REJECTED BY THE ALPHA KING

CHAPTER 3: THE SUMMIT

Kai's POV

The business summit was a complete waste of my time.

I sat at the back of the conference room, my arms crossed over my chest, listening to some human CEO named David Peterson talk about market trends and quarterly earnings. His voice was boring and repetitive. He kept saying the same things over and over in different ways. My Beta, Ravi Krishnan, sat beside me, looking equally bored out of his mind. We had been sitting here for three hours, and nothing interesting had happened yet. No new information. No real business opportunities. Nothing is worth my time.

"Why did you even agree to come to this boring event?" Ravi whispered to me, leaning close so no one else could hear his words. "You hate these things. You always say they are a waste of an Alpha's time. You could be back at the pack making important decisions."

"Expanding business opportunities," I said, not taking my eyes off the screen in front of me that displayed the presentation. "If we want to stay powerful and wealthy, we need to understand the human world better. We need to know what they are doing, what they are building, and where the money is flowing. It gives us an advantage."

It was a lie, and Ravi knew it was a lie. We had been together for ten years, and he could read me like a book. The truth was that I was bored out of my mind with pack life. Being Alpha King meant making difficult decisions that affected thousands of wolves every single day. It meant fighting enemies. It meant dealing with pack politics, territorial wars, and power struggles. It meant being responsible for everyone but having no one I could truly trust with my own heart.

It meant being alone.

My wolf had been restless for five years. Ever since that night at the Mating Ceremony, when I had rejected my mate. Her image still haunted me. Her face when I said those words. The way her entire world shattered in an instant.

I pushed the thought away. I did not like thinking about that night. I did not like remembering the look on her face when I rejected her. The shock. The pain. The way she had looked at me was like I had just torn out her heart with my bare hands. It was a moment of weakness that I regretted deeply, even if I would never admit it to anyone.

But she had been so small back then. So frail. So weak. Kai Teo could not have a weak mate as the Luna of the pack. It would make me look weak to other Alpha packs. It would make the whole pack vulnerable to attacks from other packs that sensed weakness in our leadership. I had to protect my image. I had to protect my power. I had to do what was best for my people.

At least, that is what I had told myself every single day for five years.

The presentation finally ended, and everyone started standing up to stretch and move around. I was about to leave and go find some fresh air when a woman walked past our table. Something about her made me stop dead in my tracks. I could not look away.

She had dark hair pulled back in a tight bun. She wore a black business suit that probably cost more money than most wolves made in a year. The suit fit her perfectly, showing off her curves and her strength. She looked confident. She looked powerful. She looked dangerous in a way that made my wolf sit up and take notice. There was something about her that screamed authority and control.

My wolf perked up, interested for the first time in days. He wanted to know who she was.

She did not even glance at me as she walked by, barely acknowledging my existence. She was talking on her phone, her voice all business and no nonsense.

"I need those reports by tomorrow morning," she was saying firmly. "And make sure security is tight. I am not taking any risks with this contract. I do not care about the cost. Just do it. I want everything done perfectly."

Then she was gone, walking away with confidence and purpose. I found myself watching her walk away, unable to look at anything else.

I felt Ravi staring at me with amusement.

"Did you see something you like, Alpha?" he asked with a knowing smirk. "Because you have not looked interested in anything in five years. Not since..."

"No," I said firmly, standing up and adjusting my suit. But my wolf did not agree with me at all. My wolf was watching that woman, following her scent, desperate to know who she was and where she was going and why she smelled so familiar.

"Come on," I said to Ravi. "Let us get out of here."

As I walked toward the exit of the conference room, I caught her scent again. It was familiar in a way I could not quite place. Something about it made my chest ache. Something about it felt like coming home after being lost for a very long time. It was the same scent I remembered from five years ago, but different. It was stronger now. More powerful.

It was impossible. My mate...if I even had one anymore...was back at the pack, probably mated to some other wolf by now. This was just some human businesswoman. It could not be her.

But my wolf was not convinced at all. He was howling inside me, desperate and confused.

And when I looked back one last time, I could have sworn I saw her watching me from across the room. When our eyes met for just a second, something flashed in her expression. Something that looked like pain. Something that looked like recognition. Something that looked like she knew exactly who I was.

Then she looked away, and she was gone.

And I stood there, frozen, feeling like I had just missed something incredibly important. Something that could change everything.