The Alpha's Stubborn Rejected Mate

Chapter 2 - Michael - 1 Year Ago

I was so f*****g sick of this pack. My father wanted me to be someone who I wasn’t and all of my so-called friends only hung around with me because they thought it would increase their own social standing. If I could just go away and leave the whole lot of them behind then I would be much happier, but I would also never become this pack’s alpha and this pack would never get any better.

My father would hand over the pack to me once I reached my twenties and then I could make all of the changes I had been hoping to make for so long. First on my list was to improve the treatment of omegas. I had seen the way they were treated in this pack and it was completely appalling. It wasn’t going to be easy, most of our pack liked things the way things were, but what kind of alpha would I be if I gave in when things got tough?

“Mick, what are we going to do?” George asked.

“Yeah. It’s the weekend, we can’t hang around here all day.” Madison added, fluttering her eyelashes at me.

She already had a mate who she had completed the bonding process with but she still wanted the boost in social standing that being close to the alpha gave her. A lot of her family members were mated to omegas and the gossip around the pack was that she would be too. I didn’t know if that speculation had proved true, she was careful to hide her mark and never be seen with her mate in public. But from the way she practically offered herself up to me on a plate, I guessed that she wasn’t happy with her fated mate.

I often wondered what she would do if I took her up on that offer. Would she put up with the pain of betraying her mate and risk destroying her relationship with her mate completely, just for a short term boost in pack rankings? She made me feel sick, and the sad thing was that she wasn’t the only one of my so-called friends who made me feel that way.

“You know, you could always just go somewhere without me?” I suggested.

I had just come downstairs to have lunch and they were all standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me. It was as though without my presence they didn’t have a single brain cell between them, how long had they been waiting down here for me?

“Don’t be like that. I know that you haven’t been happy recently but we can cheer you up.” Madison told me as she tried to loop her arm through mine. I let my arm drop to my side and took a step away from her. If that wasn’t a clear sign of my disinterest then I didn’t know what it would take to get rid of her.

“Come on man, we all know that your father has been giving you a hard time. Let us cheer you up. After all, what are friends for?” Spencer told me.

Out of all my friends, he was the only one I had a genuine friendship with. It was probably because his family didn’t have any links to any of the ranked families so he didn’t have any of their arrogance or sense of entitlement. If I had any say on who would become my beta, I would have chosen him over George a thousand times over.

“Fine. If you give me ten minutes to get changed then we can go into the human town and try out that new fancy coffee place.”

I didn’t stick around to listen to everyone’s victory cheers. The faster I could get changed the faster I could get this over and done with and the sooner I could get back to my books. If I wanted to complete this degree in three years and take over the pack before I turned twenty-two then I couldn’t afford to waste too much time.

A few short minutes later and I had slipped out of my jogging bottoms and into something a little more respectable. I could hear the sounds of a commotion from downstairs before I had even fully left my room, I was about to groan in frustration when her scent hit me.

My wolf lurched forward in my mind as he picked up on my mate’s delicious scent. He wanted to jump the stairs and claim her, he didn’t give a damn about who might be around to see it. Luckily, I was strong enough to hold him back. I didn’t know anything about her yet and that last thing I wanted to do was scare her away by being too forward. Even if I was just as desperate to taste her as he was.

As I got a little bit closer I realised why there was so much commotion. My mate was an omega from another pack, she must have been sent here on some kind of errand and my so-called friends were all crowded around her and giving her a hard time.

“Leave her alone. I think she is here to see my father.” I shouted as I came down the stairs. My friends looked at me as though I had lost my mind but they still did as I said. They stopped taunting her and even took a few steps back to give her a bit of space. My wolf was incredibly grateful for the last part, he didn’t like seeing anyone getting so close to her. Especially when he knew just how untrustworthy some of these people were.

I closed the distance between us slowly, being careful not to frighten her. As I approached her all that I was thinking about was how much I wanted to wrap my arms around her and kiss her. But as I got closer I realised that there was something wrong with her scent.

She smelled as though another man had been all over her. The scent was that of another alpha werewolf, Jasper Hartford. The smell of him on her skin was enough to drive me and my wolf crazy.

Jasper was the future alpha of the next pack over and he had a reputation for sleeping with any women who would open their legs to him. He preferred them easy so they didn’t get too clingy afterwards. He was a nasty piece of work and I hated that his scent was all over my mate.

It wasn’t as though I expected my mate to wait for me. Her history wasn’t important but why the f**k did she have to be with that asshole? I wonder how he would react when I went to their pack to request for her to be transferred to my pack. Would he rub their intimate history in my face?

Shit.

It felt as though my mind was trying to torture me. It kept playing me images of the two of them together and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to shake the images. Did she enjoy being with him, would she rather be with him than with me?

‘No, she wants us. Hold her, kiss her, claim her.’ My wolf begged within my mind. I wanted to give him what he wanted but it was hard to get past what she had done. Everyone was looking at me now, waiting for me to do something but all the words were getting caught in my throat.

“I’m sorry to disturb you alpha. Alpha Hartford wanted me to bring over these documents.” She stuttered, not making eye contact with me.

Maybe the shy girl act worked for Jasper but it wasn’t going to work on me. She had given herself to him and yet she wouldn’t even look me in the eyes. A fresh wave of anger flowed through me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that she wanted to reject me in order to be with Jasper. Well, I wasn’t going to give her the chance to humiliate me in front of everyone like that.

“You’re not worthy of being my luna. There are so many other women who are much prettier and stronger than you are. One of them will be my mate.” I glanced over towards where my friends were standing on an impulse, I wanted to hurt her as much as she had hurt me.

“I, alpha Michael Graves, reject you omega from the Hartford pack as my mate and luna.” I declared.

I knew that it couldn’t be a complete rejection without me giving her full name, but that was the idea. I was angry with her now but I knew it wouldn’t last, once the anger faded I would want her back. Then I would take back my rejection and make her forgive me so that we could look after this pack together.

“I, Sasha Evans, accept your rejection.”

My heart shattered into a million pieces and pain radiated all the way through my chest. I had never expected that she would accept my rejection. It was going to be so much harder to get her to take me back now that she had accepted my rejection. What was I going to do now?