Page 40 of Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King

“The baby. He smelled your baby.”

“I think it upset him because that’s when he picked me up and threw me to the ground. I passed out after that.”

“I’m glad you’re safe and the baby is safe.” Gideon paused. “Is the father traveling with you?”

The air shifted around me, and I felt Rhyson staring at me. Startled, and unsure how that was possible, I turned my head and sure enough, he was leaning against a tree and staring at me.

“No. The father was a one-night stand. He’s not father material.”

21

Rhyson

He’s not father material.

Scowling, I watched as they walked away. I didn’t like the look on Gideon’s face. It wasn’t predatory.

It was adoration.

Maya was a beautiful woman. Here, she’d be something new and exciting. The news that she was pregnant clearly didn’t bother him. Judging from the children running around the camp, he’d welcome a babe. Pups could be hard to come by and were revered. Maya was young, and already proven to be fertile.

“You’re growling,” Duke sighed. “Nash isn’t happy to be pulled away from Dante to follow her.”

“Nobody should be alone.”

“And yet you’re letting her walk around with him.”

“He’s going out of his way to appear relaxed around her so he doesn’t scare her. That means he’s letting his guard down. If he’s a threat, Maya will sense it.”

“We’re trusting her perception?”

“I get the feeling Maya understands danger very well.” The more I got to know her, the more I realized she wasn’t the pampered princess everyone made her out to be. What kind of secrets was Maya hiding?

“Care to explain what happened in the cabin?”

“She shifted, but her wolf was still in charge.”

Duke snapped his head around and stared at me in horror. “And you decided to fuck her instead of kill her?”

“She says it’s the first time it’s ever happened, and I believe her. Her wolf took control while she was unconscious. Honestly, I think her wolf is trying to tell me something, but I can’t communicate with it the way I can communicate with others.”

A young pup bounded up to me with his long legs and scrawny body, still so gangly and so much growing to do. I didn’t need to release any power to reach out and understand him. “That’s cheating,” I told him. “Use your nose to find her.”

His tongue rolled out of his mouth, and there was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he bounded away. “He’s playing hide-and-seek with his older sister, and he can’t find her.”

“You can’t do that with Maya?”

I looked at Duke steadily. “When she’s in human form, I can’t reach her wolf at all.”

“She attacked Juniper.”

“She woke up in an unfamiliar place and in pain. She’s still learning to trust. I don’t think it will happen again, but if it does, I will deal with it.”

Duke raised an eyebrow. “That still doesn’t explain why you were fishing out your cock.”

Gideon and Maya circled back around, and Nash stole through the trees toward us. “Nothing weird happened. Maya didn’t give him any information about you. Can I go?”

“They were gone a long time. They just spoke about the wolf hybrid creature?”

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