Page 2 of Rejected By My Shadow Alpha
He stared at me. "What did I do wrong?"
"I cannot love you, Mark. This was never about you."
He stepped out slowly. I slid into the driver's seat, shut the door, and pulled away without another word.
The moment the gas station disappeared from my rearview mirror, my body sagged in the seat. My hands trembled on the wheel. My heart pounded with terror and relief. I was free for now.
And I would protect what mattered most.
My baby. Drew's child.
If fate had dealt me a kinder hand, maybe I wouldn't be here, caught between fear and resolve, my thoughts scraping like claws against the pain in my heart.
Drew's name rose from the silence, soft as breath, unwelcome but insistent. I had tried not to let myself think of him for days, not since everything began to spiral. But now, alone in the car with nothing but the hum of the engine and my own heartbeat, the memories slipped through the cracks I had sealed shut.
It wasn't just his face that haunted me. It was the moment we met, the pull I couldn't explain, the way my wolf recognized him before I understood why.
It all came rushing back, whether I wanted it to or not.
Two Months Ago…
The hum of Westbrow Hospital's early morning shift buzzed faintly as I stepped through the wide glass doors, dressed in my usual pale-blue scrubs and white coat. It was strange how quickly a life of chaos could dissolve into the sterile normalcy of rounds and charts.
"Dr. Ruby!" Nurse Jen beamed, matching my pace. "Have you seen him?"
"Seen who?" I arched an eyebrow.
"The new doctor. Dr. Drew. Tall, intense, smells like danger and secrets." She giggled. "And immune to female attention, apparently."
"Hmm," I replied noncommittally. The last thing I cared about was some new arrogant doctor playing hard to get, especially the males.
I stepped into Ward B and reached for the chart at the end of the bed. Mrs. Trent, my elderly diabetic patient, smiled weakly.
"How are we feeling today, Susie?" I asked, smiling widely.
"Like someone replaced my blood with fire," she groaned. I smiled sympathetically and scanned her chart. My heart stopped, and I stared in disbelief at what I saw.
"Who prescribed this insulin dosage?" I asked the nurse at her bedside.
The nurse shifted. "It was Dr. Drew. The new transfer."
I frowned. The same new doctor. First, he was causing a buzz of whispers amongst the nurses and patients, yet he was a clueless professional in indicating the right insulin prescription. What a joke.
"Page him. Now."
Moments later, I sensed him before I saw him.
A ripple in the air. A pull deep in my chest, as if the oxygen in the room had shifted and thickened. My hand froze mid-page over the patient's chart, my fingers tingling with something I couldn't name. Then the door opened, and he walked in like a storm dressed in scrubs.
And the world…stopped.
The scent hit me first; cedar wood and storm, wild and clean, like the air just before a thunderclap. It slammed into me, cracking through my carefully maintained composure, awakening something buried and ancient inside me. My wolf stirred.
No. She rose.
She lifted her head, ears pricked, breath caught. I froze. My vision sharpened; everything else dulled. The patient, the nurse, the walls, they all faded into a blur. All I saw was him. My wolf lunged, crashing into my chest, desperate to get to him.
Tall, sharp-jawed, and hair dark that was slightly tousled, like he'd just run a hand through it in frustration. His eyes, deep icy blue, clear, and completely unreadable, swept the room and landed on me. And in that moment, I knew something hadchanged. The room could have been on fire, and I wouldn't have noticed.
