Submit to Me, Alpha

3 Hope

Andrew POV

Slade was howling in agony in my mind. We found our mate, but she didn’t want us. She rejected us right after hearing our name. As soon as she had enough information to reject us, she did. She looked so scared of us. What was she so scared of?

I’m gripping the back of a chair to stay upright, holding together my aching, throbbing chest that felt like it was being split in two. My heart is breaking over a girl I didn’t even know. Natasha. Her name was Natasha.

What was she doing here in the first place? Why was she in my office?

Mom comes walking in and gasps seeing me crouched over, tears brimming my eyes.

“What’s wrong, Drew? What happened?”

She rushed over, holding my back and arm like she was trying to help me remain upright.

“She rejected me,” I grunted through clenched teeth.

“WHO?! Who did?”

“Natasha,” I said the beautiful girl’s name. Her eyes. They were like all the colors mixed. Mesmerizing and mystical. Blues, greens, and golds swirled together, her right eye a little lighter than her left.

“Natasha?” My mom started looking around my office, finding it empty. “Natasha was your mate? How?”

“Who is she?” I asked, able to finally breathe again.

My mom sighs, a nervous look cast over her.

“She’s the girl. The one we found….In the trafficking ring.”

“The one coming here for a job? The new wolf?”

She nods,” I’m so sorry, Andrew. I told your father not to tell her yet how to reject a mate, but she was so scared of being forced to be with someone after everything that happened to her. He told her for her peace of mind. We never suspected it would be you.”

Slade growled, remembering the story dad told us about the human girl that was sold and turned, and saved after weeks of being tortured. Our mate didn’t just not want us. She didn’t want anyone. I couldn’t hold that against her.

“I’ll go find her and have Felicity show her to her home. Luke can cover for you here. Go up to your suite and recover, Drew. A rejection isn’t easy, but this isn’t it for you. You can take a chosen. You can choose someone to love, and not be forced. This could be a blessing. Someone will come along, someone you adore without the bond and you will be happy.”

Even after hearing my mother’s words, I didn’t believe them. I try so hard to be the ideal son, ideal heir, and ideal boss, to hide the desires in me. If I let my control slip just a bit, I’ll expose the demons within. The desires I’m too scared to show to anyone.

Natasha. She was so beautifully broken, it would have come naturally. I’m confident I’ll never come across anyone as perfect as her again.

Natasha POV

4 years later

I was laughing with Felicity behind the bar, mixing a drink as we watched the 5th guy this evening try to approach Dani Lee on stage. Andrew always has security watching for them like a hawk, interfering before anyone can get close. When Dani first came here 3 years ago, she was like the answer to my prayers.

As I got to know how amazing Andrew was, I spent my first year in my new home, agonizing over whether I was too rash in my rejection. He was always nice, despite the way I treated him, but every once in a while I would catch him staring at me from across the bar, hurt and longing in his eyes. It tore me up seeing such a decent man hurting because of my rash decision.

Then, three years ago, Dani Lee moved here, and everything changed.

Andrew enters the piano bar, sitting in his private booth next to the stage, so he has the best view of Dani as she's singing and playing the piano. He doesn’t drink alcohol, another trait I find so attractive. He always just has a club soda with a lemon wedge. I prepared his drink without being asked, then flagged Marty down so he could take it to him.

“You’re not being fair to me, Natasha. I can’t stay here and watch as my mate chooses another,” Flora growls in my head. I try to ignore her, and she just snarls, retreating to the back of my mind. We don’t deserve him. He belongs with someone like her. Someone as perfect as him.

