Page 6 of The Alpha’s Rejected Arranged Mate (Bluebell Valley Wolves #3)

Alpha Seth dropped him off at the orphanage, left him there, and followed up by making sure he was never adopted.

Finn hadn’t ever considered why he was never brought to meet prospective parents. It hadn’t ever been his goal. He was always busy taking care of everything he deemed needed to be accomplished at the orphanage. He saw how hard their caregivers worked and had made up his mind at a young age to help them as much as he could.

Christine and Derek hadn’t been adopted, either. Yes, they had met with couples looking to adopt, but they were never chosen. Finn considered himself lucky that he’d never been in a position to be rejected like that.

Until now.

His mind was in a whirl as they finally pulled this damn school bus into Moon Lake Town. Dozens of people shifted to their wolf form, tearing toward the town center.

“Park the bus,” Finn ordered. “We’ll wait here for the Alpha.”

He slumped to his seat, still grappling to put his emotions back under control. The last thing he should do was blow up at the Alpha as soon as he arrived. No doubt Seth wouldn’t even recognize him. Maybe the Alpha wasn’t even a relative. Maybe Seth just found him in the forest.

Elin’s hand was still in his. Her touch's silent weight and comfort eased some of the tightness in his chest. He was grateful for her support but also for her silence. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to put anything into words right now.

A grey-haired man walked up beside the bus and called, “I am Alpha Seth of Moon Lake. Come out and declare yourselves.”

Derek opened the doors and stepped down. “We’re the ambassadorial team sent from Bluebell Valley. We had some trouble with rogues, which is why we’re in this old thing. I’m Derek. This is Christine,” he added as she descended from the bus. Elin tugged Finn’s hand.

He took a deep breath and followed her outside.

“Elin,” Derek introduced as she stepped out. “And Finn.”

Finn met the Alpha’s gaze. His eyes were blue like Finn’s, and there was something familiar in the shape of his face. Seth’s eyes widened. The woman beside him, no doubt Luna Rosemary, gasped and grabbed his arm.

“You aren’t welcome here!” Seth snarled. “Get out of my territory, all of you!”

Oh, he recognized him.

Emotion flooded Finn, so strong and fast he had no name for it. This was the man who abandoned him at the orphanage and made sure he was never adopted. The man who knew where he came from, who could have made things so much clearer all his life. And yet, he’d never bothered to share a single bit of information with Finn.

Derek was still speaking. “… sent by Alpha Hayden to form an alliance. We have training through a special branch of the military—”

“I said get out,” Seth snapped.

Finn’s jaw felt like it was welded shut. He should point out that they were here to help, should tell Seth they knew who he was, and explain they were here to fight against the demons. Seth knew about them. It was the only explanation as to why he’d reacted so strongly to Finn’s presence. There was no demon influence around the Alpha, nothing around the wolves who lingered nearby.

Seth had been here, just a few miles away, for Finn’s entire life. And never once came to check up on him. Never once bothered to let him know he had a living family.

“Luna Rosemary,” Elin said.

“Don’t you talk to her,” Seth interrupted, standing in front of his wife.

“Luna Mica specifically chose me to come here. We know that Moon Lake needs aid. We’re here to give that aid,” Elin said. She stepped forward, and Finn had to bite down the urge to grab her and pull her back. “We know that rogues are attacking you. And we know they’re in league with demons. We met some at the orphanage where these three grew up.” She paused slightly, narrowing her eyes at Rosemary. “But you already know about demons, don’t you?”

“We do,” Rosemary said slowly.

Seth growled, claws sprouting from his fingertips. “All the more reason to see you gone. We don’t need your help.”

“We’ve dealt with demons before and defeated them,” Elin said.

“So you say.” Seth glared at her, then turned that smoldering anger on Finn.

It was so clear why Seth wanted him out of there. He recognized Finn as the baby he sent to the orphanage. And it was equally clear that he wasn’t just some random baby he’d found in the woods. Looking into Seth’s eyes was like looking into a mirror. Seth was his father—a father who betrayed his mate with a demon and then punished the child of that union.

“Alpha Seth, please,” Elin begged, wringing her hands. “I know this must all seem very… um, strange—”

“I’m running out of patience,” Seth said.

Rosemary laid a hand on his arm, but he shook it off. She didn’t look at Finn. Carefully avoided looking at him, in fact. No doubt she knew, too. Though she earned more grace than her mate. After all, she shouldn’t have to advocate for the proof of her mate’s infidelity. What sort of a man was Seth, anyway, to cheat on his mate? What sort of Alpha?

Derek cleared his throat. “We will be able to help you defend against the demons. We have ways to prevent them from—”

“Or maybe you are all demons,” Seth said.

He wasn’t interested in listening to them. Too consumed with keeping his illegitimate baby out of the pack to make sure nobody would find out that he fucked a demon. Finn’s wolf snarled deep in his chest. Fuck him, then! It would be his pack that would suffer for it.

“I should execute you all as demon-possessed rogues,” Seth added. His gaze fell on Elin, their fury undimmed as she drew back in fear.

