Alpha Returned: A Rejected Mates Reverse Harem Shifter Series (Feral Mates Book 3)

by Sabrina Thatcher

  Rylan comes to us, and I can almost taste his overwhelming pride in the air between us.

  “Welcome to my home …” he says, watching me like a hawk. “To your home.”

  I say nothing. I just hold Isla’s hand in mine. She refuses to look at him, choosing instead to stare down at the ground. I stare holes through Rylan’s eyes, but he takes it in stride and turns his attention to his guards and the people around us.

  The guards are all in military-style uniforms, and all of them are armed. The shifters who’ve begun to gather about us from different buildings around the courtyard are all very well dressed; most of them in fine suits. I feel like I’m in some mixed-up mafia western movie. It’s the most surreal thing I’ve ever experienced, and considering the things I’ve seen and done since I was turned into a shifter, that’s saying something.

  That’s really saying something.

  If only one of them would say something.

  They stand in a circle around us in more silence, their heads tilted slightly back as they take us in.

  They’re smelling us, I realize, and more importantly—smelling me. Rylan’s bride. They’re breathing me in and reading me like a book. Every one of them. Their eyes are all piercing me, their ears listening to the quickening of my heartbeat and the hot blood that’s racing through my veins. I do my best to keep calm. I don’t want them to sense anything about me but confidence and strength.

  Even if I know it’s another fool’s errand.

  I can try as I like to look strong, but there’s no hiding the fear that clenches to my very core.

  Rylan’s voice rings out over the quiet air around us; air punctuated only by footprints and heartbeats. Sweat begins to bead up around my hairline and I draw in a slow, steady breath, as deeply as I can.

  “Attention, all of you. This beautiful woman is Sydney, and her companion is Isla. They come from Roman’s pack. Sydney and I will be married on the day of coming full moon. On that day she will become your queen. You will treat her accordingly.”

  All eyes shift from me to Rylan, and everyone nods to him.

  “Yes, sir.”

  The response echoes around us, chorused by every single living being within our presence. I am stunned. It’s total obedience, total submission. It’s absolute servitude. I feel sickened, but I keep it hidden. No one can know what I really think.

  Rylan turns to Anuba.

  “Take Isla to her cell and lock her up. No one is to know where she is being kept but you, the guards, and me. Should anyone defy this order, it will cost them their life.”

  “Yes, sir.” Anuba bows her head to him and her strong hand closes over Isla’s upper arm.

  “Come with me now,” Anuba orders.

  Isla’s eyes grow huge. “NO! Anuba, how could you? You were our loyal hunter!”

  “I am a hunter loyal to my alpha, and since your pack has no alpha, I am now loyal to this alpha. Rylan is my master. Now, come with me.”

  “I will not!” Isla screams, wrapping her arms around me. I hold her in my arms tightly and whip my head to face Rylan.

  “You said Isla and I could be together!” I shout at him, and everyone around us is startled by my outburst.

  Rylan’s face twists wickedly, and I see cold fury burn in his eyes. He grits his teeth and shoots a dark look at a succubus nearby us.

  “Get over here now!” he demands. She immediately runs to him, keeping her eyes low, and never daring to look up at him.

  “Yes, sir? How may I serve you?” Her voice is timid and meek. My stomach tightens bitterly.

  Rylan’s arm lifts, and he looks at me as he swings his hand heavily, slamming it against the side of the young woman’s face, knocking her to the ground.

  “Don’t you ever speak to me like that again. Any disrespect you show to me will be taken out on this succubus, to the fullest extent of my anger, do you understand?”

  I stand, frozen in shock, as this time I’m unable to hide my flood of emotions.

  Rylan’s frigid glare makes the hair all over my body stand on end, and I feel compelled to obey him. It’s almost like a gravitational pull, and I begin to realize just what it means to be completely submissive to an alpha. There is no choice, there is only obedience.

  Starting at the base of my skull and spreading like wildfire down my spine and then all throughout me, I can feel resistance to him, and it’s growing stronger with every bit of me that it overtakes, until I am entirely consumed by it. I will not bow down to this man. I will not be ruled by him. He may be an alpha, but he will not be mine.

