Page 34 of The Alpha's Forced Rejected Mate

She glanced at me blankly. “Mommy, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing at all, Princess.” I smiled as I trailed after my mother. “Your grandmother just needs some space to herself.”

Accepting as she was of my reply, she sank uncertainly to the ground and set Mr. Charles up with one of her bronze-brown dolls wearing a green plaid dress. I ignored the plaid in favor of giving my mother one last mental kick in the buns beforeshutting the door. I locked it promptly, leaning against the wood to catch my breath.

My heart was going a mile a minute. I never stood up to my mother like that. Every now and then, I got the urge to tell her off with some logic, but I never told her toget outlike that. She was on my last nerve with everything. I didn’t care that she was miserable without my dad. It wasn’t my problem to solve by marrying the first guy she threw in my direction.

Apples tended to fall close to their trees. I didn’t want to fall too close to mine and end up divorcing my mate after a few years of unhappy marriage. What a nightmare. I also didn’t want to risk having a mate bite mark on my body if I did end up divorcing him.

I spun around to face my daughter. “Who said anything about marriage?”

Sydney lifted Mr. Charles and nuzzled him to her chest. “What, Mommy?”

“Nothing, sweetheart. Sorry.” I grinned apologetically as I joined her on the ground. “Can I play with you?”

“Is that funny man coming back?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I hope so.”

“Mommy?”

“Yes, Baby?”

She sighed with longing. “Will I ever have a daddy?”

I rested my hand on her back. “Actually, Sydney, you already have a dad.”

She looked at me with wide eyes. “Where is he?”

I swallowed my pride. This wasn’t the time to get shy about telling my daughter the truth. She deserved to know. Hergrandmother was just going to keep making up stories if I didn’t set the record straight. It was time to be brave—for her, and for me.

“His name is—”

Crash!

I closed my eyes with a sense of defeat. “If that woman knocked over my peony pot again, I’m going to—”

“Mommy, there’s a crowd outside.”

I opened my eyes to find my daughter nosily poking her snout into the window. She was just tall enough to see over the sill and she was stubbing the tip of her forefinger on the glass.

I got up from the ground and joined her at the window—and then nearly lost my jaw when my mouth dropped open. “What in theworldis he doing out there?”

Sydney stood on her toes. “Funny man!” She smacked the window. “Funny man, look!”

I took her hand and pulled her away from the window. “Don’t hit the glass, Honey. It might break.” I scooped her up and propped her on my hip. “Let’s just make sure your grandmother hasn’t done anything silly out there.”

I was out of breath when I made it to the edge of the porch. I searched the street and the yard, noticing the crowd gathering around Cliff. He faced my house with an expressionless face, eyes sparking with recognition when they fell on me and Sydney. My daughter gasped and clapped her hands excitedly. “Funny man!”

Cliff flashed his most dashing smile, a dangerous combination with the way he was looking at me. Hungrily.Possessively.

He held up his hand to the members collecting near him. “My name is Clifton Spears and I seek audience with your Alpha, Bill Parks.”

My neighbor, Sonya, a wolf woman who wore a purple headscarf and loose black robes, encouraged the crowd to part for Bill to make his way to the center. I watched with bated breath as I bounced Sydney on my hip. She kept wigging and trying to slide out of my grip, but I birthed this girl and knew exactly how to hold her firmly without hurting her. After a few seconds of her fighting, she stiffened and whined.

“Mommy, I want down,” she complained. She pointed to Cliff. “I want to see the funny man.”

“Honey, you can watch from here.”

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