Page 40 of Alpha's Rejected Mate

He ran toward Harper’s house, and with each step he took, he felt his wolf start to pace within the corner of his mind. He wanted to know what went wrong. How he fucked up.

Mateo didn’t know, and as he held his hand up to knock on the door, Harper opened it. She already had a smile on her beautiful face, which nearly kicked him in the gut.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey.”

He didn’t have a clue what else to say. What did he tell the woman who could make his world right or send it driving deep into the pits of hell?

“Come in,” she said. “Did you help Silver?”

“Yeah, everything is okay. It was a young, newly transitioned male. He … his wolf didn’t want to go away, and the boy was …”

“Terrified?” Harper asked.

“Yeah, terrified.”

She closed the door and turned to face him. She rubbed her hands together, and then he saw her lock her fingers tightly. “Do you want a drink?”

“Love one.”

Anything to prolong what was about to happen.

She brushed past him and he got her cinnamon and vanilla scent. He followed her into the kitchen and watched as she worked for several minutes.

“Just tell me,” Mateo said.

He watched as she tensed up.

“We don’t have to do this dance with each other, Harper. We don’t have to make false declarations, and we don’t have to pretend. I know I hurt you.”

She turned around and folded her arms beneath her breasts. “Yes, you did.”

“And I want to make it up to you. I get that you don’t want to come back to the pack, but I promise you, I will come here, and I’ll make it work.”

“That’s insane,” Harper said.

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is, and it will make you a bad alpha.”

He wanted to deny that, but if he spread himself too thin, if he started to spend more time at Silver’s than at his own pack, he knew there would be far-reaching consequences. Until he got to that problem, he wasn’t going to worry about it.

“I’ll deal with that when the time comes.”

“No, you shouldn’t have to do that.” Harper pressed her lips together.

“Harper, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to show you that you and I … this matters to me. You matter to me. Nothing else does, nor will.” He closed the distance between them and cupped her face. “I see everything so clearly now, and I know where I went wrong. I was terrified, because all too soon, I had this young eighteen-year-old woman who was my mate.”

“Will you shut up?” Harper asked.

Mateo frowned. “But, I’m about to tell you how much I love you, and that the last seven years have been the worst years of my life, and I just want to be with you.”

“I know, but let me speak.” Harper took hold of his hands, and he didn’t like this. He didn’t know if he was going to be able to handle her rejection. She held him even tighter and lifted her head. Her brown eyes stared up at him, and he wanted to try and read them, to see what was coming next, but he didn’t know what she was going to say.

“I forgive you.”

Out of everything she could say, that wasn’t what he expected.

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