  I have no idea where the boldness in me has suddenly come from, but I have never felt stronger in my life. I take a step toward him with Isla still clamped to my side, while Anuba’s hand remains closed around her upper arm.

  Gritting my teeth, I meet his eyes and almost growl at him.

  “You said that we would be together here, and now you are going back on your word. You can’t expect me to just accept that. I’ll hold you to your promise, or I will leave! I gave you my word, and my word is my bond, now you live up to yours.” I raise my voice again, my eyes burning into his.

  He regards me closely, and then without looking away, he snaps his fingers at the slave by his feet, motioning to her to get up. She gets up slowly; her cheeks are wet with tears. Worse than that, there’s blood at the corner of her mouth.

  “How dare you impugn my honor and my word!” he snarls at me harshly. “I said that you would be together in the compound, and you will be. I never said you’d be side by side. She will be held as my prisoner in a secret location until after the wedding, until after our wedding night, and then I will let her go. You will reside here in the compound with me. You are both in the same place, you just won’t be able to see each other at all.”

  A chilling curve at the corners of his mouth tells me that he derives great pleasure from this little twist in his truth, and I know we’ve been had.

  I can hardly believe I’m doing it, but I raise my hand, drawing it back as my fingers shift into claws. I’m about to launch it at him when he does the same; his right hand grips the neck of the poor succubus girl before him, squeezing. She coughs and sputters as tears stream down her cheeks, but she does not move.

  Not an inch.

  She doesn’t try to fight him or defend herself. She merely stands there with her arms at her sides, looking beyond Rylan’s shoulder at nothing, suffering horribly at his hand.

  Rylan gives his head a single shake.

  “Lay one finger on me in violence, and I’ll rip her throat out and kill her right here and now. Her blood is on your hands, and her very life teeters on your next move. You choose. Does she live, or does she die?”

  Rylan’s eyes have not left mine, not even for a second. We stare each other down, and I know he’s got me beat, at least, this time.

  I exhale long and slow, my shoulders sinking ever so slightly. I break our shared glare and turn to Isla, Anuba’s hand still clenched around her arm.

  “I’ll get you out of here alive. I promise you. Stay strong and don’t give up.” I hug her so close that we can barely breathe for a moment.

  “Find me,” she cries out over her shoulder when I let go and Anuba hauls her away.

  “I promise!” I call out to her, watching where the hunter takes her. They disappear behind a door, and as it closes, I turn to face Rylan once more.

  “You are a monster,” I declare viciously, spitting the words out at him. “No wonder she refused to have you.”

  Rylan sneers at me and takes the succubus’ forearm between his two hands, then snaps it like a twig. She screams in agony and falls to the ground on her knees, holding her broken arm to her core as closely as she can. No one around us moves or even looks at Rylan. I’m horrified and shocked.

  I move to help the girl, but Rylan stops me.

  “I told you never to speak to me disrespectfully. You’re going to learn to keep a civil tongue in your mouth or I’m going to take it out o
n her. This … this broken arm of hers; it’s your fault. If you’d spoken well to me, she would not be hurt. You did this. Perhaps you’ll think on it the next time you say something to me.”

  Panic floods me as the young woman’s suffering compounds rapidly. Every nuance of it is washing over me and through me, invading all of my senses, and all I want to do is rush to her and help her. I’m simultaneously furious with every single person around me because not one of them will even look at her, not even her own kind. No one.

  “Will no one help her? Look at her! She’s in terrible pain!” I implore them all, looking about at them. Every demon’s face is downcast, looking at the ground. Every shifter face is merely gazing at me in silence; unreadable, unreactive.

  Rylan narrows his eyes at me with a cool smile. “None of them will move until I tell them to. I want you to see and understand the way things work here. I am king, and everyone obeys me. The sooner you learn to serve me, the easier things will be for you around here.”

  My voice is low, and it cuts sharply at him; it’s taking everything in me not to explode at him.

  “I am not your servant, and I never will be,” I vow viciously.

  His hand shoots up and closes over my jaw tightly, as if he’s forcing me to look at him, though I haven’t yet looked away since I let Isla go.

  “You will be my queen, my loyal subject, and you will respect me, serve me in any way I want you to, and obey everything I ever tell you, or you will not live. Do I make myself clear?” His voice seeps into every part of me, and I shiver involuntarily. I say nothing to him, only staring back at him.

  “Good. You do understand. Now, you’ve got a wedding to plan. Sergei, take her to her new quarters, and have one of your guards get this servant to medical. Then make sure she follows four feet behind Sydney at all times, so that if Sydney needs to be punished for anything, the servant is there to take the punishment.”

  If I didn’t hate Rylan before, I hate him now, with everything in me.

  A large guard approaches me, and I look up at him, but before I can say anything or even take a step, Rylan stops me simply by holding his hand up in the air between us.

  “Sydney.”

  I turn to face him once more, keeping all of my emotions behind a mask that looks exactly the same as every face around me. I get it now, why everyone looks this way here. They’re not allowed to look any other way.

  “I want a huge affair. I want packs all over the world to know how big my territory is going to be, and how powerful I have become by marrying you, because once I marry you, it’s all going to be mine. We will be married as the next full moon rises; a sunset wedding, and on our wedding night, you will conceive my child. I’ll make sure of it.”

  Chapter Four

  Elon

  “Elon! What the hell are you doing?” Roman shouts at me as I sit at the desk in our room. Technically, it’s a suite—two bedrooms adjoined, where the four of us have been staying these last weeks.

  Now only three.

  We’re back at Isla and Conan’s house. I’m mere feet from the bed where Sydney usually sleeps, except the bed is made, unslept in, and I can’t stand to look at it—but I need to work beside it. Her scent is strongest in here. I miss her all the way to my soul, and this is the closest I can feel to her right now, so this is where I’m stationed.

  Roman stomps over to me and glares down at the spread of papers before me. I glance at his hand to find it’s wrapped around a bottle of tequila. I raise my eyes to meet his. I’ve never seen them so bloodshot.

  “I’m working.” I answer him calmly. “I’m finding a way to mend the relationship we were about to build with the succubi and incubi so that they’ll join us, and then we’ll have the numbers to fight Rylan and rescue Sydney.”

  “What the hell are you doing that for?” Roman snaps, slurring his words slightly. The tequila is nearly gone. The only reason he’s still standing is because his supernatural body burns through the alcohol faster than a human body does. As shifters, it’s difficult for us to get drunk, but he’s sure trying hard to get there.

  I rise to my feet and look up a couple of inches into his face. “I’m doing it because I’m not going to give up on her, Roman. I’m not going to drown my sorrows in a bottle and waste away. I’m going to do everything I can to find a way to get her and bring her home!”

  Roman’s lip pulls back, and I see fangs form in his mouth as he lifts his arm and slams the bottle against the wall on the opposite side of the room. Tequila and shards of glass go flying everywhere.

  “Why even bother? She doesn’t want to be rescued! She gave up on us! She walked out on us!” He flings his arm haphazardly in the air, somewhat toward the south. “Sydney is our fated mate … our mate for the rest of our lives, and she fucking walked right out of here, leaving us all behind, so she could go marry him! That’s what she wants! He’s what she wants! She chose him! Over the three of us … so FINE! Let her have him! Let her go marry that son-of-a-bitch. I tried … Elon, I tried to tell her we’d go save her, and she said no.”

  Roman’s voice grows quiet and he weaves slightly, working to focus his eyes on mine. He lifts his palms toward the ceiling in surrender.

  “She wants to go? Let her go. Don’t waste your time with this …” He flips some of my papers off the corner of the desk, “this … bullshit. Because it doesn’t matter. None of it … none of it matters at all. She’s gone.”

  I sigh and clap a hand on his shoulder. “I miss her, too, brother. So much. Come on. Let’s get you some coffee.”

