Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King: A Rejected Mate Shifter Romance, page 1
Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King
A Rejected Mate Shifter Romance
KA Iris
Copyright © 2024 by KA Iris
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
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Contents
Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King
Content Warning
1. Maya
2. Rhyson
3. Maya
4. Rhyson
5. Maya
6. Maya
7. Rhyson
8. Maya
9. Rhyson
10. Maya
11. Rhyson
12. Maya
13. Rhyson
14. Maya
15. Maya
16. Rhyson
17. Maya
18. Rhyson
19. Maya
20. Maya
21. Rhyson
22. Maya
23. Rhyson
24. Maya
25. Maya
26. Rhyson
27. Maya
28. Maya
29. Rhyson
30. Maya
31. Rhyson
32. Maya
33. Rhyson
34. Maya
35. Rhyson
36. Maya
37. Maya
38. Rhyson
39. Maya
40. Rhyson
41. Maya
42. Rhyson
43. Maya
44. Maya
45. Rhyson
46. Rhyson
47. Maya
48. Rhyson
49. Maya
50. Rhyson
51. Maya
52. Rhyson
53. Maya
54. Rhyson
55. Maya
56. Rhyson
57. Maya
58. Maya
Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King
My fated mate rejected me,
so I spent a passionate night with a sexy stranger.
It turns out that the stranger is the king of werewolves, Rhyson Grind.
One forbidden night turns into me being pregnant.
But when I try to find Rhyson to share the news,
he says we can't be together.
Now heartbroken and carrying the alpha's pup, I have an ultimate choice to make—
But evil lurks at every turn, and our new family is in danger.
I refuse to touch Rhyson ever again, but every heated exchange between us tests my limits.
Will Rhyson be at his family's side to protect us?
Or will we have to fight alone...
Content Warning
This story is intended for mature 18+ readers and contains themes that may be sensitive to some, including violence, mentions of blood and killing, and explicit love scenes.
1
Maya
The dress was so tight that I could barely breathe. The red fabric hugged my cleavage and tightened around my ribcage before hugging my hips. The long slit up the thigh was the only reason I could walk, but I was never going to be able to sit down without hiking the dress up.
It was exactly how my father wanted it. The only time he wanted me to sit was if I was straddling someone’s thighs.
The thighs of Alpha Larson Peterman of the Chalmer Basin Pack, to be specific.
This was the night I was finally going to get out from under my father’s thumb and belong to someone else. I knew nothing about him, but I could only hope that he was kinder than my father. As far as I was concerned, everyone had to be kinder than Bruce Callahan.
“Smile,” Bruce growled under his breath as his hand tightened on my arm, “or Peterman won’t think you’re friendly.”
Immediately, I plastered a smile on my face. There was no denying my father. He’d draw blood in front of everyone, even in front of my intended, without blinking an eye—and everyone would praise him for it.
The large ballroom was a sea of glitz and glamor. I’d never seen anything like it in my life, but I didn’t have a chance to enjoy it. All eyes were on me as the crowd parted. Women smirked at me, no doubt because my slinky dress was out of place in the crowd of greens and blues and purples. Most of the women were adorned in feathers and tulle, and nothing was as revealing as my red lace. My father hadn’t even let me wear nude underwear under the dress.
One wrong move, and the carefully placed lace would slip, and this ball would have a triple-X rating.
We stopped short, and my father leaned close to my ear. “Fuck this up, Maya, and you know what will be waiting for you when you get home.”
Imprisonment, I was used to. Beatings, also used to. Still, I knew just how much worse it could be. I’d see my father and his men use hot pokers and silver needles. I’d seen him torture a wolf in human form to near death, let him shift to heal, and do it all over again.
When I looked at my father, I saw a monster. When everyone else looked at him, they saw a god.
He cleared his throat and tapped a man on the shoulder. When he turned around, I slowly released my breath. Larson was a handsome man, and young, maybe only a few years older than me. That was a small relief. Or maybe I should have preferred it if he was much closer to death: less sentence time.
“Alpha Callahan,” Larson greeted him before his eyes landed on me. First there was surprise, and then obvious hunger. “This is your daughter?”
“Indeed. Maya Callahan, my glittering gem.”
I almost vomited at the sound of fake pride in his voice. Instead, I bowed my head and curtsied as much as I could without ripping the fabric of my dress.
“I’m sure you’ll find she’ll make an excellent mate for you.”
That was why we were all there: for Larson to choose his wife, and from what my father told me, there weren’t many women for him to choose from. At least, none with my pedigree, as he liked to say.
He didn’t mean the pedigree from my mother. She, according to him, was nothing more than a tramp hitchhiking on the side of the road. But he’d come from a long line of alphas, practically royalty.
