The Alpha's Rejected Mate

Episode 8: The Offer

I couldn’t sleep that night.

Ava’s look was still burned into my mind. I had just made the most dangerous enemy in the pack.

A knock on my door made me jump. It was 2am.

“Open.” Damian’s voice.

I opened the door in my thin sleep dress. He was still in training clothes. He looked... different. Less cold.

“Come with me,” he said.

He led me to the rooftop garden. Nobody was there. Just moonlight and silence.

For a long time, neither of us spoke.

“You’re being targeted because of me,” he finally said.

I kept my eyes down. “I know, Alpha.”

“Ava thinks I’m protecting you.” He laughed, bitter. “She’s not wrong.”

My head snapped up. “Why?”

Damian turned to me. The moon made his silver eyes glow.

“Because I made a mistake rejecting you.”

My breath caught.

“I don’t want mates. I don’t want bonds. But I also don’t want to see you broken because of me.”

He pulled out a small silver ring. A servant’s protection mark.

“This means no one in the pack can touch you without going through me first,” he said. “Wear it, and Ava can’t hurt you.”

My hands shook as I took it. It was cold.

“Why are you doing this?” I whispered.

Damian’s jaw tightened. “Because I rejected you once. I won’t let anyone else hurt you for it.”

He walked away, leaving me holding the ring.

Protection. From the Alpha who rejected me.

What game was he playing?