All Chapters of Reject Me, Alpha Tate: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Nichole pov "Shit, shit, shit." I was already ten minutes behind and the parliament office was a fifteen minute walk, Tate's suit still in the garment bag over my arm and my shoes not properly fastened because I hadn't had time to sit down and do them right. I had overslept, which never happened, except that recently sleep was the only thing my body seemed genuinely interested in. I could drop off anywhere, I woke up more tired than when I'd closed my eyes. The nausea hit me at the top of the stairs, the same way it had every morning this week — it made the smell of breakfast unbearable and meant I'd eaten almost nothing in days. I pressed my hand against the wall, breathed through it, and kept moving. I was probably coming down with something. The stress, the cold corridors, the not eating, that was the logical explanation. The other explanation flickered through my mind for exactly one second before I shut it down. Pregnant. The symptoms were textbook early pregnancy — th

Nicole's POV The banquet hall was full by the time I took my seat beside Tate, candlelight running the length of the table and every chair occupied by someone who mattered politically. I had worn the dark green dress Tracy had approved two seasons ago conservative, appropriate, nothing that invited comment and I had arrived exactly on time, which was the most I could do. Tate leaned toward me a few minutes in, his voice pitched low enough that only I could hear it beneath the noise of the room. "Sophia tells me you smelled strange today." I lifted my water glass and kept my eyes forward. "Allergic reaction, the soap in the east bathroom, I think. It's been happening with strong fragrances lately." He looked at me, I could feel the weight of his stare on the side of my face and I kept my expression neutral and faintly inconvenienced. "Your arms," he said. I turned them slightly so the rash was visible in the candlelight, already fading to a dull pink at the edges but present enoug

TATE'S POV Nicole had been unusually quiet for days. I noticed. I notice everything — Caesar made sure of that from the time I was old enough to stand. That morning she handed me the wrong tie. Her fingers moved too fast and her eyes didn't meet mine. Storm flagged her scent immediately, something underneath it was off, and I looked at her a second longer than I needed to. But the North Maple discussions were at a critical point and I had a pack to run. She was an omega without a wolf, what could she possibly do? I went to my meeting and told myself it was nothing. ******** The beta's report came through the mind link mid-morning on the fourth day, during a break between sessions. Unauthorized movement on the western border a small cluster of wolves who scattered the moment our elite squad arrived. Probably rogues testing the perimeter, it happened twice a year and rarely amounted to anything. I told Jonathan to monitor and returned to the conference room. I was forty minutes

Four Years LaterNicole pov The knock came just as I was finishing my notes, and when I looked up, Marlon was already pushing the door open.He was still in his meeting jacket, which means he had come straight here. "It passed," he said.I set my pen down. "The evaluation board?""Clinical trials." He crossed the room and dropped the stamped file on my desk. "Approved, Nicole. Your research is going to trials."I stared at the stamp, then at him, and he grinned wide, relief moved through me as Professor Parkville's face came to mind immediately. Even with him being on a wheelchair, with the tremor in his hands on bad mornings, he still came to the lab every single day and called it keeping busy, when what he was really doing was waiting to see if my work would become something worth the wait.It would now."He's going to be insufferable about being right," I said.Marlon laughed. "I'm already preparing myself." He checked his watch and then straightened. "I have a funding review in t

Nicole's POVThe mask was white porcelain with gold edging, and it covered everything from my forehead to the bridge of my nose. I had added large tortoiseshell glasses below it on the grounds that two layers of disguise were better than one, and Marlon had looked at the combination and said I resembled a very elegant owl."That is the point," I told him, and he gave up.The institute's main hall had been transformed for the ceremony — long banners, the kind of lighting that turned everything warm and slightly golden, chairs arranged in careful rows facing the podium. I found a seat near the back and kept my head down while Marlon gave my speech better than I would have given it, gesturing with the easy confidence of someone who had never found a room full of people particularly threatening.I stayed for the social hour because I had said I would. I found a corner near the rear entrance with a good sightline to the door, accepted a glass of water from a passing server, and watched.Th