Rejected, Then Reborn
Chapter 44

“I still can’t believe that you of all people have a mate, and that it’s not me, you know?” Rieka Howard shot the Alpha King a smile, her eyes shining with a little hint of sadness. “One would think that in the unlikely (now likely) case of Lykens ever being paired with fated mates, that we’d be chosen given our past history, but I guess it was never meant to be. And the fact that it had to be a human, nonetheless. Simply amazing. I mean, what were the odds?”

Reed was silent, not really knowing what to say to that. What he wanted most was to hit the gym, or at least the sparring room to get rid of everything he was feeling, which if he was being honest, was becoming a bit too much to handle… but he had been extremely rude to his spoken for, and the very least he could do was sit with her despite his discomfort and offer her some explanation.

“So, what do we do, Reed?”

The Alpha King sighed deeply, leaning back in his chair, just right when his phone pinged, the guard he had assigned to take Lacy home, Ash informing him that the girl had been delivered to her relatives safely and that he was on his way back.

What did they do now, she had asked?

Well, he was going to tell her.

“Nothing has to change, Rieka… the wedding will go on at the end of the month like we have already planned.” He told her, an eyebrow going up when she scoffed at his words, “Reed, are you listening to yourself? The mate bond pull is not something you can just turn off and move on.”

“Well, watch me do just that.” He had that determined glint in his stormy blues that Rieka recognized very well. She wasn’t even going to try convincing him otherwise.

You know, one would ask how Rieka was taking it all so nonchalantly, for it seemed so unusual that a woman who believed herself to be so in love with a man would be this cool and calm and collected at having been cheated out of love like that, but you know what? When it really came down to it, the Gamma General had seen it coming from afar, she had seen it way when he had gotten back from wherever his father had had him sent to… she had seen it in the way he had thought so low of her to come up with that f**k buddies’ proposition, especially given just how in love they had been before it had all gone south.

Rieka knew that he had decided to marry her because at one point, he had started to feel guilty for the way he was treating her, among other things, and she had been so shameless in her love for him to accept his proposal, wanting to have him in her life by any means even if was completely crazy.

Fun fact, she still was that shameless.

It was the reason why she was still contemplating going ahead with his crazy plan even though she knew that one way or another, heartbreak was eventually going to find her.

But you want to know what she told herself?

She told herself that she wasn’t going to let it catch up with her without putting up a hell of a fight, and so leaning in her chair, mirroring his moves, she said, “Sure… let’s give it a shot.”

****

Anaya’s green eyes fluttered open when she heard the loud knock, a husky, “Come in,” leaving her lips at the intrusion.

She had been reading a book in her most favorite of all her many reading spots, but from the way she had jumped up with a start, she was pretty sure she must have drifted off to sleep for a hot minute. Her heart beat began to pick up when she noticed who had entered her room though,

None other than the Healer Supreme, Xavier Mendoza.

Oh f**k.

She really didn’t know what to do.

Truly, she didn’t.

It was the first time she was having a male in her room that wasn’t Reed, the first time she was seeing this much of her serious crush in a day, and your girl had no idea how to react to it.

“Hi, Naya… I brought you some tea to calm you down and brighten your spirits.” He smiled warmly as he approached her, and it was the first time she noticed the tray he was wielding in his powerful hands.

Oh, f**k, f**k, f**k.

Now would have been the perfect time to have Lacy around to give her some pointers on what to do… on what to say, but her i***t of a brother had chased the one good thing that had come into both of their lives in a long time away.

The Princess stood up from her chair, bashfully and subtly adjusting the light green booty shorts she was wearing. She noticed his hazel eyes follow her every action, noticed a darkness in them that confused her just as much as it made her warm over. She cleared her throat to rid herself off the weird feeling, “Oh, thank you very much, you didn’t have to,” She took the tray from him, her fingers brushing his accidentally, sending sparks travelling through her arms and down her spine.

What the f**k was that?

“Uh, uhm… well, it was no bother, I—I uh, I actually wanted to.” He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.

In that moment, Anaya knew without a doubt that whatever it was that she had felt, he had apparently felt it too. It filled her with this inexplicable joy she couldn’t explain. “Gods, where are my manners? Please, take a seat.” She ushered him to one of the chairs in her comfortable spot when she had recovered just enough to begin functioning again, wanting desperately to go and change her clothes, but just as desperately not wanting him to see how much him seeing her looking like this was bothering her.

“Your brother’s making a huge mistake, Naya,” The doctor got right into it the moment he sat down, noting with amusement how the princess’s nervousness vanished in and instant only to be replaced with anger.

Gods, she was beautiful.

Why hadn’t he ever noticed her in that sense?

For as long as Xavier could remember, he had always regarded her as the little sister he had never had, and one didn’t really pay attention to their sister like that, did they?

One did not notice how her n*****s pebbled due to the cold blast of the AC (or was it his presence?), and one most certainly did not become this fixated on their little sister’s creamy thighs, wondering just how good they would look hooked to his tattooed shoulders, did they?

But oh, when he had held her today, both of them stuck in their element, she even more so as they mourned their friend’s departure back to her own world, there had been something that had almost been akin to a cataclysmic paradigm in the way he viewed her.

Because now more than ever, he suddenly wanted to make sure that she was doing okay… something he had never felt this strongly before. It confused him, just as much as it scared him if he was totally being honest.

“We need to get him out of his arse, Xavi,” He faintly heard her say, her voiced laced with a sack load of determination his attention coming back to the room, even as he let out a chuckle of amusement. “Are we still talking about the same person? Your stubborn mule of a brother?” He scoffed, “Well, good luck pulling him out of that one.”

“Come on, Xavi,” The she Lyken with the bone straight red hair whined, “I’m being serious here.”

“So am I, Anaya.” He deadpanned, turning serious. “He let Lacy go all by himself, even though it was probably the hardest thing he has ever done, what makes you think that we can get him to change his mind, huh?”

The princess swept her red hair back in a huff, biting her bottom l*p in concentration. Xavier felt a low curl of heat develop in his lower belly, and he let out an inward growl of frustration.

He needed to leave.

Now.

Before he did something stupid he couldn’t really go back from.

And so, standing up abruptly, he muttered some lame excuse about having forgotten to do something at the hospital, and then he dashed off like his arse was on fire, leaving the Lyken Princess in a state of total astonishment.

What the f**k was that?