“You have your mother’s face and body. Larson won’t be able to say no.”
From the way Larson was looking at me, my father was right.
My father’s phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket. “I’m afraid that I need to leave. You’ll take care of her for the evening and get her back home to me in the morning, won’t you Larson?” He winked and finally released me as he turned away.
As always, I felt the tension ease out of my body when my father left. One monster was gone. Now it was time to see what kind of wolf I’d be marrying.
“A dance?” Larson asked as he held out his hand.
“Of course.” Heart fluttering in my chest, I accepted his offer, and he pulled me into an open space and flattened me against his body. Unaccustomed to the touch of a man, I stiffened.
His hand moved down my back and cupped my ass as he grumbled. Remembering my father’s words, I forced a smile. There were things I was supposed to say to Larson, but my mind went blank.
Larson noticed. “You don’t say much. I like that,” he rumbled. “You’re a mystery, Maya. Everyone knows that Bruce has a daughter. He talks about her all the time, but no one has ever seen you. Now I see why. He must keep you under lock and key, although I hear you slip out your window from time to time. I like a rebellious spirit.”
Wait, what? How did he know about my window? My father certainly didn’t know. If he ever found out, I’d be locked in the basement for sure.
“I am obedient,” I whispered. “I’ll be obedient to you.”
“Yes, I’ve also heard you have a very obedient wolf. I like that, too.” His hand squeezed my ass. “This is a very interesting dress that you’re wearing. What do you say we go somewhere more private so I can see it better?”
This was it. This was the moment I’d been waiting for, to let Larson get a good look at the goods, as my father liked to call it.
Except, I couldn’t do it. My chest was tight, and it was getting even harder to breathe. The room was starting to spin.
Instead of letting him walk me through the crowd, I tried to pull away, but his hand circled my wrist. “What do you think you’re doing, little red?”
“I just…I need some air.”
“What’s wrong? Worried about your lover?”
“My…what?” Surely, I’d heard him wrong.
“Your horde of lovers?” His voice rose and his smile turned cold. “I know all about you, Maya Callahan. I know what you’ve been getting up to at night, and I know what your father wants.”
At night? I just sat on the roof and tried to pretend I was free as I felt the moon bathe me in her light.
“My father…he wants us to marry…” I whispered a
But this? I had absolutely no idea where this was going, but it didn’t seem good. “I’m not sure…”
“You’re disgusting,” Larson snarled as he suddenly pushed me. I fell to the floor painfully, and my dress ripped. Cold air touched my chest, and I wrapped one arm around myself to hide while I frantically tried to pull the fabric over my chest. People around us laughed, and a familiar female walked over to Larson and threaded her arm through his. “He dresses you up because he knows you’re a slut. True, most wolves think with their dick, but I’m looking for a queen. I can take a whore to bed anytime, but marry one? I don’t think so. Nobody will ever want you, Maya. Certainly not someone like me.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off my cousin. We’d only met a handful of times, but she’d always acted like my friend. Now she was standing by his side and watching me with a cold expression.
“You can go crawl home and tell your father that I’ve chosen my wife. I, Larson Peterman, Alpha of the Chalmer Basin Pack, reject you, Maya Callahan,” he said with a cold smile as he turned. “I choose a woman of real substance and a strong wolf: Selena Devereux.”
There was applause and laughter as I struggled to get off the floor. Holding my dress together as tightly as possible, I ran from the ballroom.
Tears blinded me, and my heels broke before I made it out of the hotel. Everywhere I looked, people were whispering and pointing and laughing.
This was supposed to be my night when I finally found my freedom, and instead, I was a laughingstock, and my father?
My father would kill me.
Whimpering, I turned and raced into the gardens behind the hotel. There was a shout, and before I knew it, I tripped and fell and rolled. Above me, a group of men snarled and closed in on me.
“What do we have here? Entertainment? Already half-undressed for us,” one grunted. Hands touched me, and I tried to pull away.
“About time these balls get more interesting. I can’t wait to feel her mouth around my cock.” I heard a zipper, and I lashed out with my foot. It connected with someone, but they only laughed. More hands grabbed me and pushed me to the ground.
This could not be happening. “Stop,” I screamed. “No, stop!”
“That’s enough,” a voice commanded. Immediately, I was released, and the circle widened around me as the men stepped back. They all lowered their heads and their gazes. A few muttered apologies under their breath.
“Leave us,” the man said calmly, and reached down. As he pulled me up, my dress started to fall, and I gasped and held it up.
The biggest man I’d ever seen in my life stared down at me. His eyes were so dark they were practically black, and there was a scar that ran down his right eyebrow. There was no warmth on his face.
