Page 25 of The Alpha King’s Rejected Mate

“You told Dutch,” Tyler reiterated, and he was not happy to be in the trio. Jealousy poured off of him even though he was the only one who had ever touched me.

“Because Dutch, well, he’s Dutch. He has always been here for me and I tell him everything.” I looked over at the man I was talking about. The intensity of his gaze was stunning. He was always here for me. He was my rock and my foundation.

Tyler was talented and sensitive, creative. Sterling was strong and capable and always did the right thing. Dutch was the man I had fallen for years ago, and that love had turned into a friendship. Now, I don’t know what was between us, but he would always have my trust the most and that was more than the other two would ever get. I felt like I wanted to get that part clear, not just to Tyler and Sterling, but to Dutch himself.

Sterling scowled and Tyler looked upset. Dutch had a smile on his face, so it was worth their reactions. I wanted to say more, like that he should have made his move when he had a chance, but Sterling spoke then.

“Is there anything else you left out? It’s better if we know everything, Snow.” Sterling was looking at me, imploring me to tell the truth. I’d seen that look before and he was right, there was a little bit more that I could say.

“My stepmother and my fated mate rejected me. And then there were a couple years where they tortured me and I think they were genuinely trying to kill me. They could have just chopped my head off or something, but they were afraid of the curse. I’m not really sure why they are coming here now, but if what Dutch overheard is true, maybe they’ve found a way. Ariana wants power, so she could very well be with Bane now. If she found out that I was alive and sent Onyx, she will be coming. I don’t think she will be happy until I am dead.”

I said the last part a little quieter, because it was still kind of hard for me to say it out loud. At one time, I thought Ariana cared about me. She made me think she was like a mother to me, but as soon as my dad died, that all changed. I learned that it was all a facade.

Sterling agreed with my theory that it was all about power. “There can only be one queen, so if she has her sights on being it, then she has to kill the real queen first. Each pack is a little different on the rules, but there are some rules that don’t change. You can’t have two queens. You need to get your pack back, Snow. If you don’t, you are leaving them in the hands of Bane and Ariana, and from the sound of it, that is a cruelty they do not deserve.”

I liked the fact that Sterling always wanted to do the right thing. It was refreshing in a world where nobody did what was hard and right, but what was easy. I highly respected that, but at the same time, it meant I had to do the right thing as well. It would have been easier to save just myself.

“We aren’t going to let anything happen to you. This isn’t your fault,” Dutch said gently, always knowing what it was that I needed to hear.

We talked some more and figured that they were going to come in at night. But we had no idea how many people were going to hit or when it was going to happen. I liked to work out conflict without confrontation. It didn’t look like that was going to be an option this time.

Sterling said he was going to call an emergency pack meeting. My memory was still fuzzy, but one thing I knew for certain was that the Blood Moon pack was pretty big. Sterling’s pack had many fighters, but how many did the Blood Moon have? I wished I knew more so that we could be ready. Right now, we were walking into everything blind. The more I thought about it, the less comfortable I felt about letting them fight my battle. But Dutch was right when he said I couldn’t do it by myself. There were so many people coming, how could I do alone?

I wasn’t allowed to go to the pack meeting, so I just got the information passed on to me after it was over. Dutch came to see me and, as always, did a great job of calming me down. He said everything was going to be okay, and with him, I actually believed it. At least I wanted to believe it.

Dutch told me that there were many people who were going to stick up for me. Not just that, but the animals of the area would help as well. It wasn’t just eagles that Sterling and his pack were able to connect with, but all animals, especially on their land.

Dutch talked me into staying with him for a little while. I was hopeful that it would mean that we would finally get to the bottom of what was between us. He was still acting shy and unsure, but I was sure enough for both of us. I had a plan. It seemed like we would be perfect for each other and I wanted to see. If he wasn’t going to make a move, maybe it was my turn.

18

STERLING

With everything that was going on with Snow, there was no way that I could leave anything to chance. I’d been staying at the Pullers Ranch main house, while Snow was staying with Dutch. I wanted to do kick myself for not saying something sooner. I didn’t know what was going on between Snow and me, but it was never going to happen if we didn’t get some time together. When I said that I thought we should be together, I wasn’t joking. Getting her away from Dutch was all I needed to do.

I found them together in the barn, working with the horses, and even though they weren’t doing anything wrong, I was immediately in a bad mood. I didn’t want them to start playing house. It was not going to make things easier when I came in and claimed her. I had known Dutch most of my life and I didn’t want to hurt him. They were close, but there was still nothing between them. I was an alpha, and whether she thought she was rejected from her true mate or not didn’t matter to me. I was supposed to be with her, we were supposed to be together. Dutch wasn’t making a move, but I was going to make mine. To do anything else seemed stupid.

I called out to Snow and watched as she reluctantly walked away from Dutch and met me outside the barn.

“Do you want to have dinner with me?”

“Do you want to see if Dutch wants to tag along?” It felt like Snow was afraid to be alone around me. Why did that fact make me smile so much?

“No.”

She thought it over for a minute, then agreed to dinner with just me, and it felt like a huge victory. It was strange, because I never had women tell me no before, but Snow always had been different. To find out that she was fated to be a queen made a lot of sense to me. There was a regal feel to everything she did.

Royalty or not, I hoped she would be impressed by my skills and actually liked my cooking. There were only a couple of things I could cook well, and one of them was steak. For one reason or another, women seemed to love men who could cook, and I was going to take advantage of that.

She offered to help, and I told her that I wanted to take care of it. There was another feeling that had been brought out by Snow that I was still trying to get used to. Never before had I so desperately wanted to take care of somebody. Usually, I wanted a woman to take care of me and my needs, but not this time around. This time I wanted to take care of her in every way possible. This was how I knew she was going to be my mate.

My father told me years ago before he died that I would just know when I had met my mate. I told him I was so afraid that I wouldn’t know and would miss the opportunity, but he just chuckled and said, “You’ll know. You’ll know because the only thing you’ll want to do is make her happy.” I was already there with Snow.

“You look nervous. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she lied. It was obvious that she was not fine. I would have bet anything that Snow was thinking about the exact same thing I was. That’s what I hoped anyway.

“If there is something on your mind, you know that you can talk to me about anything, right?”

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