The Alpha King’s Rejected Mate
Chapter 16

TYLER

Ever since I left the ranch, I had not stopped thinking about Snow. I was thinking about the great time we had together and how I wanted to do it all over again. I was hooked, and that was unusual. I had had my fair share of women, but I had never had one who, after a few moments of s****l pleasure, made everything change for me.

That’s exactly what had happened, though. I was different, I was thinking about her nonstop, but she wasn’t answering my calls and I was sure she was trying to ghost me. I made the trip out to Pullers Ranch because I had to know for certain that she didn’t want to see me again.

When I got to the ranch, I once again felt power and peace wash over me. I felt at ease, like I was supposed to be here. How crazy would that be, considering that I was trying to get out of here yet again?

I went to the bunkhouse, but I didn’t see Snow anywhere. So I headed out to the barn. All I found inside was a guy staring me down. Why did it feel like I had seen him before?

He walked away after a few seconds, and a gravelly voice behind me startled me from the odd situation. “Need help with something?”

I turned around to see the guy Snow had talked to me about. She was close with him in some way, though looking at him now, the way he was looking at me, he certainly didn’t appear all that sweet. He looked like he wanted to take my head off, and he was big enough that he very well could. The guys on this ranch were built for hard work, fear, and intimidation.

“You must be Tyler,” he said. “Where are you from?”

It was such a random question that I couldn’t help but answer honestly. “I don’t know.”

He scoffed. “No wonder you and Snow hit it off so well. You have the same damn story, don’t you?”

I tried not to be too offended. It must have meant that Snow had talked about me. That was a good thing, right?

“Snow is a little different. She lost everything, years of her life. I just lost the first four or five. I remember my parents vaguely, but from when I was young, and I guess there wasn’t enough information to pass on to me when I got old enough. Not the same story, just similar.”

“So, you really don’t know where you’re from?”

“No, I really don’t. I know that a lot of people died when my parents died. That I was about four and surrounded in death. And then I ran for a long time and someone finally found me and helped me. It took me a long time to realize what I was, but I never got in a pack, so I’m sure there’s a lot that I don’t know and haven’t learned yet.”

Dutch sighed loudly and shook his head.

“What?” I asked.

“Damn it. I want to hate you, Tyler.”

I didn’t really know what to say to that, but I kind of knew what he meant.

“You look a lot like you belong to one of the bloodlines is in our pack. Do you at least know where about you came from? We tend to be pretty territorial, so there are likely only a couple of options. You might be able to figure it out that way.”

I couldn’t believe it, but I thought he was genuinely trying to help me. One minute I thought he was going to rip my face off, and now he was trying to help me find my people? Maybe Snow was right, maybe he was a little bit mushy. He was a solid guy who was trying to do the right thing. She said the same thing about Sterling.

“I was raised in an orphanage. Got adopted a couple of times, but it never stuck. I was weird, I ate too much, I was irritable during full moons, you know how it can be sometimes, don’t you? I would imagine it’s not just the loners like me who have all the side effects.”

“No, we have those too. They’re just part of being who we are. This town is half human and half of us. There is a balance here and we can be ourselves. That’s why we don’t live in a big city. That’s how we do it and how we have done it for many years to stay safe. If everyone knew of our existence, there would be problems. Some do and others know nothing. Either way, we have to work together. If you’re from around here, I wonder what happened to you. I’ve never heard of one of our own going into the system. Is there a way that they didn’t know?”

Dutch gave me a little bit of hope, but he was asking the same questions I had asked. Why had I been put into the foster care system? Why hadn’t someone claimed me? Did my other family not want me? Did I not have any other family? There really was so much that I didn’t know.

A shadow passed over us and I looked up to see an eagle. I’d seen it several times since I’d been back to town and made a comment about it to Dutch.

He gave me a weird look. “What do you mean you’ve been seeing it all the time?”

“Ever since I stepped foot on the ranch, I felt strange and saw that eagle, that exact eagle, many times.”

Dutch only looked at me weirder.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Call to the eagle and see if it’ll come to you.”

I snorted. “Are you serious? That would never work”

“Just do it. Put your hand up and whistle for the eagle. Let’s see if it comes to you.”