Tears running down my face, I pulled my dress back up and looked around. There was a group of men standing stiffly behind me, but everyone else had gone. Was this man saving me? Or did he simply want me for himself? Shaking, I finally raised my gaze to his.
No pity. No kindness. He studied me as if he were wearing a mask.
“Elliot,” he growled, his eyes never leaving mine. “Bring the car around.”
Oh my God, what the hell was happening?
“You’re coming with me.”
2
Rhyson
The little bird didn’t say a word during the car ride, and her face was completely blank as my men led her up to the hotel room. It was only a fifteen-minute ride from the hotel—Kork’s idea, in case I didn’t show up to the ball.
Already, my phone was blowing up, but I ignored it. Someone would distract Kork eventually. I wasn’t sure why I felt compelled to take the redhead from the ball. Mostly it was an excuse to not go in, but it didn’t take long to hear what happened. Larson had claimed his wife, and it wasn’t the spurned redhead.
She was lovely. Petite for a wolf, with a small heart-shaped face and red hair mixed with gold. Freckles dotted the bridge of her nose, but there was no other indication that she spent much time in the sun. Her skin was creamy and smooth.
Beauty wasn’t the reason that I took her. Beauty surrounded me. Women were paraded in front of me in hopes that one might catch my interest or that a mating bond would snap into place. I enjoyed women, but none had affected me quite like her.
And I didn’t know why. Maybe it was the fear in her eyes, tugging on my wolf’s need to protect. Maybe it was thinking that if she kept running around with a torn dress, the other wolves would tear her apart.
A private elevator brought us up to the penthouse. Her hands were still wrapped around her body, keeping her dress up. Inside me, my wolf growled. We’d both seen the bruises on her back. I assumed they were from Larson’s hands. Maybe the little bird liked it rough, but neither I nor my wolf loved seeing it. I didn’t like her marked or to know that she’d felt pain, even if she did want it. I didn’t want to think of her with Larson either. Also strange. I didn’t usually care about women’s sexual pasts.
“Do you have a name?” I said finally as we stepped out.
“Maya.”
“Maya. Do you know why I brought you here?”
“It’s not hard to figure out.” Her hands dropped and the top of her dress fell, revealing a gorgeous pair of tits, creamy and round with rosy pink nipples, perfect to fill a man’s hands. She stared at me defiantly, and I nearly rumbled in approval.
Instead, I smiled. “Exactly. I don’t have a dress to replace that one, so I don’t think you can return to the ball, but you don’t have to keep wearing that all night.”
A puzzled look crossed her face, and I crossed the room to the closet. Kork complained that it was a bad look when my one-night stands stumbled home in the clothes they were wearing the night before, so the hotel was stocked with some clothes. I found a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that looked like they would fit her. Tossing them on the bed, I turned my back. “Drink?”
“What?”
“Would you like a drink?” I spoke slowly and succinctly and let my eyes drift to the mirror on the wall. It didn’t surprise me when her gaze met mine. She’d yet to change. “The room is fully stocked: liquor, beer, wine, soda.”
“Wine. Red.” Turning, she grabbed the t-shirt and pulled it over her before letting the dress fall to the floor. I averted my gaze and made us two drinks: bourbon for me and red wine for her. When I turned, she still hadn’t put on the jeans. The shirt skimmed the tops of her creamy white thighs, prompting questions in my mind. It was the middle of summer. Most of the wolves around here spent a lot of time in the sun and were golden-bronze.
I looked. I hadn’t brought her here to fuck her, just to rescue the injured little bird and let her go, but now that she was walking around half-naked, I had a hard time averting my gaze. There was a strange look in her gaze as it roamed over me. Open interest, but when I caught her eyes, she quickly looked away.
Submissive.
My wolf continued to stir inside me. His interest was difficult to ignore, but then, my own interest was also difficult to ignore. I reminded myself once again that I hadn’t brought her here to fuck her, but that didn’t stop images from conjuring in my mind. What would she do if I ordered her to spread her legs and give me a peek between those lovely thighs? If I skimmed my hands over her skin to see if she was as smooth as she looked?
I handed her the wine and raised an eyebrow when she drained it and quickly coughed. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-two. Can I have another?”
I tipped my own glass back and took hers. “Maybe in a little bit. If you want to put your pants on, I can have one of my men drive you somewhere.”
“You really brought me here just so I could change clothes?” she asked suspiciously.
“And give you a chance to grieve and mend your broken heart,” I said with a shrug. “Save you from embarrassment. You put on quite a scene. I would expect a wolf to draw blood rather than run in tears. What kind of wolf are you?”
