the knife out of the wood and rubbed his finger over the gash. “Hello, Anna. I see you’ve settled right in.”

2

Anna

I sank as low as I could against the floor. Had I let my wolf out, she would have clawed through the floorboards, certain she wasn’t worthy of being on the same level as Jax.

At his low laugh, my skin flushed with humiliation while my mind raced. For three years, I hadn’t seen him, and it wasn’t like he’d stopped by when I wasn’t at work. I lived above the bar. I was always here.

I figured he’d just left me here to rot with the bar. Maybe part of me hoped that by making this bar profitable, I’d gain his attention. Prove that I could be a capable member of the pack.

Nothing. Not a peep. It was obvious he couldn’t care less about me. Was he finally here to do what he should have done three years ago?

What would happen if he’d decided to marry? It wasn’t common for wolves to marry someone else if they were mated, but it did happen. Would he need to kill me?

Or maybe he’d figured out how to remove our mating bond. There was a witch attached to the clan. Maybe it was possible.

“Get up,” he sighed. “Now.”

He didn’t push any of his power in his voice. He didn’t need to. My wolf would have slit her own throat if he’d just casually mentioned it was something that would make him happy.

I slowly stood but kept my gaze to the floor. Silently, I waited.

“Look at me.”

Shit. He was here because of me or has decided to entertain himself while he was here.

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