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  Copyright© 2022 Sam Crescent

  ISBN: 978-0-3695-0560-6

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Audrey Bobak

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  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  REJECTED BY THE ALPHA

  The Alpha Shifter Collection, 14

  Sam Crescent

  Copyright © 2022

  Chapter One

  Misha Parks stared up at the full moon, wondering if any of the wolf guards were looking down on her, mocking her. Would they give her advice? Tell her what to do? She liked the idea of someone caring. Someone looking down at her and wishing her well. Everything in her life told her that she was so way off base. There was no one out there looking down on her.

  From the time she was a baby, she’d been alone.

  She had no idea who her parents were as she’d been abandoned in a forest after being alive for just a couple of weeks. The Masters pack had taken her in, and she’d been put in their special brand of a foster system.

  The abandoned children shared a house, and each adult member of the pack took turns sharing the responsibility of caring for them. So noble. Some of the people were amazing. She couldn’t deny they tried to make them feel welcome. Of course, with all packs, there were also people who made them feel like scum and would rub it in that no one wanted them.

  Growing up, she had more good memories than bad ones.

  No one knew her parents. She possessed wolf DNA though, that was clear.

  Running her fingers through her hair, she lifted her knees close to her chest and didn’t move from this spot.

  At the age of eighteen, her life had changed forever, in some good ways and some not so good ways. The good ways, she got to finally feel her wolf. For so long, her beast had been close to the surface, randomly wanting to spill out. It was a rare case for a person’s inner wolf to come calling, but she had gotten it.

  Finally feeling the full moon on her back as she ran out in the woods had been incredible. What happened during the following full moon when she happened to be near the alpha, Decker Masters, wasn’t so fun.

  Her wolf had recognized him. She didn’t realize what it meant until he publicly rejected her.

  Decker, the Masters Pack Alpha, had denied her, and in doing so, rejected her as a mate. He was twenty-four years older than her, but age didn’t matter to wolves. Rejecting a mate was unheard of, especially in the pack she was part of. She’d done some research and knew it was possible for mates to not … mesh well.

  He’d never given her a reason. No one had asked why he didn’t want to be with her. She supposed to many within the pack, it was clear.

  She wasn’t like other wolf females. From a young age, she’d been blessed with curves. To some, she was a fat wolf, but she loved her curves. She didn’t mind having large tits, full hips, a big ass, and thighs that sometimes rubbed together.

  Misha had learned at a young age to accept herself for who she was. It helped that the pack’s healer, Blueberry, had been her mentor. The woman still was, and they were the best of friends.

  Still, it sucked to see the moody alpha from time to time. She tried to avoid him at all costs. Every time she saw him, she had mixed feelings about him. Sometimes she wanted to be near him, to just feel that closeness her wolf needed. Packs were supposed to be close. Mates were inseparable. She’d seen how they worked. They were a bunch of sappy romantics, and horny as well.

  It was why she liked to run off to the deepest, darkest part of the forest and stare naked up at the full moon. It helped to distract her from the way her body was pretty much humming to be fucked.

  She was a virgin and craved her mate. Just because Decker had denied her didn’t mean she no longer felt this warped connection to him. Life was so unfair.

  She hated him and wanted him with equal measure.

  At least he hadn’t taken on any other female within the pack. There was no lover she had to compete with. Just the thought of him being with another woman was enough to make her stomach clench and to set her nerves on edge. She hated him for making her feel that way.

  After a good four hours had passed, she knew it was the right time to leave the forest and to head back.

  Getting to her feet, she looked up at the full moon and couldn’t help but feel like it was a traitor to her for some odd reason.

  She didn’t bother to go back to her wolf form as she walked through the forest, aware of other members of the pack while they enjoyed the night together. No one had offered to keep her company.

  At twenty-one years old, she was growing tired of being in the pack. Just because Decker had rejected her didn’t mean she had a choice in going without male company. Anyone could offer to be with her. He’d denied her and had no right to her at all.

  She found her pile of clothes right where she left them. After slipping on her panties and bra, she worked her tank top into place, followed by her layered tan skirt. Then she stepped out into the main town square, staring at the place she’d called home, and wondered, not for the first time, if she should move on.

  Some members of the pack thought she stayed to make Decker’s life hell. She stayed because this was her family. She loved it here.

  Where Blueberry had found her place in the pack as being a healer, Misha flitted from place to place. She helped Blueberry heal. Took care of the foster kids. There were only three of them at the moment. Also, she worked in any of the shops that needed help, including as a waitress at the diner. She did her time at the library, even dealing with pack complaints as well.

  She did everything and nothing. Her life was devoted to the pack, but with no real permanent place for her. She heard the whispers of her being too flighty. Some believed her parents were rogue wolves, which was why she’d been dumped there.

