Page 103 of Rejected By the Shifter King

Six Years Ago

“ICAN’T MARRY YOU,Hexius.”

The words stopped him cold. Brandy Monier stood in the moonlit garden, her model height making her nearly eye-level with him. Even now, she was stunning. All lean grace and elegant bones that belonged in magazines, not buried in dusty archives.

“Why?” The question came out harsher than he meant.

“Because I’m in love with Alphonse.”

His leopard went still beneath his skin. “Does my brother know?”

“I told him tonight.” Brandy—the only woman he had ever cared about in his entire life—didn’t even seem aware of how she was killing him with every word.

“Why him?”

“Because I love him.”

“And you don’t think you can love me, too?”

“I don’t just think it, Hexius. I know it. Because all I am to you is someone you feel you’re entitled to own.”

She was right about wanting to own her. Was this not to be expected from a leopard and his mate?

She was, however, wrong about love.

Because he did love her.

But he was simply not the type to say it.

And that was why...

The campaign Hexius launched to win her heart and prove she was wrongsanswords was no different from any battle plan he formulated against enemies. He fought to win, and his method was brutal and systematic when needed. And even cunning if warranted.

He started showing up at her university lectures. Not to listen—he already knew more history than most of her students—but to challenge her. Question her research. Make her defend every point until her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparked with irritation.

He used pack meetings to demonstrate his superiority, even nearly coming to blows with Alphonse’s second-in-command because Vaughn saw him as being outright disrespectful to their alpha. And in truth, the latter wasn’t wrong.

When Alphonse suggested caution, Hexius would propose action. When his brother chose diplomacy, he chose strength. He did this because he wanted Brandy to see the truth: he was the stronger leader between them. And thus, the better choice as mate.

He pushed himself harder in training, knowing she sometimes watched from the balcony. Fought longer, faster, more viciously than necessary. And when Vaughn had challenged to a one-on-one combat, Hexius had not held back, leaving the younger man bleeding in the dirt while he didn’t suffer even a single scratch.

See what you’re giving up?

Pack gatherings became battlegrounds. He’d appear at her elbow when she was talking to Alphonse, interrupt their conversations, claim her attention with the kind of presence that couldn’t be ignored. Alpha dominance turned into weapon.

“Stop this right now,” she snapped at him after weeks of this. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”

“Am I?” He stepped closer, using his height advantage. “Or am I showing you what you’re really choosing?”