Page 71 of Claiming His Rejected Mate

I step forward, my aura pressing down on her like a crushing weight. “You wanted her to walk in. You wanted to drive a wedge between us. Just like your brother.” My voice is not mine. My wolf’s rage at, yet again, another wedge coming between us and our Mate blends with mine.

Nina lifts her chin, but she’s backing toward the door now, her bravado nowhere in sight. Her annoying whimpers grate my ears.

I don’t stop. “You’re done here.”

Her eyes widen slightly. “Kieran—”

I throw the door open and bark but there is no guard in sight. She must have done something to my men.

This fucking bitch.

I grab her by her hair and drag her down the hallway to the nearest landing to the stairs.

“Where are they?” I bark. She struggles to get out of my grip. “Where?” I pull her up and put her face near the wall. I will bash her head in if she tests me further.

“In the storage closet. They're passed out in the closet!” she screams in pain.

I drag her down the stairs and open the closet. My men lay there, groaning as they try to lift themselves. I bark and bring all of them to alert.

“What did you do to them?” I demand of her.

She whimpers and my wolf barks, his impatience simmering under my skin. My grip tightens and she whines and cries.

“Speak,” I bark.

“I had to get them out of the way. I used pin darts to sedate them and dragged them down here,” she confesses.

Hazel must think I dismissed my guards just so I can have the time with Nina.

“You fucking bitch,” I curse, realizing that I've given her too much power. Her parents had been there for me when I had just become Alpha, supporting me when I had no one. I had promised her parents I'd take care of her, that I'd treat her as my own family, just like Damon.

Meanwhile, she's been sabotaging me and my pack just like her brother.

“Alpha please, I just wanted you to listen…to-to consider…” I don't care what she's saying. My wolf is calling for her blood, for her body to be made a mess, for our claws to sink into her chest and end her.

But I have to go after Hazel.

I bark out a command to the guards. “Take her to the border. She’s exiled from Moonfang. Effective immediately.”

The color drains from her face as she stops struggling. “Wait—”

“I gave you a chance,” I growl, my voice a razor’s edge .

“Alpha, please,” she cries. Her neck is as red as her face and her hairline is trickling with blood as I tighten my grip on her hair.

“You just threw it away.” I gesture to my men.

The guards grab her arms, dragging her out as she thrashes. “You’re making a mistake! You think she will ever love you?”

Her words mean nothing. They don’t penetrate the fury coursing through me.

I don’t watch her leave. I don’t care where she goes.

My only focus is Hazel.

I find her in the training yard.

She’s attacking a wooden dummy with relentless precision, her movements sharp and controlled despite her labored breathing. But I see the tension in her shoulders, the way her grip is too tight, the way she’s fighting something deeper than just an enemy. Only her voice and the sound of her attacks echoes in empty space. I don’t approach right away.