  It didn’t matter.

  As the months had turned into three long years of rejection, she was starting to feel like her place here didn’t exist.

  She arrived at Blueberry’s place and stepped inside. Incense filled the air and made Misha smile.

  “You’re back early,” Blueberry said, coming out of the back.

  “I’m tired. Any incident tonight?”

  “Not a damn thing.”

  On the night of the full moon, Blueberry always kept her shop open and made herself available for the full twenty-four hours in case any of the pack needed her. It was rare, but sometimes pack members fought over a female, or they were just plain clumsy.

  Blueberry moved toward her and held up her hands, not exactly touching her, but certainly getting a sense of her aura.

  “You’re not happy tonight, sweet child.”

  Misha rolled her eyes. “You say that every full moon.”

  “This is different. I sense defeat and a need to move on.”

  She sighed. “Blueberry, don’t.”

  “You’re thinking of leaving the pack, aren’t you?”

  Misha tucked some hair behind her ear and shrugged. “I don’t know. I think about it. The Owens pack visited a few months back. His son said they would feel lucky to have me.”

  “The Owens pack is full of pig males who think they are gifts to women, and some of them treat their mates like slaves. You do not want to go there.”

  “I know, b
ut come on. Don’t you think it is time for me to move on? I avoid the alpha like the plague, and I hear what people say. I don’t need their pity. It’s bad enough my parents never wanted me. Now my own mate can’t stand to be around me.”

  Blueberry touched her cheek. “Don’t think like that. No one pities you.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Some may pity you, but that’s because they care about you.” Blueberry sighed. “I do not understand the alpha. He’s a good man, but with this decision, I think it makes him a bad alpha.”

  “Be careful, you don’t want to be bad-mouthing him. You never know when he might appear and challenge you.”

  Her friend burst out laughing. Decker was a strong alpha, and he’d only been challenged a couple of times. Misha had seen him in battle. He was fierce, deadly even. He’d never killed his opponent, but he had no choice but to injure them.

  If a challenge was made, it was their rules. Death didn’t have to occur, but serious injury did. The laws were brutal, but they were designed that way on purpose.

  “Does Decker know you’re thinking of leaving?” Blueberry asked.

  “Decker doesn’t have the right to know what I do. He forfeited that right when he rejected me in front of the entire pack. He can go and suck on his dick for all I care.”

  ****

  Another successful full moon behind him.

  The brand-new wolves that had turned had done so successfully. He did prefer it when the new waves of wolves who hit the right transition age embraced who they were. When his father was alpha, he had witnessed several men and women who had fought their change, and it hadn’t been pretty.

  His father, Decker Senior, had no choice but to force them to change, rather than them doing it willingly, and it made the experience even more painful than it had to be.

  He personally hated using force or bringing forth his alpha to make them turn.

  Stepping out of his home and moving toward the town square, he sensed the pack. A happy pack meant a happy alpha. His father had taught him everything he knew. Decker Senior spent a lot of his time enjoying retirement, happily taking his time to embrace hobbies, and of course, spending time with his new wife.

  Decker’s mother had died many years ago. The role of alpha’s wife had been too much for her. She hated being a top female, especially as she’d been such a submissive woman who despised conflict. There had been many enemies.

  He pushed the thought of his mother’s death to the back of his mind. The fact his father had finally found a woman he loved was a miracle. It was rare for wolves to find a second mate, but he should have known his father was the kind of man who seemed to make miracles happen.

  People greeted him as he passed. Giving him a wave or saying good morning. He acknowledged them all and made his way toward the diner.

  It was a Friday. He normally avoided the diner on this day as she would be working, but he needed his coffee, badly.

  The only vice he had in this life was coffee. He loved the taste of the stuff. It had developed at a young age, and it always helped that the diner possessed an abundance of it.

  He walked inside the diner and immediately scented her.

  Misha Parks smelled so fucking sweet, like vanilla and cinnamon, the most addictive smell. The diner was full of the pack, but it was her unique fragrance that stood out to him.

  He went straight for the counter and took a seat.

  Holding up his hand and smiling, he played the role he needed to, even though the tension inside him wouldn’t disappear.

  She was close.

  He knew she was.

  Last night, he’d seen her at the edge of the forest, stripping out of her clothes, where she thought no one was looking, but he always did.

  Misha, the rejected, Parks. That was what everyone called her, and he hated it.

  He tensed up even more as she came out of the kitchen, carrying two plates. She didn’t look at him. To anyone who didn’t know her, she simply didn’t know he was there, but he saw it. The tension in her arms. The way she carried herself, how tightly woven her body was. She knew he was there, and she chose to ignore him.

  Your fault.

  With his hands clenched, he didn’t bother to look at her, but the mirrored glass in front of him gave him the perfect view of her.

