Page 3 of Rejected By My Shadow Alpha
My heartbeat thundered in my ears, a frantic drum I couldn't calm. I gripped the edge of the bed to anchor myself and stop myself from stepping closer, from breathing him in. Every part of me screamed mate, but that was impossible. Wasn't it?
"You’re the one questioning my dosage?" he asked, his voice low and smooth, almost lazy, but there was a warning beneath, like a blade wrapped in velvet. His eyes pinned me in place, sharp and unblinking. "And you are?"
My heart kicked. "Dr. Ruby."
He repeated it, slower. "Ruby." Like he was tasting it. Memorizing it.
I blinked, trying to find my voice. "Yes. You prescribed the wrong insulin level."
He stepped forward, took the chart from my hands without touching me, yet somehow his nearness brushed against my skin like fire. I didn't move. Couldn't. My skin tingled, hyper-aware of every breath between us.
He scanned the chart, brows drawing together for the briefest second before he adjusted the dosage with a steady hand and silent focus.
Then he looked at me. Longer this time, like he was trying to place a memory or suppress a pull he didn't want to acknowledge. His eyes swept over my face, lingering, not just seeing me, reading me. A flicker of something unreadable flashed across his features, but just as quickly, it was gone.
He closed the chart with a snap and turned away without another word, his scrubs whispering against the air as he walked out of the room, cold and unreachable.
I stood there, my pulse thudding in my throat, my wolf pacing restlessly beneath my skin.
Had I imagined that look? No apology. No explanation.
I blinked. "What...just happened?" I muttered.
Nurse Jen leaned closer. "Told you he was intense."
I stared at the door. The scent of cedar wood still lingered.
My wolf was wide awake. And furious. I clenched my fists, heat blooming in my chest. He couldn't just walk away like that, not after looking at me like I meant something, only to shut down and leave without a word.
No. He didn't get to stir something in me and disappear. I was going to find Dr. Drew and demand answers. Somehow, against all logic, I knew that this wasn't the last I would see of him.
I blinked, dragging myself out of the memory and back into the now, the hum of the car engine beneath me and the blur of city lights rushing past my window. My hands tightened around the steering wheel. The engagement party was behind me, but the weight of my choices was just catching up.
Drew was gone.
They said it was quick. No one would say more, but I knew. I had heard the edge in my father's voice that night; low, cold, and final. The kind of silence that followed meant only one thing. He was gone. Truly gone.
My foot sank heavier on the accelerator, and my jaw clenched. My mate was dead. And now, I was expected to marry the man my father had chosen. It was this or I lose my child to the cold-blooded monster who called himself my father, Alpha Alfred. A heartless killer who destroyed everything I ever loved.
Chapter 2
Drew
The world thought I was dead.
Maybe they were right. In many ways, I no longer existed, at least not the man I used to be. Drew Cavanaugh died the moment my name became a target. The moment everything changed.
But even in the silence that followed, one memory refused to fade.
Ruby.
I hadn't seen her since that night at Westbrow Hospital, but the image clung to me like breath to glass. The way she looked at me—angry, defiant, and beautiful. I hadn't expected her. I hadn't expected us.
And in the middle of everything burning down, she was the only thing that ever felt real.
Two Months Ago…
The moment I walked out of that ward, I was already regretting everything.