  I head for the door and hold it open. Roman exhales hard and rakes his hand through the wild tangle of dark, wavy curls atop his head.

  “Coffee. Yeah. That’ll fiss … fiss … that’ll take care of everything.”

  He follows me out of the room and down the hall. Teague’s sitting in the dining room at the table. As we walk in, he ends a call and sets his phone down.

  “Had another bottle?” he asks, eyeing Roman.

  “Yeah, except he left it on the wall and the floor of her room.”

  “You’re cleaning that up,” Teague says to Roman evenly as he stands.

  I clap one hand onto Roman’s shoulder, as if I could actually keep him here if he wanted to leave. “I thought he could use some coffee.”

  Teague nods. “You in the middle of something?”

  He knows what I’ve been working on. He’s got his own thing going too, trying to find a way to get Sydney back, but with Roman wallowing in the bottom of every bottle he can get his hands on … we’ve been sharing double duty trying to keep him in line too.

  I’ve never seen Roman like this. I was sure—both of us were sure—that the moment Sydney disappeared into that SUV with Rylan that Roman would already be working out a plan to save her.

  But instead, as the days wore on … this is what we’ve been left with. I’m hoping it’s a phase, but I’m starting to lose hope. Roman certainly isn’t making things any easier. I know my plan is a foolhardy one at best—dangerous at worst—but it’s all I have.

  “Yeah, I got some new leads I need to check out,” I say, my hand gripping Roman’s shoulder a little tighter as I glance over at Teague for a brief second. “Actually, I should be taking off.”

  Teague gives me a slight nod. “I got this.”

  “Thanks, bro.” I give him a half-hearted smile, and he gives my shoulder a squeeze even as I let go of Roman’s.

  Teague hauls Roman out of the far door of the dining room into the kitchen, and I head out of the front of the dining room into the foyer, and then out of the house.

  I jump in the SUV and haul ass downtown to a shadier neighborhood where the succubi and incubi run a strip club—Ruse’s old club, before Roman decapitated him. It’s owned by our pack now, but it’s still run by the demons. Or at least, it should be. I’m praying with everything in me that there’s at least one left there. I need to find one, or my plan is never going to work, but most of them were killed in t
he attack by Rylan.

  Any of the sympathetic ones, anyway.

  I shouldn’t be going into this club alone, and I know it. But honestly these days I’ve started to wonder if I have a death wish. Without Sydney here, without a proper plan to get her back, maybe part of me is purposefully seeking danger.

  Danger like what I’m sure to find on the other side of this door. I yank the door open and rush in, looking all over as my eyes adjust to the darkness.

  “Hi, welcome to the—” The hostess beams at me until she gets a good look at me, and then she stops short.

  I rush to her. “I need to know if any of them are here.”

  “Any of who?”

  I sigh, exasperated, and lean closer. “The demons.”

  She shakes her head innocently, but I can see it in her eyes. I can smell it on her. She’s lying to me.

  “Sorry, there’s no one here like that.”

  “You’re lying, but it’s okay. I know you’re just protecting them, and they’re probably paying you a fortune to do it. I’m not here to hurt them. I’m here to beg them for help. Look … I came alone, right? No one with me. It’s just me. I’m desperate. I need to talk to them. That’s all I want to do; just talk. Or … beg is more like it. Come on … there’s a woman in grave danger. She’s going to end up dead if I don’t do something. Please! Help us!”

  The woman can see I’m in earnest, and I feel her start to relent. She exhales thinly and bites at her lower lip as she nods.

  “Okay, fine, but if I lose my job over this, I’m holding you responsible.” She gives me a dark look.

  I nod. “I will totally help you out, in fact, I can get you a better paying job than this one if you want it. I’ll owe you for this. Swear it. Now, where are they?”

  I have no idea or authority to find her this so-called job, but I’m desperate.

  She tips her head toward the back. “This way.”

  We zip through the bar, past the lustful gapes of customers almost drooling over the women dancing on stage. The hostess tucks deftly into a back-room door and I am hot on her heels.