Page 16 of The Alpha's Forced Rejected Mate

“You’re due to inherit a huge estate, aren’t you?” I tapped the center of the page. “But there’s a catch. You can’t get a dime—not one inch of property—unless you marry someone from a prominent wolf family.”

She licked her lips as she pointedly refolded the page. “I see you’ve really done your homework, Cliff.”

“I can protect you. I’m trained in Krav Maga, and I’m certified in CPR and de-escalation. I can take down an elephant without any weapons.” I held her shoulders lightly. “I know this is weird for you, but my pack values these matched mate announcements.”

She blinked at me slowly. “Mate announcements?”

“My Alpha does a ritual to show him the next mate match.”

“Your Alpha does magic?”

I laughed. “No, my sister is…Shit, I haven’t told you about Faye for a while, right?”

“Yeah, you said she had a baby?” She settled into the nearest chair. I sat down next to her. “Wait, wasn’t she missing for a while?”

“She wasn’t missing. She just…” I trailed off as I thought about the past three years. So much had happened in the past year alone. I had a lot to tell her. “How much time do you have?”

She smiled mischievously. “How are you concerned about time when you’re the one who showed up in the middle of the night?”

“I showed up because I knew you would hang up if I called.”

“So, youknowthat you were wrong for that, right?”

I scratched the back of my head where my ponytail would usually hang. It felt weird not to feel it there. As I tried to find the right words, I heard the floor above my head creak again. A tiny voice rang from the hallway. “Mommy?”

Robyn swiftly left the kitchen to tend to her young. I had to admit that hearing her act motherly was more appealing than the idea of her wearing a secretary costume. It made my heart flutter to picture her holding an infant-sized Sydney. The warmth that came from that mental image reminded me of watching Sierra sleep peacefully in her crib.

True peace was knowing I could protect her. And I wanted to do the same thing for Robyn and her girl. Maybe I hadn’t been around enough before, but that was going to change now. I didn’t care how much she opposed me. Those two were going to be protected by me whether they liked it or not.

They weren’t even my family, yet I felt like theyweremy family. Already, my heart ached at the thought of leaving them behind. No, that just wasn’t an option for me. If Robyn wouldn’tlisten to reason, then I would go directly to Bill and appeal to his senses—assuming he still didn’t oppose my influence in her life, of course.

One thing at a time, I thought.Robyn means more to me than she’ll ever know. I have to do the right thing.

In the living room, the first step on the staircase wheezed. Robyn sighed. I heard the soft shuffle of her feet over the carpet as she approached the kitchen. “Sorry, she’s just—”

“Scared of the funny man?”

“Yeah, she thinks you’re one of the guys that keeps showing up.”

My entire body flashed with hot anger. I was on my feet in milliseconds. “What guys?”

“You’re not the only one who knows about the inheritance thing.”

Deep down, my inner world blazed with fury at the idea of other men trampling through the garden and stalking around the windows. “I’m staying the night.”

“No, you need to leave. I have a meeting in the morning with Bill.”

“Good. We can all talk about the mate match and how you need to be put under protective watch.”

She gaped at me. “Cliff, you can’t be serious. You can’t just stomp back into my life and take over. I’m not a doll or a toy. I’m aperson.”

“And I’m not leaving you by yourself with a kid when I’m perfectly free to protect you.”

“Where was that energy three years ago?”

I hated that she asked me that. I hated thinking about the way I must have broken her down by disappearing on her. The fact that she even let me in her house was a miracle. With this tiniest bit of access now, I had a slim chance of making this thing right.

But it was a chance, nonetheless.

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