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044 | Light and Dark
Last Updated:
2023-12-08 23:59:11
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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
Last Updated : 2023-12-09The 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
Last Updated : 2023-12-10The 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
Last Updated : 2023-12-11The 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
Last Updated : 2023-12-12The 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.”
Last Updated : 2023-12-13The 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
Last Updated : 2023-12-14The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 051 | Decision Made
Aurora's POVGuilt wrapped around my heart as I tucked a note Ethan had left me into my suitcase. He'd slid it under my front door at the crack of dawn. I'd heard him muttering to himself and hesitating on the porch before the paper had been folded twice, quickly, with purpose, and it had scraped over the door mat before I'd heard the sound of his rapidly retreating footsteps.Sighing softly, I picked it up and read his carefully written words again. His handwriting was neat, painstaking, and I knew this wasn't something he'd scribbled down in a rush. Dear Aria, it read,I didn't mean what I said in the hospital. I was upset, and frustrated, and I lashed out, and I'm sorry. You were right, too, when you said I needed to think this through. It's not just Selene I have to think about, but Serena as well. This effects us all and I don't want to act impulsively.That said, I know how I feel. I know the Moon Goddess has given me a second chance, and I'm not going to lose it. I'm not going
Last Updated : 2023-12-17The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 052 | Home
Aurora’s POV“We’re here.” Swallowing hard, I squeezed Sammy’s little hand. It was clutching mine so tightly I was losing feeling in my fingers, but I didn’t say anything. He needed me.And, right now, I needed him more than ever. We were setting foot somewhere I’d never expected to see again. The hair on the back of my neck prickled as we took our first step away from the car.The Silver Shade Pack looked different to how I remembered it, but then I’d never spent much time on the actual pack grounds. Ethan and I had our house and our life and, although I’d once been its Luna, Silver Shade had never been as much a part of my life as it had been his.Add to that the fact that I was seeing my old home through new eyes, and it made total sense that the once-familiar buildings and gardens looked a little odd to me.But I didn’t think it was me. The pack grounds were deathly silent as we inched our way towards the medic’s quarters, hand in hand, both of us quiet, the only sound we made th
Last Updated : 2023-12-18
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The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 078 | Emergency Call
Ethan’s POVI couldn’t stop staring at Sammy. I’d been pummelled by revelations today - Aurora was alive, and here, and she was willing to forgive me - and, perhaps even more incredible than that…I had a son. We had a son.The woman I had pined for was here, her warm body pressed to mine, our son slumped against us, asleep, and I couldn’t believe it. My life had been turned upside down. That didn’t mean I wasn’t angry. Damn it, I was furious. She’d kept my boy from me. ‘You can’t blame her for that,’ sighed Sterling. ‘I know. Don’t make me remember,’ I replied, but it was too late. My mind was spinning down the one path I wanted to always avoid.I’d been swayed by idiocy and left my mate out in the cold. The fact she’d lost our other baby because of me…I wasn’t the same man I’d been then. I couldn’t believe I’d treated her like that.But I had.I’d pushed her to make those crazy choices. She’d gone to extremes to keep herself, and our child, safe from me. It made my throat fill
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 077 | I Am Both
Aurora’s POVThe words lingered in the air between us. I could’ve reached out and plucked them with my fingertips. They were a palpable thing - a curse I wished I could recall.Then Ethan let out a single, sharp breath.My chest squeezed as I watched the emotions racing across his handsome, chiselled face. His jaw tensed, then relaxed, then tensed again.I waited on tenterhooks for him to speak.“I knew it,” he said eventually, the words rough around the edges. “Not for sure, but… I felt a connection to him. And, damn it, Aurora, he looks just like me.” His brow creased; he refused to meet my eyes. “I wondered why I wanted to be close to him. Separate from wanting to be close to you, I mean. I-“ He cut himself off and dragged a shaking hand through his dark hair. I had so much to say, but I held my tongue. He needed to process this. He finally looked at me. “You kept my son from me.” It wasn’t an accusation. It was simply a fact. A cruel, horrible, awful fact.“I had no choice. I wo
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 076 | Fatherhood
Aurora’s POV Ethan spent the night. Not in the way I’d anticipated or even hoped - and yet it was infinitely better. I longed to share a bed with him, skin on skin, a melding of bodies and minds as we kissed and talked and made love… But instead he was here, taking care of us. I had a front row seat to watch my son’s relationship with his father bloom. Before everything had happened, I’d dreamt about bringing up a child with Ethan. Then I’d feared him ever finding out the truth. Now, telling him the truth felt like the most natural thing in the world. How he hadn’t seen it for himself I didn’t know. They looked so alike, sat together on the sofa, heads bowed as they spoke. Ethan ruffled Sammy’s hair; my heart squeezed painfully. ‘It’s only a matter of time until he works it out,’ Violet said. ‘He knows who you are now, and he knows how old Sammy is. It wouldn’t take a genius to put two and two together.’ I bit my lip. ‘I hadn’t thought of that. I’ve had so much else to think
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 075 | Who Took Him?
