Page 34 of Rejected By the Alpha King

“When I’m feeling sorry for myself, I tell myself that my father thought so as well,” Finn said flatly.

“Where’s Marsh?”

“Fucking one of the females. Normally, he makes one come here, but I don’t think he wanted to be caught with his pants around his ankles while you were here, especially after goading her all night. Is that really Dirk’s daughter?”

“You met Dirk?”

“Not long after I was exiled. He hunted me for a couple of weeks before I took refuge in Wisteria Woods.”

“If you really do move around with such ease, then you already knew that Anna was my mate. Why didn’t you tell Marsh?”

Finn rolled his eyes. “Marsh is an idiot. He thinks he’s going to be an alpha here. He doesn’t have the strength, intelligence, or respect. He also doesn’t have permission. The land belongs to the witches. I don’t tell him anything important. Just enough so that he leaves me the hell alone. He’s killed a number of younger wolves he thinks might grow up to be stronger than him.”

So Marsh was trying to create his own pack. Just like Dirk. “You didn’t out me.”

“Everyone says you’re a good guy, and you’re clearly not punishing Anna for her father’s sins. I know how that is.”

Guilt sliced through me. I was punishing her.

She said she deserved it.

“What do you know of my witch?”

“So that is your witch. The white-haired one. I suspected, but I never met her. Another wolf told Marsh she was stumbling through the woods. Didn’t dispel any of the spell traps and fell into one. One of the coven had to come out and save her. They took her to their den, and that’s the last we saw of her. I thought maybe it wasn’t Irene. She’s supposed to be crazy powerful. My dad once recommended to Maeve to try and find her when she split from her coven. Said she was Darkwyn coven powerful.”

That was news to me. Irene never spoke much about her past, and I never pushed. It made sense if Darkwyn wanted her power.

“Marsh left you to keep an eye on us?” Finn nodded in confirmation. “He wants Anna.

Do you know the plan?”

“When he gets back, he wants me to put a hit on you and nab her.”

I frowned. That was going to complicate things. “What makes you think he isn’t telling anyone right now?”

Finn grinned. “Marsh is screwing at least four of the females, but they all think he’s a one-woman wolf. If any find out that he’s cheating, they’ll tear him to pieces. He thinks he deserves a harem, but he’s not brave enough to tell them that. He won’t risk talking to anyone else tonight.”

An idea formed in my head. We needed a way to keep Marsh distracted, and Finn had given it to me on a gold platter. “Marsh did say if I had a message to send, I should use you.”

“How can I be of service?”

16

Anna

I kept my back to Jax when he returned and pretended to be asleep. We both knew it wasn’t true, but he quietly stretched out behind me and laid a hand on my hip. I almost gave him a warning growl, but his touch did help settle my wolf. Her anxiety at being alone on Marsh’s land was suffocating.

I hated how he made me feel. Calm. Centered.

Desperate. Needy.

Furious.

The man gave me whiplash, and now, I had his kiss to haunt me. His real kiss. Not just the ones I sometimes had in my dreams.

Somehow, with him behind me, I managed to slip off into sleep. I had no idea how much had passed before my wolf’s panic had been bolting upright.

Next to me, Jax had already started to pull me against him when a blade shredded the tent, and Marsh’s face loomed near. He was streaked with blood and had a crazed look in his eye.

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