Page 1 of Rejected by My Shadow Alpha (Mate to the Fallen #1)

Ruby

It had to be tonight!

Please, Moon Goddess, don't let me crash and burn. Not tonight.

Applause stirred around me like brittle leaves scraping pavement. Laughter. Glasses clinking. The grand chandelier above cast its cold glow on silk gowns and starched tuxedos, and me, standing in the middle of it all, grinning like the perfect bride-to-be.

My skin crawled. My stomach twisted with every step Mark took toward me. His tux strained around his belly, clinging like wet fabric to doughy flesh. That clammy sheen covered his face again. It always did, like he was carved out of something damp and dead.

He reached for my hand. I let him. His fingers closed around mine, moist, eager, and possessive. I didn't flinch. I just leaned in and kissed his cheek like a good fiancée, but inside? I was screaming.

My father's voice thundered in my head. "Your recklessness can ruin everything I've worked so hard for! You will get rid of that bastard, and you will marry Mark. That's the end of it."

I had begged. Pleaded. Even threatened to burn it all down and expose every bloody brick of the empire he built on bodies. It hadn't mattered. To him, I was never a daughter. I was a bargaining chip.

Choosing my own path wasn't rebellion. It was war, and tonight, I would strike first.

"You're such a charmer, Mark," I said sweetly, my voice honeyed.

He beamed. "Only for you, Ruby. I can't believe I'm the luckiest wolf in the whole damn region."

I felt like pushing his clammy hands off me. I took a deep breath. Patience, patience, I recited to myself and plastered a smile on my face, nodding at some guests.

This party wasn't a celebration. It was a cage, gilded with fairy lights and roses, a deal signed between two powerful alphas, Cornerstone and Silvercrest, where I was the currency. Mark was harmless enough, na?ve and vain, but harmless. Still, a cage is a cage, even if the bars are soft.

I smiled up at him, brushing a hand against his chest. "Mark," I purred, my voice dripping with flirtation, "Why don't we get some air? You know…somewhere a little more private."

His eyes lit up. "Goddess, "You're full of surprises, aren't you? You're so damn sexy when you say things like that," he whispered, already tugging my hand. "Let's go."

I gave a light laugh.

He grinned, leading me through the back corridor and out into the crisp night air. The Silvercrest hotel glowed behind us like a dream. I kept my breath even. My fingers clutched lightly around my red purse, where a small pistol lay hidden.

We reached his glossy black SUV. He opened the door for me like a gentleman and gingerly walked to the other side, eager to get out of the busy hotel.

Mark grinned like a schoolboy, his excitement grating at my growing anxiety.

"You're so beautiful tonight," he murmured as he drove past the glowing hotel, brushing his hand against my thigh. "I've waited so long to—"

Click.

The cold press of steel against his abdomen made him freeze.

"Drive," I said softly.

His eyes widened. "Ruby, what are you…?"

"Now."

His mouth opened, but he obeyed. He buckled his seat belt and started the car. My hand never wavered from the weapon resting against his side.

"Where are we going?" he asked as we turned out of the street heading to the express road, his voice shaking.

"Anywhere but here."

We drove for almost twenty minutes in silence until I sighted a gas station. Then I said, "Pull over."

He looked at me with pleading eyes. "Ruby, please, I…"

"Out."

He stared at me. "What did I do wrong?"

"I cannot love you, Mark. This was never about you."

He stepped out slowly. I slid into the driver's seat, shut the door, and pulled away without another word.

The moment the gas station disappeared from my rearview mirror, my body sagged in the seat. My hands trembled on the wheel. My heart pounded with terror and relief. I was free for now.

And I would protect what mattered most.

My baby. Drew's child.

If fate had dealt me a kinder hand, maybe I wouldn't be here, caught between fear and resolve, my thoughts scraping like claws against the pain in my heart.

Drew's name rose from the silence, soft as breath, unwelcome but insistent.

I had tried not to let myself think of him for days, not since everything began to spiral.

But now, alone in the car with nothing but the hum of the engine and my own heartbeat, the memories slipped through the cracks I had sealed shut.

It wasn't just his face that haunted me. It was the moment we met, the pull I couldn't explain, the way my wolf recognized him before I understood why.

It all came rushing back, whether I wanted it to or not.

Two Months Ago…

The hum of Westbrow Hospital's early morning shift buzzed faintly as I stepped through the wide glass doors, dressed in my usual pale-blue scrubs and white coat. It was strange how quickly a life of chaos could dissolve into the sterile normalcy of rounds and charts.

"Dr. Ruby!" Nurse Jen beamed, matching my pace. "Have you seen him?"

