Page 60 of Rejected By the Alpha King

Jax did what, now? I swung my head and stared at him. “I’m sorry?”

“Bridget was half asleep when she gave the orders. One wolf snapped back, and now he’s on the northern patrol for a month. Nobody else complained after that. Apparently northern patrol is cold, isolated, and has shit electricity.”

“One more wolf who is going to want me dead. Eh, I guess that’s par for the course.” I pulled out my key. “Well, let’s see how it looks.”

Unlocking it, I held my breath and walked in. There was a fresh can of paint on the walls, and the windows gleamed. No new furniture, but that would take more time. “I’m going to go upstairs,” I said softly. “Do you need to go clear it or something?”

“I’ll go with you, and if it’s clear, I’ll give you whatever time you need.”

He led the way, but I could smell it even before we entered the room. Jax had the walls painted so I didn’t have to see the words whore and killer ever again.

At least, not on these walls.

“You’re good. I’ll be downstairs.” Finn started to brush past me, but he grabbed my hand and squeezed. “You good?”

No. I was anything but good, but I nodded, and he left me in peace. As soon as the door closed, I walked through my little space. He’d cleared it out. All the furniture. All my old clothes. The only thing I had at his place were the things I’d packed for Wisteria Woods. A new wardrobe had just appeared in his closet.

I could still remember the first day I’d walked in here. Parker had shut the door, and I’d immediately pulled everything I could in front of it. Then I sat on the other side of the wall and stared at it all night.

Part of me wanted to do that now. Just close myself back up in my old place, board it up, and wait it out. By it, I meant everything. The witches. The alphas. Emerson.

My father’s legacy.

Maybe after a few decades, it would all pass. I could hobble around, a fifty or sixty-year-old, and everyone would leave me alone.

There was a note on the counter. I picked it up and flipped it open.

You are not a pawn. Not a bargaining chip. You’re here because we need you. I need you.

Damn him. I wanted to ball the paper up and set it on fire.

It was easy to hate him. Easy to forget that he had a whole pack to protect and black magic on the horizon.

My wolf prickled beneath my skin, a reminder that she loved his wolf. She chose him to protect her. To protect us.

For years, I had been good enough for her. Now, I wasn’t.

I could leave. I’d known the moment that we returned that if I left, he would let me go.

He wouldn’t chase after me, even if I was a null.

Still, I stayed. Emerson Triggs didn’t change that. He was one more piece of my past that I had to face.

“Anna? I can hear you growling,” Finn said as he opened the door. One look at me, and his eyes glowed. “Why are you on the ground?”

Was I? I glanced down. The note was still clutched in my hand, and I’d slid down and was resting against the counter. “I’m fine. Just…thinking.”

Finn’s wolf retreated, and he sat cross-legged next to me. From the look on his face, this was not a position he was in often. “I don’t know if Jax told you, but my father was a traitor to Indigo Peak. When I was twelve, Maeve Frost, my alpha, dragged me out of my home and forced me to my knees in front of everyone. Friends I’d known my whole life. Adults who took me in when my father was traveling, which was most of my life. My mother had died a long time ago. None of them so much as lifted a finger when Maeve told my father she would slit my throat if he didn’t give her the name of the wolf he’d been selling pack secrets to.”

I didn’t know much about the other packs, but I did know that they were fiercely protective of juveniles. “She didn’t follow through.”

“No. She had her guards worked me over a little, so my father could hear my screams. He never gave a name. Maeve came that night, alone, and slit my neck. Some nights, when I’m asleep, I can still feel the blood running down my skin. She had her witch force my shift immediately so I could live, and then she dragged me to the edge of the woods and told me that I was dead. If I returned, she’d take my head.”

“Twelve years old, and all on your own. I had my father. He was a monster, but he fed me for the most part.” I couldn’t imagine being someone so young and forced to hunt on your own.

“I met your father,” Finn said quietly. My eyes widened. If he was twelve and met my father… “I thought he might take me in. Instead, he asked me about whether I had a sister. A mate. A mother. I got suspicious, and when I did, he tried to kill me. He chased me all the way to Wisteria Woods, and there I stayed.”

“I’m sorry, Finn.” I meant it, too. It was a wonder that he didn’t hate me as well.

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