Page 15 of The Alpha King’s Rejected Mate

I don’t know if that was true or not, but I certainly didn’t want it to be true. Snow’s background was sketchy, because her memory was sketchy. “Trust me, you don’t know her. She came from a ways away. She is not from around here.”

Onyx nodded and I thought he was going to drop it, but he kept on asking questions. He wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding his true intentions. I knew right off what he wanted. Ever since I saw him looking at her that day from across the field, I knew he was going to be trouble. I wanted to keep him on as a hand, but I wouldn’t do it at the sake of losing Snow.

“Like I told you before, Onyx, you really should not worry about her. She is already claimed and spoken for.” Even though I didn’t say that it was me who’d claimed and spoken for her, I felt like it was implied. Implied enough that he should back off.

He seemed to understand, nodded his head as like he agreed, but then asked me something else about her and her past. He just kept on about it and finally I told him that she didn’t even know who the hell she was, so how was I supposed to know?

I had no intention of saying something like that because it really wasn’t for me to say. That was Snow’s business, not mine. Stranger than that, though, was how Onyx responded. He wasn’t even surprised, more like relieved. It made so little sense, that I didn’t believe what I saw. I hoped I was reading him wrong.

He didn’t ask any more questions and I was grateful for that. I had been trying hard not to think about Snow nonstop, but him bringing her up was not helping. I decided that after I was done with my work, I would go see how she was doing. As much as I’d been trying to stay away from Snow, Onyx’s obsession with her made me want to check on her.

We delivered some more hay to the ranches and normal conversation picked back up. He’d finally gotten the picture that I didn’t want to talk about Snow.

“Do you have anything else that you need me for?”

“Well, I don’t have anything specific right now, but I will let you know if something comes up. I really appreciate you helping me. I don’t want to spread you too thin and burn you out. We really need guys like you here, Onyx,” I said.

I meant it too. He was a good worker, and we really did need about ten of him for each ranch, but I would drop him like a bad habit if he didn’t stay away from Snow. As soon as I hired somebody to fill the position at Pullers Ranch, I was sending him somewhere else. I had no intentions of letting fate take care of itself. I wasn’t stupid, I wasn’t going to let it happen.

I knew exactly what you got when you put a man and a woman together for long enough. Well, unless that man was Dutch, and then maybe things were a little different. Or Dutch was different. It was crazy because now I had feelings for Snow too. I didn’t know why I was almost okay with Dutch having feelings for her, but it just made sense. An outsider, though, someone like Onyx, that was just downright unacceptable. If Dutch found out, he would have a field day with the information. That was why I wasn’t going to tell him.

I dropped off Onyx back at Pullers Ranch as soon as the work was done, and thanked him again for his time. I told him I would put a bonus in his check, and drove off.

Onyx was a good worker, but there was just something off about him. Maybe it was because I was jealous and didn’t like the way he looked at Snow, or maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, I was going to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

I droveuntil I found myself parking exactly where I had found Onyx only a few hours before. Snow was with the horses—she was always with the horses. I loved watching her work, how she dealt with animals and had the most serene way about her. The more time I spent around her, the more I could see why Dutch was positively smitten with her. I really couldn’t be mad at him. It was obvious that he didn’t have a choice, because I was succumbing in the same way.

11

DUTCH

Iwas looking for Snow, and found her with far different company than I would have expected. She wasn’t out with Jessica having a dip in the pond. It was Sterling she was laughing and talking to while swimming around. He was giving her all of his charm and attention, and Snow, like many women before her, was not able to resist it.

Everything inside me wanted to scream. I was getting to the point where if I didn’t, I might blow up. Why did he have to mess with her? Why did he have to have the one woman I needed more than anything else? Sterling could have anything and anyone, do why the hell did he have to have her as well?

It wasn’t like this was a regular wolf I could fight and end it. This was my alpha. I couldn’t very well go against him over a woman. He hadn’t claimed her, but even if he did, I doubted it would make any difference to me. I didn’t think anything was going to take Snow away from me. I felt like it was our destiny to be together. And while it wasn’t happening as quickly or in the way I wanted it to, that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to happen.

It was really eating at me, and I felt confrontational as I made my way to the pond. I cleared my throat, trying to get their attention.

Sterling had a deadly look on his face as he turned back to see who was interrupting him. His eyes narrowed as his wolf came out for a split second before realizing it was me. Then his hackles went down; I was nothing to worry about. How many times had people literally said that about me? I was always the second, the quiet one, but I wasn’t feeling very quiet today. I wanted to know what the hell was going on and I was about to ask just that, when Snow met my gaze.

“What’s going on, Dutch?” Sterling asked.

“You have several people waiting at the ranch to talk to you. They said it was pretty important, so I tried calling you, but you’re not answering your phone. I guess it’s because you’ve been preoccupied. You probably should get to that meeting.”

Sterling realized I meant more than what I was actually saying, but he didn’t seem too upset about it. “Thanks, I’ll get over there,” he said, but it was pretty clear he didn’t want to leave. He waved goodbye to snow and then got in his truck and drove away.

I turned back to Snow and watched as she got out of the water. I just stood there staring, unable to do anything else. Small dribbles of water rained down her chest and disappeared into her top, only to reappear at the bottom and go down her stomach. It was hard to watch and not let desire bubble up inside me. I was sure Sterling wasn’t too happy when I popped up to remind him of his duties. I know I wouldn’t have been so quick to walk away, especially if I were the alpha and didn’t have anybody to answer to. Why did Snow feel this free around Sterling? How could she look like that and not know what she did to everyone around her? I found it impressive and impossible at the same time.

“So, where is your son?” Snow asked once she was back on dry land.

She was always asking about Carlton and my son was always asking about her. He was completely smitten with Snow and if he had his say, I would have made my move a long time ago. Maybe I should have taken that as a clue. I wanted the situation with Snow and me to be less complicated, anything but the torture that was our current state of being. I really couldn’t stand it.

“He is around here somewhere. Sterling has been putting him to work. You know, trying to keep him out of trouble.”

She laughed, a tinkling sound that made me smile. “I know that’s good. It’s the end of your day, isn’t it?”

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