Too Beautiful for the Alpha novel Chapter 3

With my bedroom door cracked open, I can hardly hear my mother answer the door.

"Hello, can I help you?" She asks whoever is there.

"Yes, I'm looking for Ms. East. I'm assuming she's your daughter. Alpha Grant is expecting her presence."

"Yes, she's upstairs. Might I ask what for?"

"I was told nothing but to retrieve her."

Well, I know his last name. That's something. It's not enough, but still something. I know of him, this Alpha, his pack is a little farther than the ones that usually come to the gathering. It's a strong pack, one of the strongest. That's all I know.

I know my mother is going to call for me, but I do not want to go downstairs and off with this stranger. He was told to retrieve me, so the Alpha told him to do so. Part of me wishes that the Alpha would have continued to ignore my existence, just as he did when we had our encounter on the path. Maybe he is going to reject me. Maybe that's why he needs me—it's only for a moment then.

It will hurt, I know that. I can't help it.

"Rae, there's a man here for you," my mother calls, on queue.

Glancing at my bag, I sigh and head through the door, ready to get this over with. It'll just take a minute; then I can go back to the way things were, my lovely, mateless life. Maybe I'll move to the city, live amongst the humans and pretend to be one of them. Humans die alone sometimes, so I will fit in there. We'll all be alone together.

I'll be shunned from my pack, hell, the entire werewolf kind will reject me if they find out, but I don't need them in my life. I can live as a human. It sounds pleasant, the human life.

What a dream.

"Rae," my mother calls again, and I steadily make my way down the stairs.

It will only take a second, I repeat to myself, chanting in my head. It will hurt, the rejection, but I'll be okay. I've lost people in my life. I know how this works. If only the mate bond was nonexistent—it would be a breeze without it. "I'm here," I say at the bottom, and the two look to me. "Where are we going?"

The man in the door is tall and well built, likely one of his guards. "To the Alpha, at your pack house. He is with your Luna and Alpha, but he will give instructions on what to do."

Instructions? "For what?"

"It's best if you leave the questions for him."

I look to my mother, and she seems somewhat excited by this. She must not know that he's going to reject me, or maybe she does. Maybe she's just trying to hide it so I won't be too upset about it.

"Alright," I murmur, "let's make this quick."

I know where the pack house is, but I have never been inside like most of my pack. It is where the Alpha and Luna live, where important people stay, where they love each other and make love until the sun dries up the sky. That is at least what the girls daydream about. They dream about the Alpha, what it would be like to be mated to him, the feelings, sensations only he could give. Some girls say that's why the Luna is so happy and so pregnant half the time. She's had her third child, and anymore seem crazy to me. Who am I to judge, though?

I follow the man, walking a few steps behind him. He will glance back at me, maybe making sure that I haven't run away off into the trees. He knows too, doesn't he? He knows that I'm going to be rejected. I wonder if he feels bad for me.

Can an Alpha reject their mate? Sure, but it is not a good option unless they have a woman with Alpha blood to replace her. And even the woman of Alpha blood—a highly desired woman—isn't as good as a Mate. Nothing can replace ones true mate, but I suppose this Alpha Grant has his backup for when he dumps me. He must have a woman with Alpha Blood, someone beautiful and worthy. I'm sure she could do better than me anyway, his true mate or not.

While lost in my thoughts, the guard grabs my attention when he comes to a halt. I peer up and realize that we are here. He is just inside, a few steps away, so close but so far.

I swallow, preparing myself for the inevitable heartbreak.

It will just take a minute.

It is a rare thing, to enter the pack house unless you are someone worthy, which I am clearly not. I am a woman about to be rejected by an Alpha, surely not worthy. Heck, I should be grateful to stand on the porch.