Page 76 of Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King

I knew what those words meant, and so did Maya. She practically deflated. I wanted to take her hand and let her know that it was going to be all right, but I remembered how she’d acted earlier. She didn’t trust me, and I didn’t blame her.

I’d been an idiot and treated her so cruelly. I would never begin to make that up to her until I got off this fucking mountain and proved to her that I was going to try to make it work. We’d co-parent or whatever the term was. I’d earn her trust.

“Anything I should know about dealing with Elonso once Gideon is dead?” I asked.

Jax raised an eyebrow. “Like whether he’ll kill you and then parade your body around the mountain as his trophy?”

Maya tensed next to me, but I stayed relaxed. I knew that was a possibility no matter where I went. “That information would be helpful to have, yes.”

“I don’t know. Elonso has proven to be a good alpha, and he’s been helpful in the past. He’s also not been helpful if he thinks it doesn’t benefit him.”

Not super helpful information, but if I’ve learned one thing, it was that community meant something on the mountain. Sometimes it was an isolated community, sometimes it was a pack, and sometimes, it was the whole mountain.

If I threatened any of that, it was likely I wouldn’t make it off the mountain.

Dinner was served in our room, and Maya sat at the window and ate her burger quietly. I watched her, hating where my mind went. When asking about her, I’d been told that she was a pampered princess who barely left her room. Did that mean her father had locked her away? How many times had she sat at a window wishing desperately someone would come save her?

Disgust rolled through me. Why had I been so quick to believe them? The woman I’d held in my arms at the hotel had been no pampered princess. I recognized even then that she’d been broken, and I didn’t trust my instincts.

Was I so desperate to die on this mountain getting answers? What the hell kind of king was I?

“If you keep staring at me like that, you’re going to burn a hole in the back of my head,” Maya said sourly. “I know you’re not worried about Gideon, so what’s wrong?”

“What makes you think I shouldn’t be worried about Gideon? He has a whole drug operation going here. Power makes men dangerous.”

She laughed dryly. “Don’t I know that. He takes his power the only way he knows how, to make others subservient beneath him. That makes him a coward. You won’t have any trouble getting to him or killing him.”

“No,” I agreed. “I was thinking about you.”

“Ah. I’m sorry that I asked. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine. I’ve always been fine.”

“And if I want you to be better than fine? If I want you to live without fear or worry?”

Standing, she walked over and discarded her empty plate on the table next to me before looking me dead in the eye. “What you’re feeling is guilt. You made a mistake, and acted on that mistake over and over again, and now you realize the damage you might have done. You feel guilty because you’re not a monster. It’s normal. The thing is, Rhyson, I’ve been scarred so many times that this isn’t even going to leave a mark. You’ve apologized. You can move on now. It’s fine.”

“It’s not fucking fine,” I snarled as I wrapped my arm around her waist. “And I’ll tell you why.”

41

Maya

As soon as he touched me, the game was over. I could lie when my back was turned, when I could avoid looking him in the eyes. But once he touched me, I just wanted to fall apart.

He pulled me up against his body until my back was plastered against him. “It’s not fine until you’re no longer worried about what your father will do to you. It’s not fine until you can talk to someone about what happened. It’s not fine until I can touch every inch of your body without you flinching. You weren’t fine then. You’re not fine now, but you’ll damn well be more than fine in the future. I’m going to make sure of it.”

“I’m not your mate, Rhyson. I’m never going to be your mate. I’m just the whore you knocked up, remember?”

“You don’t get to call yourself a whore, and I’ll be removing the tongue of every wolf who has ever called you that.”

Pushing away from him, I whirled around. “Will you be removing your own tongue, then?”

“If that’s what it takes for your forgiveness, then I’ll let you cut it out of my mouth right now.”

My heart skipped a beat. He meant it. I saw that in his eyes without question. He’d hand me the blade and stand there while I cut out his own tongue, even though he was this close to finding out who killed his brother.

“I have better things for you to do to with your tongue than remove it,” I growled as I grabbed his face and pulled it down. I kissed him with all the desperation I’d been feeling. All the urgency I did feel.

All the lies I’d said about how he hadn’t hurt me nearly as much as anything else broke me inside. No matter how much I kept him at arm’s length, he was getting to me. All of his heroics. A fucking king among men.

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