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042 | Suspicions Arise
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 043 | The Last Time
Aurora’s POVAfter that, everything sped up. I became a blur of motion as I rang an ambulance and did CPR. Through it all I heard the rush of water in my ears, felt the tightness in my chest that came from gasping for air in a panic, was the thrum, thrum, thrum of a drum beat, pounding desperately as I tried to save Remington’s life. My heart beat twice as hard, like it was trying to compensate for his.It was no use. I had failed. Remington was dead, limp on the sofa in his eerily pristine flat. I had come here for him, for his son, his son who was visiting him today, and I had let him down. I’d let them both down.I went through the motions when the ambulance arrived. I helped them, then made cups of tea as they moved his body onto his bed. I stayed politely out of his son’s way when he arrived, his reddened face streaked with tears, his hands clasping helplessly at nothing. A hand clapped me on the shoulder. “We just need to take a statement,” said the police officer.I’d been so
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 044 | Light and Dark
Ethan’s POVThere were things I couldn’t understand. Things I wasn’t sure I wanted to.As I paced around, waiting and waiting for Alpha bloody Brutus to get well and see me, when I knew full well that the old bastard was perfectly healthy, while my own pack suffered because of his – his – his – whatever this was, flashes of light and dark accosted me.Screams echoed distantly in my ears. Sterling kept whimpering. ‘What is it?’ I snapped eventually.‘The lights. They’re blinding my ears.’‘I don’t think that’s how it works,’ I scoffed, but there wasn’t any malice in it. I was worried – about him, about my pack, and about Aria.‘My eyes. All of me. It hurts,’ he whined. ‘But it doesn’t, too. It’s like – I’ve never felt anything like this before.’I dropped heavily into a chair. I was in the pack house, but any minute now I was going to give up, go back to my room, pack up my stuff and take Aria back to Silver Shade with me. She didn’t feel safe here, that much was obvious, and I could
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 045 | Memories
Unknown POV“He’s here.” My fingers tightened around my mobile. “I’ve got eyes on him.”Alpha Ethan bent over the front desk as I watched, practically begging the receptionist with his eyes for – something. It was that something that I was here for. I had my orders.“Good,” my boss replied.I listened closely as Ethan spoke to the woman at the desk. “Fill this out for me, please. Can I take down your title, name, and relationship to Aria?”“He’s here for her,” I muttered into the phone, taking a small step back into the shadows. They wouldn’t see me. No-one ever did.“As expected. Tell me something worth hearing.”I squinted at him. I recognised the woman with him: Zoe Collins. She was famous in most social circles because of her Alpha father and extraverted personality. His company wasn’t worth mentioning, though. She already knew everything about his relationship with her. The first, drunken kiss, the sham of a hook-up, the occasional follow through. Nothing interesting to report t
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 046 | Unreal, Unending
Aurora’s POVMy head buzzed and my body ached. My skull throbbed dully. Pain slashed down my side, tearing into my thigh like acid, like fire.As I drifted in and out of consciousness, vaguely aware of Ethan’s warm presence beside me, what I mostly felt was guilt. I’d failed Remington. I’d let him die, and then I’d cheated death myself. That ache was worse than the pulsing at the back of my scalp.The awful feeling that I’d forgotten something important plagued me throughout the afternoon. I tried to push it aside, which should’ve been easy, given that I was in hospital, again, and that I knew, deep down, that Selene had somehow been behind it. Or she’d been there, at least, and that had to count for something. Didn’t it?But it wasn’t easy, and the feeling wasn’t going. Even with Ethan at my bedside, my hand in his, his thumb tracing gentle circles over my knuckles, I couldn’t shake the sense that I’d been so close to remembering something from my past. I’d long ago accepted the mys
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 047 | Past Meets Present
