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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
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Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I follow Ben all the way to a church at the edge of town. It’s the oldest building for a hundred miles, built in the eighteenth century and, according to local lore, it’s haunted with creepy ghosts. I’ve never been in there before, and I didn’t think Ben had, either. We don’t believe in ghosts, but we’re also not big on religion, so we’ve never had much reason to visit. But he walks into it like he’s familiar with this place. Which means he’s either started believing in God without me knowing it, or he’s here for something else.Something illicit. I hear his laugh a moment later, and the sound of muted, mostly male chatter. Creeping closer, I make my way around the back of the building and settle under one of the church’s windows, which someone has helpfully left open just enough that I can hear perfectly thanks to wolf senses.“Okay, thanks for coming, everyone. I know it’s a weird time to meet, but we have to do it while everyone else is asleep, so we don’t raise any eyebrows o
Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Can you pass the milk?” Ben asks me the next morning. We both have off, which is a rarity, and while normally we’d spend a day like this together, he says he has plans. “Yeah, sure,” I say. I’m so angry at him I could scream. I barely slept last night, wondering why he went to that meeting of the rogues without telling me. He’s acting like everything is normal and I’m too much of a coward to rock the boat. “What’re you up to today?” he asks, leaning back against the kitchen counter and taking a bite of his cereal.“Uh…” I scramble, realizing that if he’s gone, I’ll be in the house alone. And while normally that would be a dream come true, today I don’t want to be by myself. If I’m alone, the thoughts in my head will overwhelm me. “Going shopping with Sharon,” I lie, another untruth to add to the pile steadily growing between us. There’s a barrier up that wasn’t there before, and I feel like I’m only seeing half of Ben. He’s hiding himself from me, and while it kills me, can I r
Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER NINETEEN
“I’ll be right back. Need to go to the bathroom,” I tell Sharon, making a beeline for the doors at the back of the café that I pray actually do lead to the restrooms.I’m in luck and not only is it a bathroom, but an empty one, allowing me to lock the door and barricade myself in a stall while I work out what to do. What is the pack doing here, and why do they all look like they want to murder me?The only explanation I can come up with is that the other rogues said in that meeting last night was true: the pack are out to eliminate all the rogues in town. And somehow, they’ve figured out I’m one of them. Did James tell them?I want to immediately brush that thought away, but I don’t, because if I’ve learned anything from interacting with James over the last few weeks, it’s that he’s unpredictable. Easily swayed by the pack’s wants and needs, rather than his own. If they asked him, point-blank, if he was seeing a rogue, he wouldn’t have been able to deny it. His is not a face t
Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER TWENTY
Explaining to Sharon why I disappeared from the café and then returned, ten minutes later, with a strange guy trailing behind me was difficult, but thankfully she got a phone call from her boyfriend just as I got back to the table, so I was saved from having to answer too many questions. If only Ben was as easily distracted, my life would be so much less complicated. Since I got home an hour and a half ago, he’s been hovering around me and asking incessant questions. My first-date nerves are already off the charts and his constant presence is only making it worse. I’m in the middle of applying lipstick in my bathroom when Ben pops up again, scaring me so much that I end up with a swipe of red going from the corner of my lips all the way across my cheek.“Ben! For god’s sake, leave me alone!” I say, whipping around to face him. I don’t use a particularly sisterly tone, but no hurt shows on his face. All I see is suspicion. “Where did you say you were going again?” he asks, c
Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
My breath gets caught in my chest the moment I see James at the edge of the secluded street where he’s asking me to meet him. “Did you bring me here to murder me?” I ask, looking around. There is a disturbing lack of cars, or people, or lit windows, despite this being a residential neighborhood. James’ eyes go wide for a minute, and I want to laugh at how horrified he looks, but then the joke sinks in and he laughs. I guess I’m not the only one who was nervous about tonight. “No. There’s a really good Mexican restaurant nearby that I wanted to take you to nearby,” he says, nodding to twinkling lights that I can barely make out through the thick cluster of trees next to us.“A restaurant in the middle of nowhere?” I ask.“Just trust me,” he says, and the smile that was starting to pull my lips up falls.Trust him. Can he really expect me to do that, after all the shit he’s pulled with me? After the way his pack acts towards wolves like me? His alpha attacked me in public not
Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
“You wish you were a rogue?” I whisper, leaning close to him because despite the chaos around us, I’m still worried someone will hear. “Why? Why would you wish that kind of hardship on yourself?”“Because I hate being tied to the pack. They dictate everything I do, everything I am. Ever since I became a beta, I feel like I’ve lost a huge piece of myself.”I feel for him, but I have to say my piece. “It’s still better than being a rogue. I’m always on high alert, waiting for an attack. Like the one today,” I say, and James flushes with embarrassment and guilt. “Sorry about that,” he says.“I didn’t bring it up to make you feel bad. I did it to prove a point. That people like me are vulnerable. I don’t have anyone other than Ben to look out for me, and our reliance on each other can make things…complicated. “Ben is your brother?” James asks. “Yeah. He’s great, but sometimes he gets so caught up in protecting me that I end up feeling suffocated. If we were part of a pack, we’d ha
Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
I’m still giddy from James’ kiss and the success of our date when I open the door to the house half an hour later. When I walk into the living room, I breathe a sigh of relief because there’s no evidence Ben is home. Most of the lights are off, as is the TV, and I can’t even smell him. But when I walk up the stairs to go to my room, Ben pops out from behind the wall at the top of the stairs, and I scream. “Ben! What the hell!” I say, a hand on my chest to steady my heart, which feels like it’s going to jump right out of my ribcage. “Why were you hiding? Were you trying to scare me to death on purpose?”I’m expecting him to laugh and say yes, because he used to pull pranks like this all the time when we were kids. He’d sneak up on me when I wasn’t looking and laugh his head off when I shouted in surprise.He’s not laughing now. He’s glaring at me, looking more intimidating than I’ve ever seen him.“Ben? Are you going to answer me?”“Are you going to tell me where you actually
Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
I’m nearing the end of my patrol shift when I hear a noise behind me. My mind immediately jumps to Isabel. Actually, it doesn’t even need to jump. It’s been on her for the last forty-eight hours, ever since our date ended.But while the noise is coming from a girl, it isn’t Isabel.It’s Christina. My ex. I have to swallow a groan at the sight of her. “Hey James,” she says, sidling up to me and assaulting me with her sickeningly sweet vanilla perfume. It’s so overpowering that I have to stifle a cough, and I long for Isabel’s subtle, signature scent. “Hey Chris,” I grumble, stepping away and trying to put as much distance as possible between us. “Miss me?” she asks, twirling one of her long blonde curls around her pointer finger.She knows the answer is “no,” because I told her after we broke up that I never wanted to see her again. It was a pipe dream, considering we’re part of the same pack, and she’s Ryan’s half-sister, but I’ve managed to avoid her for the last few mo
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- Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED
- Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE
- Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY EIGHT
- Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SEVEN
- Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SIX
- Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE
- Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FOUR
- Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY THREE
- Rejected by the Beta CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO
