Alpha Hell: A Dark Rejected Mates Romance (The Rejected Mate Series Book 1)

so quickly I stumble back in surprise, my body thudding into the back of the door. I’m used to his temper, and his fists, but still, I didn’t expect this hit.
“Show the alpha some goddamn respect!”
The impact forces me to break eye contact, but not before I catch sight of the alpha’s eyes glowing a deep shade of black.
“Touch her again and you’ll lose more than a hand.” He adds just the slightest bit of pressure to my mum’s throat, and the tips of his claws dent her skin.
She doesn’t so much as draw a single breath. Dad takes a big step back from me in fear for my mum, his mate’s, life.
The alpha cuts his gaze to me. “Come.”
He drags my mum from the kitchen, and my dad slowly takes up the rear, his expression a little grimmer than before. My heart thrashes so violently I can scarcely make out their footsteps as they head into the dining room. For a moment I just stand there in the kitchen, and then I follow suit, each step laced with a growing, burning hatred for this alpha. And my dad. Why is he letting this alpha treat my mum this way? It’s almost like he couldn’t care less about her. While he’s always been like that towards me, he’s never disrespected my mum. I don’t even care if he’s only doing it because there’s an alpha in our home. It’s unacceptable.
If my mum didn’t appear so terrified in the alpha’s presence, I’d grab a knife from the kitchen and swing at the alpha, then I’d take my mum away where my dad can never find her again. She’s always deserved better than him.
We both deserve better.
Once I reach our open-plan living room, everyone is seated at the dining table; the alpha where my dad would usually sit, my mum beside him. I sweep my gaze over the surface, unsurprised to find it set for only one. Of course the alpha would eat before any of us. It’s customary in packs that alphas should eat first and, usually, alone. With a wave of his tattooed hand, a thin chain slithers around my mum’s wrist. It wraps around the table leg, binding her to the alpha’s side. She glances at me standing in the doorway, her eyes wide and stark with fear, and more searing-hot fury consumes me.
The alpha pulls out a chair and gestures to it dismissively. “By all means, have a seat.”
Everything about this male pisses me off. From the arrogant way he struts around my home like he owns it, to the manner in which he curls the edge of his lips and looks at me like I’m a piece of meat… So typical of every other alpha out there, and yet so, so much worse.
He doesn’t even wait to see if I’ll obey his command. With not a care in the world, he claims the seat at the other end of the table and reaches for the bottle of red wine. My dad sits across from my mum, leaving only the pulled-out chair at the end for me. My every instinct screams to shift and challenge this alpha, but I’m not an idiot. Not only does he hold my mother prisoner, but I’m willing to bet his wolf is three times the size of mine. I’d be dead before I could so much as sink my teeth into his throat.
There’s really nothing for it. If I’m to figure out what the hell is going on and get my parents out of this alive, I need to play nicely; something I’ve failed to do so far in my eighteen years.
I settle down on the opposite side. The silence is so tense I could cut it with the alpha’s butterknife. Instead, I lift my eyes from the polished surface of the table and look at him.
“Why are you here?” I repeat, ensuring my voice is firm. “And what do you want?”
My dad slams his fist on the table and prepares to stand. “Dammit, child! How many times have I told you? Do not speak unless spoken—”
The alpha’s voice stops him. Dad freezes in his half-crouched position, and his worried eyes flick to the other end of the table.
“You’d do well to follow your own advice, Valerio.” The alpha narrows his eyes on me. “At any rate, I see no problem in answering her questions. She is my mate, is she not?”

Chapter 3


Lilith Thornblood
It’s clearly a rhetorical question, one that sends my heart shooting to the pit of my stomach. Did he just say what I think he did? My pulse skyrockets, and I clench my hands underneath the table. For the first time since entering the dining room, my mother isn’t looking at me. It’s as if she can’t bring herself to. I’ve never seen my mum as anything but the beautiful and graceful wolf with long white hair I wish I had. I can’t ever remember seeing my mum scared or weak. I know her expression scares me far more than the alpha behind her and calling me his mate could ever do.
“I’m here to collect what’s mine.” The alpha pours himself a glass of wine and sniffs the contents before taking a sip. His eyes cut over the glass to me. “That would be you.”
A nervous laugh bubbles in my chest and quickly escapes my lips. “W-what? You can’t be serious?” I glance at my mum, my chest rising unevenly. “Mum, what the hell is going on?”
But she doesn’t say a word. The colour has completely drained from her face. She seems like she’s about to be sick.
“One thing you should know about me, little mate,” the alpha says in a dangerously low voice, dragging my attention back to him, “is that I am only ever serious. You belong to me and you are my fated mate. The Crescent Mother wills it.”
The glimmer of anxiety that had gripped me a moment ago vanishes,