Aurora’s POVEthan kept glancing at me strangely. Even when he excused himself to scope out a non-hospital dinner and a decent cup of coffee, I could still feel his eyes on me. Maybe it was the mate bond. Maybe it was paranoia. Who knew?My concern right now was Sammy. His hand was still in mine. He kept squeezing my fingers and pressing two of his to my wrist, the slightly chubby pads of his fingertips hunting out my pulse.“I’m okay, sweetheart,” I murmured, kissing the crown of his head. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”He didn’t say anything. He just snuggled closer, searching out the heat of my body and the reassuring thud-thud-thud of my heartbeat. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep like that, the awful excitement of the day taking its toll.Zoe had been quiet, too, ever since she’d arrived. Hers were another set of eyes I could feel watching me. The tension built and built between us, a rickety old bridge that neither of us dared cross. I looked at her. She looked at me. I looke
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 048 | Zoe Confesses
Aurora’s POVThe world kept turning, but I stayed still. Everything tilted on its axis. My mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out of it.What was there to say?Zoe and Ethan. Ethan and Zoe. Zoe and Ethan…“I’m so sorry,” Zoe whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “I just couldn’t bear to think about what might have happened today, if you’d – you know – and if I’d never told you the truth.”Still I said nothing. Blood rushed in my ears. My heartbeat echoed in my fingertips.And Violet howled. I’d never heard her make a sound like that before. It was a howl of mourning, of betrayal. I didn’t quieten her. I let the noise roll through me like the tolling of a death bell.“I never meant for it to happen, Ror, you have to believe me,” she went on, still in that same hushed, shamed whisper. “We were drunk, and sad, and missing you, and it just happened one night.”“Missing me.” My voice came out flat, sucked dry of all emotion. “You were missing me.”“We were,” she hissed, pushing he
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 049 | Time to Go
Aurora’s POVI cleared my throat. “Bad news?”She nodded. Dusty grey hair, which had been tucked artfully to hide it within her brown bun, came loose. “I’m afraid so.” She tucked the stray hair away, then tapped her clipboard with the end of her pen.Her blue eyes drifted towards the sound of Ethan stomping away. “Sorry.” I winced at the doctor. She chuckled, but the tension in her eyes didn’t ease one bit. “Family drama? Believe me, I see all of it. The whole scope of human life comes through my ward. You’d know that though, wouldn’t you?”I blinked at her. What did she know? Why would she say that to me?“You are a doctor, aren’t you? It’s on your notes.” She ducked her head. “And you’re famous, at least in the medical world. That transplant?” She huffed, somehow managing to make a sound of derision sound impressed. “We talked about it for weeks on end here. It still comes up at least once a month.”It was my turn to look away, embarrassed. “Thank you. And - yes, I do understand.”
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 050 | Stay or Go?
Aurora’s POVI yelped, yanking the covers up and hiding my exposed body. “Ethan!” I squealed. His gaze darkened as he looked at my bare shoulders, his pupils dilating. His tongue flicked out, wetting his lower lip. Then his throat bobbed, and he took an involuntary step back.“Oh.” Zoe bit back a grin, but it was still a ghost of her normal smile. “I’m sorry, Aria. I didn’t think you’d be…”“You didn’t think I’d be in bed?” I asked scathingly. “That’s funny, considering I’m on bed rest.”She went pale. “Sorry,” she muttered again. I felt a twinge of guilt for wiping even the ghostly smile from her lips, but a small, vindictive part of me relished in it. Zoe deserved to feel bad. She’d slept with Ethan and then kept it from me. Whether it was in the past or not didn’t matter; it was just wrong. And making herself out to be the victim, when I was the one who’d been forced to fake my own death and run? I ground my jaw and decided that I didn’t feel bad at all.Ethan, at least, had the d
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The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 066 | Like Mother, Like Daughter