A wash of red settled over Finn’s vision.

Some of these reactions he could understand. Being afraid of the half-demon spawn was understandable. Worrying that they were, in fact, demons masquerading as aid from another pack was reasonable. Making sure he could protect his own pack from being infiltrated was all well and good. Certainly, refusing to speak with them was less so, but at the same time, Finn could understand it.

If their positions were reversed, Finn wouldn’t trust a half-demon around his pack, around the people he loved. He certainly wouldn’t want the product of an affair to hand around his mate.

But threatening Elin? That was going too far. If it was just him and Derek, then yes. Threaten them, force them away. Elin was the last person ever to hurt another being, though. And Christine was human. Seth had to know that. And yet he’d threatened them all the same.

Finn moved forward. His strides were long, his wolf howling in his chest. He knew exactly what he was doing. If he was honest, he had made his choice the moment he stepped off the bus.

“You won’t listen. Then take this as an official challenge,” Finn said. His voice was cold and hard. “I challenge you for the leadership of the Moon Lake pack.”

Silence fell. Derek and Christine both stared at him with open mouths. For the first time, Seth fully focused on him. Anger and hatred burned in his eyes, but there was fear, too. The Alpha viewed him the same way he would a rabid dog. Finn kept his expression smooth and blank.

“You challenge me?” Seth asked. Unlike the fury from before, his tone had gone flat. “You have a mate?”

“I do.” Finn put an arm around Elin’s shoulders before he could stop himself. “Elin is my mate.”

She tensed beneath his touch. Seth opened his mouth, but Rosemary touched his arm. She whispered something to her mate, and he growled low in his throat. The packmates who surrounded them glanced uneasily at one another. Finn waited.

Seth let out a snort. “Fine. Fine, I accept your challenge. But you will be under house arrest until the appointed time. And when I defeat you, your friends will leave without a fuss.”

“Fine,” Finn answered coolly.

Within half an hour, they were locked up in a house near the outskirts of town. The windows were screwed shut, and the deadbolt on the doors flipped to be on the outside. Rosemary sent some canned foods for them, but they were left alone. The house had two bedrooms on the upper floor and a single bathroom with a shower, a living room, and a kitchen on the main floor. The foundation was a crawlspace that held a few musty blankets.

“Christine and Elin can have the bedrooms,” Finn said. “Derek and I will share the living room as our sleeping space for the time being. Christine, please start washing the bedding. Derek, start heating some food.”

They both nodded.

Finn turned to Elin. They needed to speak after his declaration, but he found himself uncertain what to say. She avoided his gaze as she jerked her head up the stairs. They went to the room she was claiming. It had a narrow single bed in it and had been otherwise stripped of furniture.

“We’re here on a mission.” Elin stood at the window, gazing out. “This improv you just did without consulting the pack isn’t going to give us answers. You need to rescind your challenge. Especially since we’re not mates, as you so clearly shared.”

Finn was silent. She wouldn’t understand, but that was to be expected. She wasn’t the one who had just come face-to-face with the father who abandoned him.

“I know you’re hurting.” Elin turned back to him, her shoulders sagging. “I know that your mind must be going a million miles an hour. Given the information we just found out, you're all over the place. But challenging another Alpha is not a solution. Jumping to violence isn’t going to help you get your answers, nor will it actually help us get a proper alliance.”

Finn shook his head slowly. “That’s where you’re wrong. If I’m the Alpha of the Moon Lake pack, we’ll have an even stronger alliance with Bluebell Valley.”

Disappointment settled in Elin’s chocolate eyes. It was a strange expression to see on her. “You’re forgetting one more thing, Finn. I’m not your mate. You rejected me. You can’t expect me to just fall in line after that.”

Guilt hit his stomach, and his wolf swished its tail back and forth. He shoved the uncomfortable sensation aside. He had a mission here. Sentiment wouldn’t get him any closer. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Take the pack, become the Alpha. He’d be able to better fight demons when his orders were obeyed rather than trying to get through Seth’s head.

“You don’t have a choice,” he told Elin, his voice cold.

The disappointment deepened in Elin’s gaze. “I never expected that from you. I do have a choice, Finn. You’re not the type of wolf to force someone else to do something like this. I can’t let you hurt me again.”

“So what? You’re just going to deny my chance to get this pack on our side?” Finn snapped.

“That’s not why you’re doing this.” Elin folded her arms and hunched her shoulders. “I’m going to think about it. I’ll let you know if I’m going to play at being your mate or not.”

“Elin—” Finn stepped forward and stopped himself. She was right. She deserved to make the choice herself. He sucked in a deep breath. “I’m only doing this for the pack. Seth wasn’t going to listen to us. It’s not…I don’t want to hurt you. But we aren’t mates. We both know that. It’s just pretend.”

She didn’t answer as she turned her back on him again. His wolf growled, telling him it wasn’t true. He shoved it down. They weren’t mates. No matter what his wolf wanted. So he stood there, waiting for her to make her decision.

Not really knowing what he wanted her to say.