Page 1 of His Rejected Alpha Mate
Prologue
Jasper
ExitingtheschoolthatI worked at, I frowned when my usual guard wasn’t there to greet me. Often they trailed me at a distance, so I scanned the street for their usual vehicle but found nothing.
Strange.Fear buzzed through my veins, my fox instantly on alert for danger. Never in the last five years had I been left alone like this. There had to be a reason.
Patting my pockets, I found my phone, and startled at the text sitting there.
Grady: Intelligence suggests he is elsewhere. They have removed me as your guard temporarily to deal with a situation.
What the?Could I trust that this was true? That I really was safe to be unguarded so clearly?
Shaking my head since there was nothing else I could do, I approached my car, gave it a thorough scan, using all the tidbits I’d picked up from my guards over the years. Sure it was safe, I finally got in to pick up my daughter Angelica from the sitter, changing up the route a little, scared of being followed.
“Daddy, where’s Grady?” Angelica asked in the car on the way home. Her hands held traces of paint where she had been painting with her sitter, the cheetah omega that looked after her during the week, while I stayed behind at school to plan lessons and tidy up.
“Papa, sweetness.” I corrected automatically, a little distracted, as I paid attention to all the cars on the road. Daddy wasn’t my title, and it rankled. “Grady had a job to do for the council, but everything is good, and we’ll probably see him soon.”
“Will we have to move again?” There was an edge of fear in her voice and I hated the fact that it was my fault it was there.
“I’m not sure, Angel. I don’t think so. Grady just had work to do. Everything is fine.”I hoped.
Angelica was silent as we pulled into the apartment complex where we had lived for the last two years. Our council appointed guards stayed in the apartment next to ours, so they were always at hand. For so long it had been me, Angelica, Si, Grady, and Trey. Occasionally with switched out guards so they could have some needed time off.
A vision blurred my sight, but I couldn’t grasp it. That brief glimpse into the future our goddess had once given me as a gift flashed like a beacon with some sort of portent in my mind. I’d been feeling like something wasn’t right all day. My fox was still on edge, ears twitching, aware of every little detail that my human mind missed and searching for danger. They’d chirped and yipped at me to grab our kit because change was coming.
We didn’t take the elevator when we got to our building, preferring to take the stairs to the third floor. It was safer that way, though Angel complained the whole way. I hustled her up them, nervous of being outside the warded apartment with no guards.
“Why can’t we use the elevator, Papa? I’m tired.”
“You know why, Angel. Trey has told you countless times.”
When we hit our floor, she stopped to root through her backpack and located her phone.
“Si? Babe? Are you home?” Hopefully, at least one of our guards had stayed with us. Silas was more than a guard to me now. I really felt like we were growing into something serious. I entered the apartment warily, with Angelica trailing behind me, her face glued to the screen in her hands. Frowning, I made a mental note to ask the sitter to reduce my daughter’s screen time.
My fox picked up on Si’s wolf scent, coming from the family room, and we both relaxed. That scent meant safety. It took both of us a while to get used to the wet dog scent that hung off Silas. Freshly showered, he smelt of hay and sugar, but a few hours later, he’d sweat through his deodorant and I’d be left smelling his pungent aroma. Once I got used to it, I found it strangely comforting.
Silas was sitting on the couch stiffly as I rounded the corner. Angel had headed straight for the kitchen to grab a snack. “Si?”
“Hey, Jasper. I, uh, have something to tell you. You better sit down.”
I sat down next to him and he shifted away from me slightly, setting me on edge. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s no easy way to say this, but I’ve just had a call to say Rincoln is dead.” His voice was devoid of any emotion.
“What? Who?”
“There was a kill order placed on him, and Roan carried it out in defense of Ryder and his mate, the Sweetwater alpha leader.”
“Ryder?”
“According to reports, your ex took your son from his mate to force a bond. You know that’s punishable by death. Seems he wanted to take over the Sweetwater pack.”
“Sweetwater?” I knew distantly that I was repeating the odd word here and there. Shock slowed my brain, making it difficult to form sentences.
Silas turned to face me and clasped my hands, skin rough next to mine. “The council believes that it’s safe for you to go see your son, if that’s what you want. Rincoln is gone, so there’s no need to hide anymore.”
