The Alpha King’s Rejected Mate
Chapter 1

SNOW

I watched the eagle fly low, and I knew before I saw the kid that Carlton was around somewhere. Dutch always kept an eagle on his son. I looked for the young, blond-headed boy of seven who was likely going to cause some mischief.

Dutch saw the bird too and cursed under his breath. “He is supposed to be up at the house with Maggie doing his school work.”

I asked, “Do you think that he gave her the slip again?”

Dutch nodded and put his finger to his lips for silence. He didn’t have to worry about me—I wasn’t going to say a thing. Dutch got up and walked slowly to the backside of the barn, where the eagle kept flying in a circle around. I just shook my head in humor and continued to brush one of the several horses that were being sold today. I was particularly upset that Diamond was leaving. He was my favorite, and I was going to miss him.

I heard Dutch spook the kid and I wished I had seen him jump at being caught. It would have been fun to see. But there wasn’t much in the way of laughter moments later. It went from being all fun and games, to Carlton yelling back at his dad that he didn’t want to do his homework. Carlton was a sweet kid, but if he got something in his head that he wasn’t going to do, he wasn’t going to do it. I tried to suppress the mirth that I felt when Carlton said something especially sassy. It didn’t end well. There was talk of taking away video games and horse riding.

When Dutch came back, I tried not to look at him or comment on what I had heard. It was bad enough that Dutch had to do it all alone because the boy’s mom, Crystal, had taken off to live out her dreams in NYC. It was a far cry from Winters Fall, Montana. Dutch wanted to go after her, but knew he had no business in the city. He kept waiting for her to come back, they both did, but I didn’t think she was. She had left it all with him, and that was a lot for man in his late twenties. Dutch did well, though, even if he thought he was failing. He wasn’t, and the kid was a delight when he wasn’t in one of his moods.

“I hate that I have to be the bad guy all the time.”

“You kind of have to be the bad guy all the time,” I reminded him.

“I know, I just wish that I could let someone else do that part. I could be the fun parent for once.”

“I can take away his video games if you want. You can have a break, just let me know.”

Dutch smiled at me then, his handsome face transforming, his dark brown eyes twinkling back at me. I worked with Dutch so much that I sometimes forgot how sexy he was. In that moment, he took my breath away. I had to look away quickly, sure he would read my mind and leave me embarrassed. I fumbled with my words and was glad to have work in front of me. I went to another horse, because I just couldn’t bear to lose Diamond, not yet.

“You know dragging your feet isn’t going to change anything,” Dutch reminded me softly. He knew I wasn’t going to take it well. Diamond was the first horse I trained when I got here three years ago, hardly a memory in my mind except that I loved horses.

The other memory I told no one about but Dutch—a man stood over me as I lay dying and told me I had to fight for my people.

I didn’t know what it meant, if it was real or not, but it felt real. The memory was strong, and when I first came to be on the ranch and I was staying in the barn, Diamond would nip at my foot to wake me up when I was having a bad dream, which happened a lot in the beginning. I couldn’t remember anything, but my dreams made me think differently.

“I just don’t know why Diamond has to go. I need him. He is the only thing I get comfort from,” I admitted, though it wasn’t easy.

“I am sorry, Snow, but you know how it goes. They need to make room for more horses to be tamed and taught. That’s what we are here for, adding revenue because cattle prices aren’t enough. We get the horses tamed, trained and ready for the next rider. They are never ours.”

Dutch was the second in command on the ranch, my boss, but he never yelled at me or tried to make me feel bad. He trusted my opinion and let me do my job, but he didn’t seem to be letting up on this one.

“Snow!”

I heard the bellowing of Sterling’s voice and tried my best not to let the sound get to me. I was shaking inside, without even seeing him. When I was hired on as a trainer, he told me he didn’t trust me. I didn’t think that had ever changed, even though I’d worked here without incident for three years. Apparently, that wasn’t enough time to become trustworthy in Sterling’s eyes.

Dutch rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his collar-length, wavy brown hair. He told me to relax. Easier said than done, especially when he himself seem to be on guard whenever Sterling showed up. I wasn’t the only one who got a little nervous when the owner was around.

I wanted to take off, but I knew Dutch wasn’t going to let me. He was on my side for most of what happened on the ranch. I could trust him, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t sell me out when it came to Sterling. He was not just the owner of the ranch and everyone’s boss, he was the alpha of the wolf-shifter clan the Dark Riders. It all meant that fighting against Sterling was impossible and I would be on my own.

Dutch told me to chill out and it would be fine. I tried to reason with him, but Dutch would never see Sterling as I did, and everyone else on the ranch who had to listen to him and be at the mercy of his moods and whims. It was a hard place to be.

