All Chapters of The Alpha’s Rejected Mate: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

He sounds like he means it. But that isn’t enough to stop me from shaking my head because it isn’t true. I know it isn’t true. I’m ordinary. I’m plain. The only thing special about me is what I am and what I can do.He lifts his head, and his brow creases in a frown. “You don’t believe me.”“You don’t have to tell me that,” I tell him, as if what I’m saying doesn’t matter. As if I don’t care what he thinks of me. “I know I’m not.”He stares into my face for so long that I start wishing I was somewhere else—that I was someone else—because this is the moment that he’s finally seeing me the way Shane sees me: worthless. This is regret I’m witnessing. This is Mack trying to find a way to let me down gently.I open my mouth, ready to tell him that it’s okay, I’m used to it. But he speaks before I can.“If the person who made you think that ever came to Winter Lake, I think I could quite happily gut him. And that’s not in my nature,” he says mildly.I blink at him in surprise. “Oh.”Mack lo

Much later, we’re out in the garden in loungers that Mack set up side-by-side, enjoying the last bit of sunshine of the day.When he suddenly leans over and tickles me on my side, I drop my book and tip out of my seat. The only reason I don’t hit the ground is because of Mack’s shifter speed. Not that I care in the least, I’m laughing far too hard to care about stopping my fall.“Oh wow,” Mack murmurs once he’s tucked me in the lounger beside him. “I didn’t think you’d be that ticklish.”When his fingers return to my side, I slap them away. “Stop it,” I gasp between giggles. “No, I’m not.”Although he raises an eyebrow at my barefaced lie, he doesn’t tickle me again, just wraps his arms around me.“How’s your ankle?” Mack asks once my breathing has returned to normal.I wriggle it. It’s a little sore but not painful. “Okay, I think. Why?”He presses a kiss on my brow. “What do you think about going on a run tonight?”As I lift my head so I can peer into his face, the quiet contentment

I run faster and further than I know I should on an ankle that’s still healing.But before long, I’m limping through the forest with no idea where I’m going, only that going forward and never back is the most important thing.All the while, the rain gets heavier and heavier until I’m slipping and falling more often than I’m on my feet. Each time it gets harder to get back up again. My ankle no longer aches. It throbs, and my body is shaking with how hard I’m sobbing.Finally, I don’t get up again. I stay where I’ve fallen with my face in my hands, and even though I know I have to get back up again, I don’t move.And that’s when I hear it. “Aerin!”Mack calling my name.It doesn’t matter that the call is still some way off: Mack and Bennett are shifters, which means they can move faster than I can right now.I scramble to my feet in desperation because if he’s calling me, then it means he’s coming after me.Maybe he realized I was listening, and he’s come to stop me. Or maybe he expect

I struggle to find the words to speak.He knew all along.I remember that first day when I woke and glimpsed the wounds in his soul that I nearly healed.“No.” I shake my head. “You’re wrong. About all of it. He’s like all the other alphas. He’ll try to force me to stay because—”“Aerin, since you’ve been here, have you used your gift even once?”I think for a lot longer than I need to before eventually shaking my head.“Have you felt compelled to use your gift or to heal anyone? To heal this pack?”I think about Mack and the pain inside him. “I thought about it. Once.”Adela’s eyes glint with knowledge. “And you won’t. This isn’t a broken pack in need of fixing. Mack doesn’t need to trap you here.”“You’re just saying that. Anyway, he sent the pack away so there could be a million things wrong with them that he’s trying to hide.”Adela raises her eyebrow.I look away because I’m struggling to believe what just came out of my mouth. The person I’m describing doesn’t feel like Mack, an

He’ve been driving for an hour, maybe more, I don’t know. It’s hard for me to figure out exactly how much time has passed since the shock of Shane’s sudden appearance and the confirmation that he hates me has now eased.I should’ve known it already, being what I am. Maybe I always did, but it was a knowledge I was happy to shove deep down in the well inside me to live with all my pain and hurt. Still, it’s like some sick joke that I’m an omega, a pack healer, and my mate—the one person in the world supposed to love me—hates me.What’s strange is it doesn’t really hurt. At least not the way his indifference, his coldness, and his many, many casual cruelties used to. Not when I think about how I felt when I learned that Mack had been lying to me. That was something else.I’ve never threatened to hurt someone like that before, especially not an alpha, but at that moment, the agony gripping me was like nothing else I’d ever experienced. It didn’t come close to how I felt seeing Shane with