Rejected and claimed by the alpha beast Novel by Paige T

Rygan’s POV

“Rygan?” I hear my name roared out by Taz behind the door. The loud, unending pounding of the door pulls me out of sleep. I roll over, forgetting the spinning room around me.

But I don’t answer; I’m barely living and barely there at the moment. Everything feels useless and unimportant since I found out that Elise is dead. And all the news from my troops that came back was no news at all.

I don’t want to believe the trail ended on the deep, rocky cliff. There has to be something I’m missing; there has to be, but Kaide made it known to me that she was gone.

There isn’t even a body I could salvage. I hate myself for that. I hate myself that words to her and my last encounter were filled with nothing but anger and blame. I can my last barely breathe when I think of her right now.

I roll over, my fingers meeting the cold glass of a wine bottle in my bed. My only companion these days is the solace of being drunk. It’s the only way I can sleep without waking up nightmares.

to

“What do we do now?” I hear Alvira call in a panicked voice, “He’s not coming out!” She screeches at Taz. I order him to open the door.

“Be calm; he will; he wouldn’t miss his wedding,” he calls, pounding back on my door. How do I tell my best friend to scram off without wanting to snap his head off? These days, it’s hard not to hate them, myself included. Screw everything.

They all claim I’ve been in denial for weeks since Elise disappeared and died. Elise is dead, I remind myself, but it doesn’t feel real. Even with their advice to take care of myself, I still searched until I found myself in the Vienna clinic.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

My wolf scolds me each time I think of ending it all, saying it feels like a bad dream I still haven’t woken up from. I’ve felt so numb for weeks, with no meaning or end. At first, I was so sure this was Kyren’s doing, that he had taken her.

But on the third day after Elise’s disappearance, he came back, asking for his bride. I prayed he was taunting and lying to me. A sick part of me hoped she was with him and then lost; that way, she could kill the b***d with no remorse.

But to tell the truth, that didn’t stop me from exacting my revenge on him, showing him his worst pain as I pulled out one of his eyes, leaving a gaping, bleeding hole in the b***rd’s skull.

A reminder of his sins to me and Elise. For an unknown reason, her deadbeat monster of an ex-father, Chief Dexton, had gone under the radar; he didn’t bother helping Kyren when I attacked, which

led me to wonder if she was holding her. I trust no one anymore.

Each night I sleep, dreaming of her, dreaming of the perfect life we could have had together, where no titles or promises would hold us back, and in all the dreams, she vanishes, leaving me waking up in a cold sweat.

“Here, let me,” Kaide says behind the door before I hear a soft click that opens my door, with Kaide letting himself in and assuring Alvira that they’re talking to me.

“Dude…” Taz walks in, his nose scrunched from the smell of booze and wine. He walks to my window, opening the curtains, and I hiss from the sunlight flowing in.

“Get the hell out,” I mutter, irritated.

“Your wedding ceremony is in less than an hour, You’re the alpha of the Black Moon Pack; your people are counting on you,” Taz argues.

I sit up, looking at him. I can barely look at Kaide. I still have this unpleasant anger and irritation towards him, my wolf growling in his presence now. I still want to kill him for the attack on Elise, but a part of me still doesn’t fully believe him. But to the pack’s court, it was self-defense, and Kaide wouldn’t have any motive for attacking Elise, right?

“My cousin has been waiting for this; she has been eager with anxiety… Don’t let her down. This is your duty,” my nose flares, and my vision shakes in anger towards Kaide.

In seconds, I’m pushed against the wall, slamming into him. “Rygan!” I hear Taz call as he tries to pull me off Kaide. I feel the harsh pressure of his hands around my torso, trying to stop me from attacking this b**d, Kaide.

“Duty, you say? You-this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t come between us; I had it under control. I was…”

“You were going to do what? Elope with Elise and have a lifelong target on her back. A blood oath cannot be broken; you know that, Rygan,” Kaide tells me. “And Elise wouldn’t be happy to see you like this.”

“Don’t you

you say her name!” I snarl.

Duty, duty, duty, that’s all they care about, I’m sick of it-sick of everything. Why am I even fighting this? I stop myself from attacking, feeling Taz holding onto me, and calm down.

“Give me a few minutes,” I mutter to no one in particular as I march to the bathroom, taking a bath to wake me up, but just closing my eyes under the shower, I see those icy blue sad eyes. I punch the tile in the bathroom in anger.

This isn’t how I planned it. But there’s nothing else than this; this is my future, and I need to be perfect for my people, I need to alert and lead by example of a perfect king. Their alpha.

But in me, I feel like I’m going crazy. I wash up quickly and walk out to see a charcoal black buttoned suit with gold-adorned threads has been set up on the bed for me.

The gold ring of the moon crest on my pack insignia shows that it isn’t just edding but the joining of the two most important houses in the Black Moon Pack. “Hey!” I hear Taz knocking slightly on the door after I’ve buttoned up the last part of my inner tunic.

The mating bite on his neck reminds me that not too long ago. Tat got his happy ending with Vienna, who hates my guts and is a constant reminder that I hurt her friend. “Rygan,” his voice pulls me out of my thoughts before I go too deep

“I’m good in the alpha, aren’t II mutter as he puts me firmly on both shoulders. I can see in his gaze that he has so many things to say. But he withholds it.

And with the pack’s bells ringing. I know it’s time. The banquet hall has been prepared lavishly at Alvira’s request, but I can barely take in, my body is barely awake from the alcohol

As I walk through the parted aisle to my intended bride, for a moment, the noise dulls down I think I’m going mad. At the altar in’t Alvira but Elise, her kind blue eyes and smile shining through

My love is waiting for me, this is my future, I want her, no one else. “Rygan”” Kaide says calmly, snapping me out of my tranced lusion. It isn’t real, and my reality is Alvira. And my chance to love is gone forever-my punishment, my sin.

I feel something in me break with each call to our vows, a part of my heart withering with

rach word spoken, and with the bite bestowed on her neck, I’m bound to her

But there’s no love, no feeling. I’m a void canvas with nothing in me, something has awoken

in me at that moment. Something I’ve kept locked deep within.

A monster with no heart is born. A beast that cannot love again.