I felt silly, but I did as I was told anyway. There was no way in hell that a bird was just going to come down out of the sky and land on me. After about a minute, I put my hand down because I really did feel like an idiot, but then, something really strange happened. The damn bird actually came to me, and I didn’t know who was more surprised, me or Dutch. He just had a look of amazement on his face, and I told him that the feeling was mutual.

“So, you’re telling me that you didn’t know you could do that?” Dutch asked incredulously.

“I sure the hell didn’t know I could pull an eagle out of the sky. But what does it mean?” I was more confused than ever, and when I asked him, Snow was walking up. I have no idea what I was getting myself into, and I wasn’t sure this was something I wanted Snow to know about me just yet.

“What are you doing here Tyler? And how do you have an eagle on your arm?”

I looked to Dutch for an answer, hoping he would know what was going on, because I literally had no clue. I hadn’t known much about myself my whole life, so anything he could tell me, would help me.

To add to my shock, Dutch put his hand out and the eagle hopped over to him. Now I really wanted to know what it all meant.

“You are one of us, Tyler—a Dark Rider. We have the ability to command many animals, but none more than an eagle. My son has one that follows him around and keeps him safe. Since you are now seeing this one all the time, it must be protecting you. Once you came on to the land, it recognized you as one of us. That must be what it is. We’re going to have to look into it, but I bet we can find out who your parents are. You may even have family. There’s no telling,” Dutch said, a big smile on his face. I felt like he was genuinely happy for me.

I wanted what he said to be true because I’d yearned to know where I came from most of my life. I felt Snow touch my arm and I startled a little bit. I had almost forgot that she was there. I was so excited about hearing that someone might actually know where I came from, that I had nearly forgot about her presence. Considering that I hadn’t been able to do that purposely for many days should say something.

“That’s awesome, Tyler! You would finally have some family.” She was genuinely happy for me, no jealousy, no bitterness, just happiness. It was just one of the many reasons I couldn’t get her off my mind.

I saw the way Dutch looked at her, and Sterling had been very clear that he was in love with her. I probably had the same look, because I knew that I had fallen for her. It hadn’t been that long, but it felt like everything had changed since I met her.

If that wasn’t enough of shock and surprise, Dutch started to tell Snow about some information he had found out. Apparently, her dreams were really her memories and she was starting to remember more and more. Now I got to be happy for her, but the happiness was cut short when I heard more of the story. Someone had almost killed her once upon a time and was back now to get the job done. To find out that it was her stepmother was somehow worse. Some of the details were very intimate, and I felt bad to be here listening to everything. She could have told me to leave, and I could have offered, but I didn’t want her to think that I couldn’t handle it. Snow had baggage far heavier than what I carried, but I would be there for her no matter what.

“You are part of the B***d Moons. That’s the name of your pack. And I do mean your pack.”

“Yeah, that sounds right.” She smiled in a lovely way and launched herself into Dutch’s arms. I would have to be blind to have not seen the connection those two shared. It was then, in that moment, that I knew I was going to have to share Snow. It wasn’t something I had ever thought about before, but, stranger than that, I was okay with it.

I was not okay with the fact that her own pack wanted to kill her. “Why do they want to kill you now, after all this time?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe they needed me out of the way because I’m technically the queen. I never got into politics too much since I was pretty young when all of this happened. I just wasn’t paying attention yet.”

“You need to get out of here, Snow. Go somewhere safe where nothing can happen to you,” Dutch said, and I was in agreement. We needed to do everything we could to keep her safe.

But Snow wouldn’t hear it. “I am not going to hide! The one thing I have always remembered from my past, the first thing I remembered when I woke up, was the man who was sent to kill me telling me that I was going to have to fight. I think I finally know what he meant. I’m going to have to fight Ariana. I don’t want to, I’ve never wanted any of this, but I’m not going to be able to stay out of it.”

Dutch said exactly what I felt. “There has to be another way.”

Snow was a gentle person, and while I wasn’t saying she didn’t have it in her, I wondered if she had the spirit to do it without the consequences overwhelming her.