Page 28 of The Alpha King’s Rejected Mate

When I came to again,the fire around me was out but still smoldering and smoking in some spots. It was completely dark out, no hint of the blood moon that was supposed to be so special tonight.

Then I remembered why the blood moon was so special—because Snow could be killed without repercussions. I had to get to her! I had promised her that I would keep her safe, but it looked like I’d spent the whole damn on fight on my back. If something happened to her, I was never going to forgive myself.

I called out to her, but got no answer in return. I heard a commotion a little further away and moved towards it. As I got closer, I heard Sterling’s voice. He was commanding people to stand down. I needed to get to Sterling so I could find out what happened to Snow. If I could never forgive myself if something happened to her, I knew damn well Sterling wouldn’t. Not when Snow was his mate.

He wasn’t mad when he saw me, instead he was relieved, and that made me feel a little better. If he was so happy to see me, then I had to assume Snow was okay and we had come out victorious.

Sterling came up to me and gave me a hug. “Nobody could find you. What happened?”

Before I could give him the rundown of my embarrassment, Snow came rushing up and jumped into my arms. I saw Sterling’s face over her shoulder. He might be happy I was alive, but maybe not as much in that moment.

Snow had blood all over her and I wanted to ask what happened, but I could take a pretty good guess. There were bodies on the ground, and I guaranteed one of them was Ariana.

“I’m sorry for failing you so horribly,” I said. “I promised to take care of you, and I wasn’t able to make good on that promise.”

Snow just shook her head. “Please don’t worry about anything like that. I have to go sort things out with my pack, but I will be back in a couple of weeks. Sterling is going to go with me, but as soon as I get back, you and I have some catching up to do. I’ll miss you while I’m gone, Dutch.” She kissed me on the cheek.

“You’re going to merge the clans, aren’t you?”

“We are. You know Sterling, always doing the right thing.” Then she said something that gave me hope and confused me a little bit. “I don’t think mating rules apply to me.”

I had no idea what that meant, but it didn’t sound all bad. All I could do was wait and see what would happen next. She said she would only be gone a couple of weeks, but I knew it this was going to feel like an eternity.

* * *

I hearda knock at my door a little bit after dark two weeks to the day I last saw Snow. I had been waiting like an idiot, day in and day out, for her to come back, but I somehow wasn’t prepared.

When I opened the door, I immediately noticed that Snow was different. I wanted to ask her a million questions. I’d been worried about her, thinking about her nonstop. But all that mattered in that moment was seeing her and being near her again. “You’re back!”

Snow nodded and smile wide as she walked past me into the house. She didn’t wait for me to let her in, she just came in. There really was something different about her.

“What happened to you?”

“Things changed. And you are the first person I wanted to see. I do want to tell you about it, but there’s something else we need to do first.”

“What was are you talking about?”

“We need to go to your bedroom, and you need to finally make love to me, Dutch. I have been dying for us to be together, waiting for you to make the move. It has been three years, so I’ve decided I’m going to make the move for you.”

Alarm bells were going off in my head as she walked towards me, determination on her face. “What about Sterling? I hear you two got married and mated.”

She shrugged. “Like I said, the rules don’t apply to me.”

As much as it killed me to say it, I told her, “I can’t do this to Sterling.” I really didn’t think I could, and the disappointment of it was so crushing.

“He knows I’m here and knows what I plan to do.”

I shook my head. “There’s no way that Sterling would be okay with this.”

Snow smiled. “He is, Dutch. He knows how I feel about you. I’m not going to give you up. I’m not going to give up Tyler either. I want all three of you. My mate has agreed, are you really not going to?”

“Well, when you say it like that…” My mouth went dry and my words trailed off when Snow started taking off her clothes.

Her body was revealed to me, and it was the first time that I didn’t have to turn away at seeing her like that. I caressed every inch of her with my gaze. Snow was shaking slightly, and I moved closer, wrapping her in my arms.

“I’m not cold, Dutch,” she said, almost annoyed.

I bent down to kiss her and it was better than the last kiss we shared. This time around, I knew we would have more. Now, I was going to have all of her, I could take my time. There was no rush, even if I was trembling with anticipation. I just wanted to touch her and hear the sound of her pleasure coming from her lips.

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