  She made her way to the back of the room, setting down the two plates in front of a woman and her child.

  There were smiles on everyone’s faces, and he knew there were pitying looks as well. Everyone in the pack knew she was his mate. They hadn’t been in private when he’d turned his back on her and rejected her. Misha had taken it, and still, she was one of the most valued and loved members of the pack. If anyone needed a helping hand, she was there. Volunteering, helping out, being the ear people talked to, the shoulder to cry on.

  She was … incredible.

  Free-spirited.

  Charming.

  As his father once told him, he would have been lucky to have such a mate. No one understood why he’d rejected her.

  They all assumed it was because she was a no one. Abandoned, lonely, with no real history there, but that wasn’t the case. He had his reasons. All of them were his own, and he hadn’t told a single soul.

  The only person who knew the truth was Blueberry, but she was a bit freaky and appeared to know everything about everyone without them saying a single word.

  He still hadn’t been served his coffee.

  Decker couldn’t take his gaze away from Misha. The uniform she wore shouldn’t be so appealing. The skirt part of her dress ended at her knee, and it wasn’t fitted to her ass, but he’d seen her in outfits that highlighted her curves to perfection.

  He’d memorized the way her body looked, not just in clothes, but also naked. Misha wasn’t ashamed of her body, and just watching her was sheer torture.

  Her laughter carried as she talked to a couple of unmated males.

  His wolf was close to the surface, wanting to tear them to pieces for even looking at her, but he stayed perfectly still. When they left, he would make sure they all knew not to flirt with her.

  Decker had rejected her, but he’d also made sure all single males knew she wasn’t to be touched, not to be mated with either. No one could have her.

  One of the men touched her arm. Misha laughed, patting his hand, and then moved away.

  It took all of his strength not to pound on the man right there in the diner. He didn’t care if children were present. No one touched Misha. No one.

  She rounded the counter, still ignoring him.

  None of the other waitresses had come to serve him either.

  “What does a man have to do to get a cup of coffee around here?” he asked.

  It was the first time he’d spoken to her in months. The last time, he’d reprimanded her for changing the filing system in his office at the town hall.

  Misha stopped. He watched her take a breath and turn toward him.

  “Seeing as I am the only one here, you will have to accept coffee from me, but last time, you couldn’t stand anything these hands touched, if my memory serves me well enough.” She held her hands up. The bracelets on her wrist slid down her arm, making a tinkling sound as they did.

  Children had gifted her a bracelet. There had to be easily twenty on her wrist. He’d seen them running toward her, excited to give the sweet woman a bracelet. Misha accepted each and every single gift they gave her, wearing them all.

  “No one is serving me.”

  “We’ve got a full house. Will you accept me serving you, or do you want me to get someone else?”

  “I’ll have a coffee, extra sweet, please,” he said.

  “Coming right up.” She turned her back on him and went to the coffee pot. “To go or to stay?”

  “To stay.”

  He always left whenever she was near. This was unusual behavior for him. Misha didn’t say anything else. She poured his coffee, added the right amount of sugar, and turned toward him, s
liding the large mug his way. “Enjoy.” She gave a little curtsy and left to the kitchen.

  Decker watched her go.

  Damn it.

  He shouldn’t be watching her, or wanting to speak to her, or doing anything. She was a fucking menace.

  After lifting the coffee, he took a sip. He couldn’t complain about the drink either because it was good, just as Misha knew it would be. The woman was a thorn in his side.

  His gaze returned to the table of single men. Keeping an eye on the guy who had touched her, he waited, drinking his coffee, enjoying the hot liquid as it slid down his throat. Acutely aware of Misha’s movements in and out of the kitchen, he knew she looked … good. No, amazing. She was a stunner.

  The moment the handsy guy got up and left the diner, Decker stood, pulled out some cash, including a generous tip, and left as well, following close behind him.

  When the guy was near an alley between a florist and a gift store, Decker shoved him down, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, then throwing him up against the wall.

  “If you value your place in this pack, you will stay well clear of Misha Parks, do you understand me?”

  “What the fuck, man?”

  “It’s Alpha to you.”

  “I thought you rejected her.”

  “She is not for you to touch. If I catch your hands on her again, there will be consequences.”

  He didn’t punch him. That would have made him a bad alpha. The warning should suit for now, but the wolf within him wasn’t satisfied. With the full moon only a few hours behind him, his need to possess her was so strong. Denying his needs was starting to cause him problems.

  Chapter Two

  Misha ignored the burning desire to seek Decker out and yell at him. On odd days, she had this overwhelming need to piss him off, but instead, she walked the town square, enjoying the night, alone. It was always best not to allow herself to be alone with the shitty alpha. That was what she thought of him now. She hated him, forcing her to serve him. He didn’t deserve her time or her attention.