The Alpha King’s Rejected Mate
Chapter 15

DUTCH

I was lost without Snow at the ranch. We had pretty much been together, working side by side, since the day she got here, so not having her there was really weird. Whatever Sterling was doing with her, I wished he would just bring her back.

I’d been Sterling’s second for the last ten years. I thought that one day I would become alpha because my bloodline almost guaranteed it, but when it was time to choose a new alpha, it was my best friend Sterling who pushed hard for the spot, and I let it go. He didn’t know how much I’d worked for it. What was I going to do, fight to the death with my best friend?

Now, I felt this growing distance between my best friend and me. That distance had probably started when Snow came to the ranch. She had been vulnerable and scared, and I made sure she knew everything was going to be okay. I fell in love with her at some point, and now everything was too complicated to even think about.

Making it even more complicated, Sterling made it quite clear that he wanted her, and since he was the alpha, there was nothing I could do about it. It was now up to her to choose. I didn’t like my odds. Sterling was confident and cocky, and not too many women could turn him down.

I didn’t want to sit around and wait for Snow to make her decision. It was too much to bear. I got up before the sun and didn’t get back to the house until well past dark. I was trying to keep myself busy, but I also had Snow’s shoes to fill as well. I really did need her back at the ranch for more than my own selfish reasons than one.

I dreamed about her, and swore I was going to make them a reality. If I didn’t hurry up, she was going to fall in love with someone else. What if she fell in love with Sterling? She was rejected by her own mate, so what did that say about her ability to mate with another? Stuff like that didn’t usually happen.

I really wanted to figure out her memories for her. I know it was the most important thing I could do to show her how much she meant to me and how far I was willing to go to make her happy. Then maybe she would pick me over Sterling. At the end of the day, that was really what I wanted and that was really what I was worried about. I wanted her. If I can have only one thing go my way, I wanted it to be her in my arms, no matter the cost. Even as I thought it, I knew what that could mean, and it didn’t shake my resolve.

With Snow gone, I paid a lot more attention to the new guy Sterling had hired. He had raved about how good the guy was, how he was exactly what we needed and all that, but there was just something off about him. He worked his a*s off and was willing to do the dirty work most people would pass on. Maybe it was how easily he got along with everyone and was willing to do such things that made me wonder about him.

Now that I knew something bad had happened to Snow and that her clan may very well be looking for her, I thought about Onyx. Could it be that something about him triggered the memories? She hadn’t remembered anything in years, and now, ever since Onyx showed up, she was getting her memory back in large chunks while she slept.

I was probably just being jealous or paranoid. But there was something off about Onyx, and I was determined to figure out what it was. II would do anything to keep Snow safe, anything. And to know that I would truly do anything made me nervous.

Onyx was hard to replace. When I finally found him, he was off by himself.

“How many people are here on the ranch on a normal basis?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering about my safety while I’m here.”

“You don’t need to worry about your safety, Sterling takes care of it.”

“And that works for you?” he asked, scoffing.

“It does.” Sterling was my Alpha and I trusted him. He always did the right thing.

“I wish I could blindly follow,” he said, like I was a fool for doing it. I hated the way he looked at me, but what could I do?

I walked off, unwilling to be in the guy’s presence a minute longer long. I just had this horrible feeling that he was going to do something to hurt Snow. I don’t know how, I didn’t know why, just that it was going to happen, and if I didn’t keep my eye on him, she might actually get hurt. I promised myself that I wouldn’t let that happen.

Early on the third morning of Snow being away, I saw Onyx in the barn by himself. He didn’t have any work in there today, so I had no idea what he was doing in there.

I could hear voices as I got closer, and I wanted to see who he was talking to. It sounded like an important conversation.

“I am telling you now, Arianna, she doesn’t know anything. She really and truly doesn’t remember anything, even after all this time. I don’t know how we got so lucky, but I suggest you take her out as soon as possible. Who’s to say that we will stay lucky?”

He hadn’t said Snow’s name, but I knew for certain he was talking about her. I knew in that moment that he wasn’t here for a job tor because he didn’t have a pack. He was here to do something bad to Snow. I assumed he was working whoever this Arianna was, and listened closely as they kept talking.

I heard the clan name that Snow couldn’t remember. She was from the powerful B***d Moon clan, whose members had special powers that other shifters didn’t have. All those times that I thought Snow was something special, she actually was, and not just because of how I felt about her.

Onyx talked about an attack that was planned for the next full moon. It was apparently the only time they could attack her and not face a curse. They wanted power, revenge, and whatever else they could get their hands on. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to Snow.

Onyx ended the conversation and I stayed back a little bit so that he wouldn’t see me. If it was just him, I would have been able to end him quickly and gone back to business as usual.

That wasn’t the case, though. I had to figure out who this Ariana person was. I needed to talk to Snow. There was so much that we needed to say to each other, but all I could do was wait and wonder when Sterling was going to bring her back.

As much as I hated what Sterling had done by taking her away, I was far more worried about what Onyx and Ariana planned to do.