I straightened my back and tried to hold my head high. It wasn’t because I was afraid of Sterling, I wasn’t. Well, that’s wasn’t true. I guess I was afraid of him for a few reasons, and most of them weren’t physical. It wasn’t the fact that he could likely rip my throat out if he wanted to, but that he could kick me out of the new life that I’d made for myself here in Winter Fall. The workers here were my family. I couldn’t get kicked out of this place. I needed the job, as well as the makeshift family. Both of those things were fundamental to me being okay.

“Snow! What the hell are you doing in here?”

I stuttered, something I only did when Sterling was around, and it wasn’t only because he freaked me out when he yelled. Sterling didn’t have a shirt on, and I was staring at a very hard chest, chiseled muscles that made my mouth go dry. Dutch probably noticed, but I couldn’t be sure. I didn’t look at him, too embarrassed by how I reacted to Sterling. My cheeks were bright red and I know if I touched them, I would feel heat. I had to look away, even as I felt his eyes narrow at me.

“I am getting the horses ready to go,” I finally pulled it together to say.

“Where is Diamond?” Sterling asked pointedly, and I was sure he knew how I felt about him. He would drop in every now and then. Said he was checking up on me, but I knew it was because he didn’t trust me. It didn’t matter to me what he said, just that he had never stopped looking at me as if I was the enemy.

“He isn’t ready yet,” I lied with ease.

“His stomach is about extended from all the treats you have given him today. You do this every time, Snow. You have to let go of them. You have to let go of Diamond.”

I sighed, knowing he was right, and surprised that there was a moment of softness in his tone, before he got back to business and his blunt ways.

“I know you like him, but he’s got to go. I am not paying to feed him any longer, and before you try to buy him, Snow, you can’t afford him. You have to let him go.”

I pretended like I wasn’t going to say something like that, but he knew me too well. I was going to offer that very thing, even if I had to work for free for a while. Some of the horses that were raised and trained there were worth millions. I could work my entire lifetime and still not pay off the cost. I didn’t make that much.

“He will be out there when he is ready.”

He started to say something, and I braced for it, but instead, he agreed to my terms. “Don’t make it too long. The trailer is leaving in an hour and if I have to come back out here and drag him into it, I’m going to be pissed.”

I agreed that I would have him ready and he stalked off, shirtless, short hair still wet from his shower, and I was thinking about more than I was supposed to. There was heat in my face now, but it was for a whole other reason, and I saw the way Dutch was looking at me. He just shrugged, like he knew the power Sterling had over women. It was hard to ignore the raw energy that came from him. It pulled me in, like it pulled in many women he picked up and tossed away from town. I didn’t want to be one of those girls, but damn if he didn’t look good on occasion. This was one of those occasions.

I had showed too much, and I knew better. I was one of only a few women who actually worked on the ranch and wasn’t visiting one of the guys. I lived in the bunk house with them for a long time and never had any trouble. It had a lot to do with the fact that I knew better than to get involved with any of them. I kept myself neutral. With the boss shirtless, it was hard to focus on neutrality.

We got back to work, and I begrudgingly got Diamond ready to go. He was going to be missed, but he was going to have a great life. That’s what I told myself as I tried not to get teary-eyed when I took him out. The last thing I needed was for Sterling to see me upset. He already knew I was partial to Diamond, he didn’t have to know how upset I was about it all.

When I got outside, the sun was dipping to the lower part of the sky, and I heard the sounds rush back to me. The barn was soundproofed for the horse’s sake, and coming out of there, everything seemed so loud.

Sterling was there, shirt on, thank god, and he took the reins from me. It was like Diamond knew, resisting until I touched his head and told him everything was going to be okay. It felt like a lie.

“He looks good, Snow.”

“Thank you,” I said quietly, but he heard me. He had heightened senses as a shifter, and everyone knew he was blessed with powers from his father that people whispered about but didn’t know enough about. Sterling was superior in every way, and when his slate-blue eyes turned to me, I felt like I couldn’t move. I was standing in front of him and I was speechless. Thankfully, Dutch wasn’t there to see me completely lose myself. I could only imagine what he would say. It would not be anything good, I was sure of that.

“I’ll take it from here, Snow, okay?”

I agreed with a nod of my head. I was going to start crying, whether I wanted him to see or not.

Sterling looked at me and smiled, just for a second. “Fight it, Snow, don’t let the other guys see you cry.”

I instantly tightened up my face and tried to stop the tears from falling. I just had to will it so. He grinned, and for a second, I saw that image I got when I was sleeping a lot, the guy standing over me, telling me to fight. Sterling’s words triggered that memory, and this time I remembered just a bit more, though it was still a muddled mess in my mind that didn’t make sense.

Sterling was being nice to me, Diamond was gone…nothing made sense anymore.