Aurora’s POVSeeing Serena up close was strange. I knew what she looked like, of course, but I’d never been face-to-face with her. She was the perfect mix of Ethan and Selene – but she also looked an awful lot like Sammy.She shared his dark curls and rosy cheeks, his bright eyes and curious expression. She had Ethan’s strong jaw, too, paired with Selene’s softer features, like her small, straight, freckled nose.It struck me as odd for a second that she and Sammy looked so alike, like they could be twins, almost, but of course it made sense. They shared a father, and genetically, back before I’d drastically changed my own appearance, Selene and I had been identical. That wasn’t just Selene’s nose I was seeing in Serena’s face; it was mine, too.“What are you doing out here?” I asked softly, crouching down to be at her eye level. “Waiting for Mummy and Daddy. They told me to stay out here.” She rocked back on her heels. She was wearing a woolly dress with patterned tights, and my hea
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 065 | Damage Control
Aurora’s POVI would, at some point, be able to deal with the sudden tilting of my world upon its axis. That was the logical conclusion to draw – but it hadn’t happened yet.Selene knew I was Aurora Everheart. This was not me guessing, not me jumping to conclusions. There was no allusion in her statement.Selene knew. ‘Uh, oh,’ Violet whispered.I gulped. ‘You said it.’I scrambled desperately to think of something to say to make this go away. I had to act casual, to act like Selene was crazy, to laugh if I had to – but what if none of those things worked? I spent so long second guessing myself that my expression got caught between laughter and fear, and I said nothing.Selene just smirked at me, the cat with the cream as her cold green eyes assessed me with a victor’s glint. I had to say something, do something – but what?I opened my mouth, determined to at least try to defend myself, but before I could Selene spoke.“Ethan! She’s in here,” she called out, twisting at the waist to
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 064 | I Know Who You Are
Aurora’s POVThings didn’t go back to normal for me as quickly as I’d hoped. Standing at the window in my guest room, I sipped slowly at the potion that kept my wolf’s identity masked, knowing I was lucky that Ethan hadn’t sniffed Violet out while I’d been in the hospital again. Apparently he’d sat by my bedside night and day, according to Medic Leyla, who’d told me this with stars in her eyes and her fingers toying constantly with her ringlets. To her, it was a good thing. To me…Ethan. I shuddered at the memory of his rough hands on me. I hadn’t been able to look at him the same since I’d woken up here, back in reality. I still didn’t fully understand what had happened to me.Leyla had given me her hypothesis, which made sense, but everything that had gone on in my so-called dream state felt so real. According to her, I’d collapsed outside my room while talking to Selene. Selene had rushed me to the hospital, where I’d entered a comatose-like state and been unconscious for three day
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 063 | Evil Poison Do Not Touch
Ethan’s POVMy eyes zeroed in on each shelf, narrowing as I searched every bottle, jar, and plastic container for anything out of the ordinary.Sterling huffed at me. ‘Do you even know what you’re looking for?’‘Not really. Just anything that seems out of place. Shout if you see a vial that’s labelled Evil Poison Do Not Touch or something, yeah?’This time, his huff was more of a wry laugh. ‘Sure.’It wasn’t only Selene who had no business being in this cupboard – it was me, too. The longer I looked the more I despaired. Everything had a name about four syllables too long for me to understand any of them. The words blurred together, becoming an illegible streak of meaninglessness. ‘What about that one?’ Sterling said.‘Which one?’‘Up, left – no, down a bit. Yeah. That one.’My fingers closed around the bottle. It was small, about two-thirds of the length of my thumb, and contained an unnaturally blue liquid. ‘It’s not labelled.’‘Exactly.’I held it up to the light. It sparkled, gli
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 062 | Up To No Good
Ethan’s POVHer brow furrowed as her gaze snagged on my limp hands. I suddenly didn’t know what to do with them. The cold touch of the metal doorknob was branded on my palm.“Everything all right?” she asked, her tone cautious.Selene hovered halfway between Aria’s bed and where I was guiltily stood. Was that fear I detected in her pretty green eyes – or was she just looking at me like I was the one up to no good?“Fine.” My brain scrambled to come up with a halfway sensible reason for my being over here.Sterling hissed, ‘Tell her you’ve got a headache and you’re looking for pills.’‘Thank you.’ I could’ve kissed him. Instead, I crossed the room in four quick strides and took Selene’s hands in mine. Aloud, I said, “Everything’s fine. I’ve just got a headache.” I nodded back towards the cabinet, forcing a wince as I did. “I just wanted to grab some ibuprofen.” She tittered. “Darling, it’s no wonder you’ve got a headache. You’ve been holed up in this hospital for days.” Her throat bob
