Page 1 of The Alpha's Bullied Rejected Mate

Chapter 1 - Marcus

Marcus Vale perched on the edge of a creaky four-poster bed, the inn’s window casting faint moonlight across his bare chest. Clouds slid past outside, dimming the glow that traced his skin. He exhaled steadily, lean muscles shifting under smooth, golden skin, his broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. A tangled sheet clung to his hips, a thin line of hair trailing beneath it.

He stretched, feeling the pull of his abs, the sharp line of his collarbone catching a stray beam as the moon peeked through. The room stayed quiet, but his mind churned, sharp as ever.

He stared at the moon.

He didn’t believe in omens. Not officially. But the moon had always been there, looming in every significant night of his life.

His first shift.

His first kill.

His first regret.

And tonight, it hung in the sky like a watchful eye as he settled into the motel room he had chosen as his base.

He was on a mission.

He ran a hand through his auburn hair and swung his legs off the bed with the bedsheets still pooling around his hips. The wolf inside him paced restlessly. He welcomed the familiar surge of adrenaline he always felt before a hunt.

Hunt.

Six years ago, he was only destined to become the Alpha of the Moon Ridge Pack. It was the legacy expected of his bloodline. But things had evolved for him since he joined the Hunters’ Organization, a force sworn to protect the world from supernatural threats. There, he was the head of the Ghost Team, an elite team of infiltration specialists, and a member of the Hunters’ Squad, the most skilled hunters in the organization. He had thrown himself into a different kind of battle.

Back then, their mission was clear: to track down and contain powerful witches who practiced dark magic and aided demons in spreading corruption. These witches were seen as the cause of rising demonic possessions, and the hunters were sent on missions to capture them and have their powers bound through rituals.

But everything changed when the truth came to light.

A council governed the organization, and for years, they had guided the hunters, assigning them missions and keeping order. But hidden beneath that authority was a dark secret; demons had infiltrated the council. The council head, Xavier Woods, was a demon, and he had used his dark influence to manipulate hunters to capture innocent witches, posing them as supernatural threats responsible for demonic possession, while they harvested their powers for twisted demonic rituals.

Since then, everything had shifted.

Dominic Blackwood, leader of the Hunters’ Squad and Alpha of the Silverlight Valley Pack, had been one of the most affected by the dark influence and had only broken free with the help of his witch mate, Luna Mitchell. So, the Hunter squad and their trusted allies had made it their goal to help witches from being used for demonic rituals. They had begun to search for the remaining imprisoned witches who had gone missing afterbeing hunted and offered them sanctuary in their packs, where a witches’ rescue camp had been established.

But not all witches were victims.

Some still walked the path of darkness, willingly allied with demons, and posed a serious threat. These dark witches were powerful, dangerous, and difficult to find. Capturing them could mean tipping the balance in their favor during battles against demonic forces. But if they couldn’t be redeemed, they had to be stopped.

That was why he was in Ellensburg tonight.

Marcus slid open the bedside drawer and retrieved a slim black tablet. With a soft click, the screen came to life, briefly casting a faint glow over the sharp cut of his jawline. He tapped into the Hunter Squad’s encrypted server, which revealed the Hunters’ Organization emblem, a silver wolf’s head with a dagger through it.

It flashed briefly, recognizing his identity, before giving way to a folder that read,

“Mission File”

He clicked on the most recent addition that had come in, courtesy of Adrian Cross, head of their tech division. Nobody asked how Adrian got his intel. It was his specialty. If there was a secret to be uncovered, Adrian found it.

Marcus’s amber eyes scanned through the report.

Subject: Ava Nath.

Occupation: Kindergarten teacher at Lincoln Elementary.

Residence: A first-floor apartment on Maple Street.

Routine: Visits a children’s book store twice a week, for obvious reasons.