Alpha's Chosen Mate

2

I try to sit up, but every muscle in my body aches. I want to tell him what Christian’s done—that he rejected me even though he’s the bastard who’s been cheating on me for years—but my tongue is too heavy to lift. I’m still trying to get the words out when he pushes a photo in front of my face.

My brows furrow as I stare at it. A topless woman with a half-dazed smile and glassy eyes rides on a naked man. Her fingers stroke the members of two other men. It’s a foursome. No surprise there. Wolves indulge in the most primitive, extreme kinds of s*x sometimes…but what I fail to comprehend is why my face is placed on her body. Hell, my breasts aren’t even that big.

“That…that isn’t me, Dad.”

“Tell that to the hundreds of wolves who received this! Years of work, destroyed!” he yells, and I flinch, shrinking back against the pillows to escape his anger. His honey-brown eyes darken with anger. “You’ve ruined everything, Leilani.” He tosses the photograph at me, and it lands on my thigh. My father’s lips thin with disappointment as his strong jaw clenches. “Get dressed. Beta Manuel doesn’t take kindly to tardiness.”

I force myself into a sitting position. “Beta Manuel? Dad⁠—”

“News of Christian’s rejection has crossed the borders. It’s only a matter of time before our enemies arrive at our doorstep. Manuel has offered to mate with you, despite…” His lips curl with disgust as he points at the photo. “Despite that. It’s as good a proposal as Christian’s.”

The photo crumples in my fingers. “You’re setting me up with a man who has as many concubines as he does jackets? A man your age?” My legs wobble as they hit the ground, and I wince in pain. “I won’t mate with him. Christian⁠—”

“—is finishing his mating rites as we speak.”

I freeze, memories of finding him with Georgia assaulting me. It doesn’t make sense. Georgia doesn’t even like Chris. She’s made it clear on multiple occasions that she thinks he’s too pretty, too sweet, too vain. I’m still trying to hold back tears when my father turns back to me. “The maids will join you soon to help you get ready. This is your fault. You let yourself end up in this position. Remember that, and wear a smile when show up.”

It takes five glasses of liquid courage to stand in the same room as Chris and Georgia. I can still hear the congratulatory messages and Georgia’s shy giggles, but the warmth of the alcohol holds me back from tearing out her heart or biting a chunk out of my mate’s neck. He couldn’t even give me some time to get over his rejection and accept it before mating with someone else?

Gnarly, meaty fingers pinch my chin, turning my head left and right. Beta Manuel’s grin widens, and I can see his disgusting tongue through the holes of his missing teeth. “You are as beautiful as ever, Leilani.” An eerie gleam brightens his gaze as it lowers to my cleavage and strays farther down my hips.

It takes three tries to get his hand off me, and when I step back, my shoulder hits my father’s. I shoot him a pleading look, but he doesn’t acknowledge it as Madeline, my stepmother, fawns over Manuel’s suit—the bland, oversized horror.

I stare at his chapped lips, imagining them on my skin, and a hot feeling rises in my stomach, along with the urge to vomit. My breaths become faster and the room starts to spin. I stagger again, nearly tripping on my heels, but my father’s beta, Morris, steadies me with a hand on my shoulder.

Even that slight touch suffocates me. Eyes turn our way, and the attention feels like a fist grabbing my neck and choking me. The words “w***e,” “slut,” “orgy,” and “f****d” have been flying through the air since I walked in, but they seem to get louder with every passing second.

Beta Manuel sidles up beside me, his hand on my waist feeling like a brand. I see people cast glances our way, and they don’t even try to hide their laughter. I know what they’re thinking, because I’m thinking it too. Beta Manuel might be older than my grandfather, but he isn’t dying anytime soon. I’ll spend the best part of my life shackled to him, waking up to his yellowing teeth, balding hair, and sagging skin. His bulging stomach is larger than my ass, and one reluctant look at his groin speaks volumes of the direction of his thoughts.

I’ve never hated Chris as much as I do at this moment.

“I never thought you were as innocent as you acted.”

I turn to look in Beta Manuel’s gray eyes. “Excuse me?”

His fat hand travels down my spine and rests on my backside. He gropes it with more strength than I thought possible from him, and my eyes sting with pain. “How many men have had you while you ignored me all these years?” His thumb separates my ass cheeks and I try to pull away as it continues to drift down, nearing my asshole. “Are you a virgin here? Maybe I’ll f**k this first, before having a taste of your whoring cunt.”

My fists clench, and I look at my father. His shoulders are stiff, suggesting he heard and saw, but he does nothing. Madeline doesn’t move, either. Morris looks away, but not before I see the apology in his eyes.

I look across the hall to see Georgia kissing Christian, whose eyes are zeroed in on where his beta touches me, his gaze as possessive as if he still has a claim on me. The anger that ignites in my heart is all I need to place my hand on Beta Manuel’s wrist and yank it off my ass. I stare into his beady gray eyes and whisper, “The next time you call me a w***e is the day I slice off your tongue…and your dick.”

If my outburst is enough to change Beta Manuel’s mind about marrying me, that would be a miracle. But I doubt he’ll back out now, no matter what I do. He’s wanted to have me in his bed for so long that he’s practically salivating at the thought.

“Everclear,” I tell the bar attendant, whose eyebrows quirk up at my request. “Don’t dilute it.” If I’m going to spend any more time with Beta Manuel, I’ll need something stronger than what I’m used to.

He goes to make my drink and a high-pitched voice suddenly says, “I suppose I could call these double congratulations to us, Lei.”

I stiffen as Georgia leans against the counter beside me. I know I should ignore her, but I don’t. I look at her and hate how happy and beautiful she looks as she steals my mate.