"Seen who?" I arched an eyebrow.

"The new doctor. Dr. Drew. Tall, intense, smells like danger and secrets." She giggled. "And immune to female attention, apparently."

"Hmm," I replied noncommittally. The last thing I cared about was some new arrogant doctor playing hard to get, especially the males.

I stepped into Ward B and reached for the chart at the end of the bed. Mrs. Trent, my elderly diabetic patient, smiled weakly.

"How are we feeling today, Susie?" I asked, smiling widely.

"Like someone replaced my blood with fire," she groaned. I smiled sympathetically and scanned her chart. My heart stopped, and I stared in disbelief at what I saw.

"Who prescribed this insulin dosage?" I asked the nurse at her bedside.

The nurse shifted. "It was Dr. Drew. The new transfer."

I frowned. The same new doctor. First, he was causing a buzz of whispers amongst the nurses and patients, yet he was a clueless professional in indicating the right insulin prescription. What a joke.

"Page him. Now."

Moments later, I sensed him before I saw him.

A ripple in the air. A pull deep in my chest, as if the oxygen in the room had shifted and thickened. My hand froze mid-page over the patient's chart, my fingers tingling with something I couldn't name. Then the door opened, and he walked in like a storm dressed in scrubs.

And the world…stopped.

The scent hit me first; cedar wood and storm, wild and clean, like the air just before a thunderclap. It slammed into me, cracking through my carefully maintained composure, awakening something buried and ancient inside me. My wolf stirred.

No. She rose.

She lifted her head, ears pricked, breath caught. I froze. My vision sharpened; everything else dulled. The patient, the nurse, the walls, they all faded into a blur. All I saw was him. My wolf lunged, crashing into my chest, desperate to get to him.

Tall, sharp-jawed, and hair dark that was slightly tousled, like he'd just run a hand through it in frustration.

His eyes, deep icy blue, clear, and completely unreadable, swept the room and landed on me.

And in that moment, I knew something had changed.

The room could have been on fire, and I wouldn't have noticed.

My heartbeat thundered in my ears, a frantic drum I couldn't calm. I gripped the edge of the bed to anchor myself and stop myself from stepping closer, from breathing him in. Every part of me screamed mate, but that was impossible. Wasn't it?

"You’re the one questioning my dosage?" he asked, his voice low and smooth, almost lazy, but there was a warning beneath, like a blade wrapped in velvet. His eyes pinned me in place, sharp and unblinking. "And you are?"

My heart kicked. "Dr. Ruby."

He repeated it, slower. "Ruby." Like he was tasting it. Memorizing it.

I blinked, trying to find my voice. "Yes. You prescribed the wrong insulin level."

He stepped forward, took the chart from my hands without touching me, yet somehow his nearness brushed against my skin like fire. I didn't move. Couldn't. My skin tingled, hyper-aware of every breath between us.

He scanned the chart, brows drawing together for the briefest second before he adjusted the dosage with a steady hand and silent focus.

Then he looked at me. Longer this time, like he was trying to place a memory or suppress a pull he didn't want to acknowledge. His eyes swept over my face, lingering, not just seeing me, reading me. A flicker of something unreadable flashed across his features, but just as quickly, it was gone.

He closed the chart with a snap and turned away without another word, his scrubs whispering against the air as he walked out of the room, cold and unreachable.

I stood there, my pulse thudding in my throat, my wolf pacing restlessly beneath my skin.

Had I imagined that look? No apology. No explanation.

I blinked. "What...just happened?" I muttered.

Nurse Jen leaned closer. "Told you he was intense."

I stared at the door. The scent of cedar wood still lingered.

My wolf was wide awake. And furious. I clenched my fists, heat blooming in my chest. He couldn't just walk away like that, not after looking at me like I meant something, only to shut down and leave without a word.

No. He didn't get to stir something in me and disappear. I was going to find Dr. Drew and demand answers. Somehow, against all logic, I knew that this wasn't the last I would see of him.

I blinked, dragging myself out of the memory and back into the now, the hum of the car engine beneath me and the blur of city lights rushing past my window. My hands tightened around the steering wheel. The engagement party was behind me, but the weight of my choices was just catching up.

Drew was gone.

They said it was quick. No one would say more, but I knew. I had heard the edge in my father's voice that night; low, cold, and final. The kind of silence that followed meant only one thing. He was gone. Truly gone.

My foot sank heavier on the accelerator, and my jaw clenched.

My mate was dead. And now, I was expected to marry the man my father had chosen.

It was this or I lose my child to the cold-blooded monster who called himself my father, Alpha Alfred.

A heartless killer who destroyed everything I ever loved.