Page 33 of Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King

“A little more kindling for the fire won’t hurt. Stay where I can see you,” Tessa warned. When I shot her an annoyed look, she grinned. “I might be a submissive wolf, but I still have my marching orders. And I can fight when I need to.”

Bending down, I grabbed a few sticks, and ran my hands over them to see if they were dry. “It’s not that you’re submissive or that you’re in charge of me. I’m used to both. I left for my freedom, but I just traded one jailer for another.”

“Rhyson isn’t a jailer, Maya. He’s trying to keep you and your baby safe.”

“Until he decides the baby isn’t his and it’s not worth his time.”

“Is it not his?”

“Does it matter?” I reached down and picked up more kindling. “I get the feeling he’s not all that interested in being a father, which is weird. Men of his status always want heirs.”

“He’s complicated,” Tessa admitted with a smile. “But he’s a good man. A good wolf.”

We had different opinions on that, but I let it go. “When did his brother die?”

“Two years ago.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “Marrow was a good alpha.”

“Of Summerset?” I guessed. “Wait, were you their healer? Are you all from Summerset?”

“Not Duke.” Her gaze moved down. “He traveled with Rhyson. Has been with him for years. But Juniper was Marrow’s third, and Dante and Nash were guards. They all took Marrow’s death hard. It took a lot for Rhyson to tear them away from Rune, Marrow’s son and the new alpha, but he promised them revenge.”

Two years ago. That meant his brother died before Rhyson became king.

Holy shit, did Rhyson become king just to avenge his brother’s death?

It was hard for me to understand anyone going to such lengths for family. No one in my family would lift a finger for me.

What was the point of the crown? It wouldn’t do him any good here.

But it did give him access to information.

I glanced over at Tessa again. “You loved him.”

“No. Yes. I don’t know. We thought…we thought maybe in time the mating bond might snap into place. It was important to him. He’d fallen in love with Rune’s mother and thought she was his mate. As soon as Rune was born, she left. He wouldn’t be with anyone afterward unless the mating bond was there.”

“Wolves get together all the time without a mating bond and have successful relationships. Most don’t even believe in mating bonds anymore.”

“Well, Marrow did.” Tessa swallowed hard. “We thought…well, we’d known each other for years, and then one night, when I was patching him up, we started to look at each other differently. He said that if we let our guard down, then maybe it would happen. A week later he was dead.”

Well, shit. No wonder Tessa was out here, seeking vengeance. She thought her mate was dead. If the bond had snapped into place before he died, then Tessa would barely be walking.

I sure as hell didn’t want to use the word lucky in this situation, but she was here now.

A shout caught my attention, and I whipped my head around. “What was that?”

“That’s Dante. Shit,” Tessa whispered. “Shift.”

A crashing noise grew closer. It sounded like trees were being uprooted and thrown across the woods. I swallowed hard. “It takes too long. If I get caught mid-shift…”

I’d be dead.

Behind me, already a wolf, Tessa growled. I moved closer to the fire and watched as trees started to part.

Suddenly, a wolf flew through the air and landed in the fire. “Nash,” I swore. Grabbing his paws, I hauled him out of the fire and tried to beat the flames off him. He groaned.

“He’s not dead,” I told Tessa, and hissed as the remaining flames started to burn my palms. Stripping off my shirt, I beat at him until the flames were gone. The crashing noise grew even louder.

No other wolves were coming out, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I desperately wanted to tell Tessa to fall back, but we’d never be able to drag Dante’s wolf with us. If I left him here, he was a sitting duck.

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