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 061 | Selene Being Suspicious
Ethan’s POVThat single, elongated tone was all I could hear. It ran and ran, forging onwards, carving a path of heartache through my chest. It was all I was truly aware of as I lunged over to Aria’s bed, reaching for her like a drowning man stretching his arms towards the water’s surface. Desperate. Terrified. Alone.Only I wasn’t alone. Selene’s familiar, long-fingered hand wrapped firmly around my bicep. It was both comfort and warning in equal parts. I sucked in a sharp breath. She couldn’t see how I really felt about Aria. I couldn’t let her know that. I had to keep myself in check, even though I was falling, falling, falling–The beep shuddered. It went silent.I realised we weren’t alone in the room as a doctor pushed me aside. “Sorry, Alpha,” she said, or maybe it was a he, as they elbowed me out of their way. Nothing mattered but her. Seeing her like this, again… I had to do better. I had to be better, for her.I stumbled aside in a daze, finally opening my eyes wide enough
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 060 | Falling Star
Aurora's POVMy soul exploded as Ethan’s lips met mine. Soft but firm, they held me locked in place; his hands snared my waist, my knees went weak, and I was stuck. I felt like a comet soaring through the stars, a trail of light glittering in the dark behind me – and then, suddenly, I was falling.It was worse than death. It hurt more. The pain in my chest eclipsed the pounding joy of my heart. Our mate bond lay in tatters, a drooping sail left lonely on a boat pillaged by pirates; it was so at odds with the heated press of Ethan’s lips to mine, so at odds with the sinful slip of his tongue, so at odds with the gentle caress of his fingers at the edge of my shirt.His hands clenched into fists. He ripped my shirt from my back. It splintered down the middle. Just like my heart.“You want to be my mate, little Omega?” he purred. Goosebumps rose down my arms, flaring like the shrill warning of an alarm. My pride stung, but I had to give in to him. Even with my soul yearning for his, w
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 059 | Easily Forgotten
Aurora’s POV“You don’t know who I am?” I looked into his dark eyes, trying to find the man I knew somewhere in them.They weren’t warm with affection. Staring into his eyes was like staring into the black of a cave, unsure what was lurking in the icy darkness.He looked just the same in every other regard. He was tall and dark and handsome, his jaw strong, his hair tousled, his shoulders broad. Even so - even though I recognised the tie he was wearing, thin and navy - this wasn’t the Ethan I knew.“Of course I do,” he scoffed, shaking his head at me. “I just said. Now put some respect in your tone, Omega, and greet me as I should be greeted.”“But you… can’t you feel it?” I pressed my palm flat to his chest. “We’re mates, Ethan.”He grabbed me by the throat and shoved me back against the wall. I cried out.“You think you’re my mate?” He laughed cruelly. “That’s so stupid I’m not even angry that some Omega,” he snarled the title, “would dare insinuate that I’m her mate.”He looked me
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 058 | Stuck
Aurora’s POVAfter a check-up, I was sent to have a scan in a gleaming, state-of-the-art suite. The Medic couldn’t find a thing wrong with head, not even the brain injuries I’d been told explicitly I had in my last visit to the hospital, but I didn’t try to argue with him. There wasn’t any point.Finding nothing wrong other than the fact I didn’t know anyone or my place in this strange world, I’d been sent home and told to rest before my shift in the morning. Selene had promised with owlish earnestness that she’d try to get me off kitchen cleaning duty, but the little smirk she’d worn all the while told me otherwise. I swore she knew something the others didn’t. Or was I really just going mad?I walked back up to my room slowly, dragging my feet. They suddenly felt too heavy for my legs to lift. I took the stairs, wandering past the lifts without a thought. The walk to the tenth floor was a long one, but it felt like it was over in a matter of seconds.I felt around in my pocket for
