Page 40 of Rejected By My Shifter Billionaire
T he alarm clock blared, and I bolted upright, heart pounding, and my body slick with sweat and shame.
“ Ugh .”
I fell back on the bed when I realized it had happened again.
Like, seriously.
Ugh .
It had been seven years.
Seven .
And yet my brain still gave me nightmares about that time I so wanted to forget, like some nauseating, horribly tasting midnight snack I had never asked for.
My chest actually still ached in the aftermath, but even more shameful was how parts of my body also ached, for the touch of a man who was completely forbidden.
I mean...
He had been already out of my league then, but he was even more so now, with my stepbrother Nicolo having been made the alpha of our pack as well as CEO of half a dozen shifter-run subsidiaries.
As a human, he had already captivated the world. But now that everyone knew the truth about preters?
Nicolo Celestini had become, for lack of a better word... irresistible .
But to me, he remained... insufferable .
Nicolo, for better or for worse, was still the big, beautiful, hateful stepbrother who barely looked my way even when we were still living in the same house. In public, he treated me...civilly. But once we were out of the public eye, it was as if I ceased to exist, and I just...
I just had to find a mate, fast.
Like, seriously.
I knew how his equally beautiful mind worked, and so the writing on the wall was clear as day.
It was only a matter of time before he got it into his arrogant alpha head to find one for me.
And I couldn’t let that happen.
The man I still stupidly yearned for...ordering me to marry someone else?
I couldn’t let that happen.
Because I knew I wouldn’t be able to survive it.
INTERNAL EMAIL — THE CONCORD AGENCY
From: [Your Name], Director of Partnerships
To: [Insert Job Title] – [Insert Company Name]
Subject: The Business Case for Fated Mates
Attachment: Executive Proposal – Strategic Integration of Human–Shifter Bonds.pdf
Hi there, and please don’t hit Spam just yet.
This email is genuinely intended for you. Yes, you—the [Insert Job Title] of [Insert Company Name].
According to our most recent market research, your company is uniquely positioned to benefit from the growing demand for alpha-certified mating bonds between humans and shifters.
That’s where The Concord Agency comes in. We specialize in facilitating exactly those kinds of partnerships.
May I invite you to a brief Zoom call or in-person meeting to present our sponsorship proposal? We’ll only need ten minutes of your time. That’s how confident we are.
Because your business and ours?
It’s also a match made in Heaven. (And possibly the woods.)
Warm regards,
[Your Name]
Director of Partnerships
The Concord Agency
www.concordagency.global
+1-800-MATE-BND
This email and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for the designated recipient. If you lack jurisdictional mate-bond clearance, please notify our office immediately and delete this message.
“THIS SOUNDS FANTASTIC , Ada.”
My personal assistant smiled weakly. “Is it?”
“Well...isn’t it?” I mean, sure, thinking there was always room for improvement was a good attitude to have in life, but we couldn’t pressure ourselves to be perfectionists, you know?
Ada squirmed on her feet. “I guess it is, but...”
“Just say it. There’s no need to—”
“I accidentally hit Send,” my PA blurted out.
“You what?”
“And our analytics show that 99% of our recipients have already read it.”
F! M! L!
And that was flip, by the way, and not the other F-word, since I had already quit cussing the way others had quit smoking. I had been doing a lot of soul searching since That Day, so yeah...
Flip. My. Life.
I looked at Ada...and reminded myself that there was always room for improvement. Plus, she already had tears welling in her eyes, so...
“It’s fine, Ada.”
She brightened. “Really?”
I glared at her. “No, of course it’s not!”
“Are you going to fire me?” Ada asked shakily.
The tears in her eyes were now rolling down her cheeks, and I just...
“Yes, I’m going to have to ask you to quit—”
Ada started wailing in earnest, in a way that would have made any banshee proud. But since she wasn’t, I was sure it meant she had learned her lesson, and so it was time to tell her the truth.
“I was joking.”
The tears immediately stopped, and Ada gaped at me. “F-For real?”
“Yes, Ada. For real.”
“That was the most awful, hurtful—”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Would you rather I fire you for real then?”
“But I have a great sense of humor,” my PA said with a sniff, “so I forgive you for it.”
This was what I got for hiring a twenty-year-old college dropout with a heart of gold but a mind permanently lost in the clouds.
“Anyway...”
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
Grandpa Hocks used to say, “when it rains, it howls.”
And so I looked at Ada, and I just knew.
“There’s more, isn’t there?”
My PA gave me a slow, fearful nod.
“Your stepbrother was one of the recipients.”
FML.
“And he’d like to see you,” Ada whispered.
FFFFFFFFFFML.
“Now...in his office.”