Dani finishes her song, then jokes with Toni back and forth on the mic before he starts his set. She then stood, walking and stretching a bit, shaking out her delicate hands before taking a drink of water. Andrew catches her eye with a brilliant smile, and she smiles brightly back at him. The twinge of jealousy hits me, but I swallow it back down. Andrew deserves someone like Dani. Someone pure and perfect. He doesn’t need a scarred and broken fated mate like me.

~~~

It’s early morning, and I wake to the sound of knocking at my door. I groaned, pushing the covers down with my feet, and strutted sleepily towards the door.

“Why, good morning beautiful. Did you forget?” Sophia, my best friend since coming here, greeted me. She's one of the dealers for the black jock tables and in her uniform. Her sleek, blonde hair pulling tight into a bun.

“Forget what?” I asked groggily, stretching and yawning.

“You forgot,” she sighs, pushing her way into my small cottage in the worker’s village. Forgot what? She makes a bee line for my closet, shuffling through my clothes and pulling out an outfit, holding it up for me to judge. It’s a power suit. What the heck did I forget where I would need a suit?

“The employee brunch to celebrate Alpha Andrew. He gets inaugurated this evening.”

Crap. I did forget. I didn’t really want to go. Flora would drive me crazy being near him that long. Everyone expects Andrew to announce at his inauguration ceremony that he is taking Dani as his chosen mate, and Flora wants me to stop it from happening. I’m not going to. I don’t care how much she nags me or growls at me. I’m not coming between him and who he deserves.

I didn't tell Sophia or anyone else about being Andrew's fated mate. That door is closed and I'm okay with it. She's a bit of a gossip, so if I told her everyone would have found out. Everyone knows he found his mate and was rejected. When he started taking an interest in Dani Lee he made sure everyone knew. As the next alpha, I was told he would be stronger with his fated mate by his side. I started having regrets, and thought about how to make this right for him again, but before I could give in and confront him, Dani moved here. Flora has been a headache ever since, and I've been cheering for them from the shadows.

Sophia pulls out my favorite black, high-waisted mom jeans and a multicolored bodysuit. I nod. I like that one. The body suit matched my multi-colored hair. I try to dress in loud colors, and even dye my hair into crazy colors to pull attention away from my face. I did get the facial surgery to help hide the worst of it, but the scarring on my forehead is still severe. I have to cake makeup on my forehead to cover the faint dragon outline, still visible when my face is bare. It’s embarrassing. I rather have people think I wear too much make-up than ask how I got the scar.

I put my make-up on, used dark eyeshadow to match my mood for the day, and piled my hair on my head.

The conference room they’re using for the employee brunch is packed. Andrew is loved and respected just like his father. It seems like everyone is here to congratulate him. I was hoping I could slip in, be seen just enough to say I’d been here, then slip back out without seeing Andrew. No such luck. Andrew is standing at the door, greeting everyone as they enter.

I groaned internally, not ready to speak to him face-to-face. My guilt still eats away at me when I do. I know he’s got his heart set on Dani Lee, but I can still see the hurt in his expression when his eyes meet mine.

“Alpha, congratulations,” I mumbled when it was my turn at the door. I tried not to look at him, but his deep sigh brought my attention to his face. To his perfect mouth with the small beauty mark in its corner. Thoughts of licking that small mole, just to see how it tastes filled my head, and I had to shake it to rid myself of such thoughts.

“Natasha,” he nodded, almost making me swoon at the way his tongue caressed my syllables, “Thank you for coming.”

I nodded, then followed the crowd into the room. I noticed that my hand was the only hand he didn’t shake. I didn’t offer him mine, and he didn’t offer me his.

I’m not hungry, so I just got a drink, then found a spot to sit next to Sophia and Felicity.

“Did you hear?” Sophia leaned in and whispered to us.

“Hear what?” Felicity asked.

“The musicians were saying Dani didn’t come to practice because she found her mate. A visiting Alpha. Luke and Karina saw them going up to her room together.”

My head snaps over to Sophia, my face full of surprise. Flora perks up, coming forth and taking notice of the words being said. I can sense hope sprouting in her, and I have to remind her that this changes nothing. We still don’t deserve him.

Maybe this mate of hers doesn’t deserve her either. There is still hope for them. There was never hope for me.