Aurora’s POV I glanced back at Ethan. He nodded, his jaw set. He stepped closer to me, a silent promise that he - quite literally - had my back, no matter what I opened the door to reveal. I opened it. Sammy lay crumpled on the floor. I dropped to my knees with a cry. “Sammy, sweetheart, look at me,” I pleaded with him. He mumbled something incoherent. I scooped him into my arms; Ethan held the door open for me so I could bring him inside. His eyelids flickered as I laid him down on the sofa. “Sammy?” I whispered, pushing a lock of dark hair off his forehead. He looked so pale, but I could see the steady rise and fall of his chest and hear the soft intake of his breaths. “Shit,” Ethan cursed, running both hands through his hair. He looked between me and the still-open door. “They only just knocked. Whoever took him has to still be close, Aur. I can go after them, or I can stay here with you and Sammy.” I cradled Sammy’s icy cheek. I wanted him to stay, to comfort
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 074 | Sammy is Missing
Aurora’s POVWith shaking fingers I clicked on the light. The cold white flash burnt my retinas. “Sammy?” I called out softly, still hoping he was in the bed, still hoping he was where he was meant to be. I took a step closer.The duvet had been pulled back. A book had been left abruptly, as if dropped, face-down with its spine groaning. Sammy would never leave a book like that.My gut churned.“Sammy!” I cried, panic flaring in my voice.I tore around the room, flinging back the curtains and opening the wardrobe. There were no thoughts in my head, nothing concrete or sensible that would help me find him. There was just terror, raw and biting.Ethan was drawn into the room by my shout. “Is everything okay?”“Sammy’s gone.” I spun around to face him. My bottom lip wobbled. “He’s not in here.”Ethan nodded, reaching out a hand to comfort me even as his expression hardened. I knew that look; that was the Alpha in him stepping forward, the part of him designed to deal with any crisis. H
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 073 | Volcanic
Aurora’s POV“What’s wrong?” I asked. He hadn’t pulled back from me, not an inch. Not even a millimetre. “Don’t stop,” I pleaded.If I paused to think about this, I might never get the chance to have it again. Our relationship was too precarious. “I can’t do this out here,” he whispered, pressing tiny, butterfly kisses up my neck until his breath warmed the shell of my ear. “You’re freezing cold. And… it doesn’t feel right, our first time being out in the open.”His lips brushed over my skin with every word. Shivers of pleasure rolled freely down my spine. I was lost to them. I was lost to him.“I don’t care,” I said breathlessly.He laughed, low and sinful, and I dragged his mouth back to mine. Every piece of him felt like unchartered territory; I wanted to map each stretch of muscle and each sharp line of his face with my lips and tongue. I wanted to know him again, with no pretence between us.“You will care, later. I don’t want to stop, but I don’t want to take you like this. Yo
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 072 | Under the Cover of Darkness
Aurora’s POVMy heart leapt at his words. It felt like my soul surged towards his, that energy buried deep inside me desperate to entwine with his. It wasn’t that everything I hated about our shared past had suddenly vanished; it was simply that my need eclipsed everything else. For a split second, I was no longer the hardened woman I’d become. I let my pain slip away. I let it reveal the vulnerable heart underneath, the one I tried so hard to conceal around him.Oh, Ethan…His gaze flicked from my eyes, dipping lower, caressing my lips. “I still love you,” he rasped, like he was realising it himself for the first time. “You have every right to hate me. I know there’s so much we still need to talk about. But I know how I feel, and I know what I want.” His eyes met mine. “You.”My stomach swooped. There was still so much for us to discuss – but I had to stop kidding myself. I might have set out to get revenge on Ethan, but my feelings for him were still just as real as they’d been a
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 071 | Lies Unearthed
Aurora’s POV“Let me go,” I whimpered. But, deep down, I knew it was over. “I can’t.” His voice was raw, croaky. “I need answers.”I writhed against his grip. His fingers tightened around my shoulder. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said softly. “But I can’t let you go.”“You did before.” I struggled against him. My limbs surrendered to the power of my fear and relief, making me weak in his arms.My pulse pounded against my temples. It’s over, it said, again and again and again. It’s over. “I missed you every second that you were gone,” he croaked, and I jolted upright. I sought out his eyes as they met mine. I felt like I could see deep into his soul. “I knew meeting Aria – meeting you again – felt like coming home. I just didn’t know why.” “You hated me,” I whispered. My eyes filled with tears. “You forced me to divorce you. You tried to make me – make me…” I couldn’t say it. The mere memory of what I’d been through was enough to close my throat.Ethan dragged a hand through his
The Alpha's Rejected Mate is the True Heiress 070 | Ethan, I...
Aurora’s POV“Aria,” Ethan rasped, his voice cloaked in the same shadows as his face. I could see only a ghostly figure beside the Wishing Tree, silver moonlight slicing over the broad cut of his shoulders and narrowly missing his features. But I would know his voice anywhere, even in death.I already had, I supposed. Was this my rebirth? Was this my second chance?Edging closer to him, I tried desperately to make out his eyes. When I did, I realised they were closed. “You wanted to meet me,” I murmured.Violet had been right. It would have been a relief to see Selene standing there instead of him. I hadn’t known what to expect from Ethan, but even so his harsh posture was a surprise. His letter had been so kind, and yet he had not moved an inch towards me.“I did.” I agonised over the emphasis he put on ‘did.’I swallowed hard. “Is everything okay, Ethan?”“It was,” he groaned, suddenly breaking from his stiff posture and dragging both hands through his hair. “When I sent you that l
