Page 126 of Rejected By the Shifter King

Hexius, Hexius, Hexius.

My back slides up as he pounds into me harder. Faster. Deeper. And with every powerful thrust, the door between our minds start to swing open—

Yes, Samira. That’s it. Take me. Take all of me.

It’s just too, too much, hearing his thoughts while having sex—

Yes, like that. Squeeze harder. Yes. Harder.

I just can’t take it anymore, and my nails dig deep into his back.

“Hexius!”

His name spills past my lips as I shatter around him, and he growls out my name a moment after, my climax triggering his own.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

It’s the last thing I hear before slumping weakly against his powerful body, the aftershocks of my orgasm completely draining me of strength.

When I wake up again, I’m all alone. Hexius is gone, but my memories are still there, and as much as I love hearing the way Hexius thinks of me so, so possessively—

It’s not right.

And so I make a rule, right there in that moment: I’ll do everything I can to keep the door shut between our minds. No peeking. No cheating. It stay shut no matter how curious I get or how much I want to know what he’s thinking.

Remember all the horror movies you’ve watched, Sam!

No good comes out from opening the door to strangers.

Not that Hexius’ thoughts are strange. Or wait. Should it be that Hexius isn’t a stranger, but it’s more like I can’t let them trespass—oh, stop babbling, Sam!

Just don’t peek, period.

I repeat this to myself, for emphasis.

Do. Not. Peek.

And when the next day comes, so far so good.

I’m getting better at keeping the door closed. It helps that Hexius is...well, he’s not exactly difficult to read even without hearing his thoughts. The way he looks at me across the breakfast table, like he’s trying to solve a particularly fascinating puzzle. The way his hand finds the small of my back when we’re walking throughL’Alliance’scorridors. The way he kissed my forehead this morning before leaving for a meeting, casual and unconscious, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

That last one makes my heart squeeze so hard I almost stop breathing, and I...I have to stop thinking about him because I’m in the middle of class, and I’m only going to bring him shame if I end up flunking this.

So concentrate, Sam!

Today’s eight-hour class is actually more like premarital counseling offered by churches or non-profits, only this one is specifically geared for human mates like me. AL’Allianceofficer usually serves as lecturer, but today we’re all left starstruck since our guest “professor” is none other than Spencer Hirsche, whose billionaire husband isn’t only old-blood Caro royalty, but...

“In Hirsche Laboratories’ most recent experiments,sangferia-powered defenses have proven to betentimes more effective, at the minimum, and with an unscalable potential for growth. We’ve barely scratched the surface withsangferia, but I just want you to remember that at the end of the day, we cannot and should not allow ourselves to be pressured into mating or marriage just because of high compatibility rates.”

Listening to Spencer talk is like having your own wisdom machine, but she’s also so perfectly brisk and efficient I feel like a sloth as I do my best to keep up with my notes. And this is saying a lot, considering what I do for work. She just seems so effortless with everything that she does that I can totally see why Etienne Hirsche hired her as his chauffeur even though she’s human, and way before he realized she’s his match, too.

Another guest professor comes in after Spencer, and I’m stunned to hear a name I recognize.

Maryah Celestini...fromConcord Agency?

I sit up as soon as I realize that it’s the same agency that Hexius consulted about finding his ideal mate, and I’m just blown away with how they’re able to compute compability scores even without having to meet mating candidates. That’s relieving to know, honestly. I never told Hexius this, but I did wonder how the Agency was able to—

“The first beta match that the Agency used to test its system was my husband and me. And for those who aren’t aware, Nicolo—before we were married—was not just my alpha. He was my stepbrother, too.”