Page 53 of Rejected By the Alpha King

Now I had a bodyguard who only took orders from him, his third-in-command, and his guard shadowing me.

“You would think the leader of the pack would just let me go when his pack wants so badly to kill me that he has to assign a bodyguard,” I muttered.

“He’s protecting you. They’ll get to know you. They’ll get on board,” Finn said as he guided me out in the dining room.

Amaya looked up. “You weren’t here when Cora stumbled into my sector. She was so bloody and broken that she couldn’t even shift property. When she tried to talk, blood poured out of her mouth. I don’t even know how she traveled so far. We brought her here, actually. Called Saul to heal her, but this is where I watched my best friend die. Where others watched one of the favorites suffer horribly. She had a hand in that.”

It wasn’t the first time someone had accused me of that, but she wasn’t wrong.

Finn jumped in front of me. “She is not responsible for her father’s crimes.”

“But she sent Cora here. Sacrificed her,” Bridget pointed out. “I heard you tell Saul that.”

“And I saved three children,” I said coldly as I stepped around Finn. I was done absorbing the blame. “Everyone leaves that part out. I gave her a choice. If you don’t want to be around me, you’re welcome to leave.”

“I was ordered…” Amaya started.

“No. You weren’t,” Finn interrupted. “I spoke to Jax. You were not ordered. You volunteered. Seeing how much you hate her, I can’t help but wonder why.”

Amaya opened her mouth again, but Bridget turned around and growled. The kitchen door opened, and a stranger walked in.

“Get out,” Finn snarled. “Or die.”

24

Anna

“Leave or die?” The figure snickered. “I heard the new guard member was a tight ass, but really, kid. You gotta relax. We’re not here to hurt the alpha’s mate. We just want to get to know her, that’s all.”

He was followed by two more people. Bridget cleared her throat, and he seemed to notice her for the first time and froze. “Bridget. Amaya,” he said nervously. “What are you doing here?”

“Helping out. Now, so are you. Thanks for volunteering,” she said with a smile. “You and your friends can start by hauling all this furniture out.”

The new guy reddened, and one of his friends bolted. Amaya flashed a feral grin and bounded after him. Less than a minute later, she was dragging him back inside by the ear. It was a strange visual considering the man was at least a decade older than her.

“Get off me,” he snarled. “I’m not here to clean up the whore’s bar. This was Parker’s bar. She doesn’t have the right to touch it.”

“She’s been touching it for three years,” Amaya reminded him. “Made it pretty profitable too.”

“Parker killed himself because of her,” one of them pointed out. “Doesn’t that mean shit to Jax?”

“Are you questioning your alpha?” Bridget demanded.

Things were getting out of hand. I put a hand on Finn’s arm and stepped around him.

“Excuse me, I’d like to just clear the air a little. Hello. I’m Anna. This is Finn. You already know Bridget and Amaya.”

I waited a beat, but no one said anything.

“You’re welcome to ask your questions and get to know me, but the polite thing to do is to give me your names,” I said patiently. Amaya opened her mouth, but I shook my head. “No, don’t tell me. Let them. They wanted to confront me themselves. It appears they were also willing to take on Finn to get it done, so they should at least be capable of telling me their names.”

“Titus,” the leader growled. “And this is Clay and Rex.”

Rex was the one Amaya dragged back in by the ears.

“Titus is a guard,” Bridget said helpfully. “A pretty low-ranked one, although I did hear you ask for a chance to prove yourself to Jax, didn’t I, Titus?”

Oh, yeah. Titus definitely did not expect anyone to be here except Finn and me.

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