Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by the King

I seduced a mated werewolf. I schemed and plotted to make him reject his mate and bond with me. Everyone called me shameless for breaking their mate bond. But only his mate secretly rejoiced, because she was the one who paid me to do it.

After it was all done, she confronted me angrily.

“I only asked you to separate us, not to bond with him! Why are you digging your own grave?”

***

Francisco’s mate, Arielle Bennett—no, now she’s his rejected mate—shoved a wad of cash toward me, her voice edged with hysteria. “Why did you actually bond with him? He’s a monster, a devil—didn’t you get it?”

“I told you to split us up and leave the pack after you were done. Why did you go and get marked?”

I looked at her, her eyes slightly red with emotion, and spoke calmly. “Because I fell for him. Over time, love blossomed. Now he’s my mate. Since you two are no longer bonded, he’s mine now.”

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she took off her coat and scarf. Her left cheek was swollen, the corner of her mouth split, and there was a patch of missing hair, exposing raw skin.

She pointed at her face, furious. “He did this the night before he rejected me. He warned me to keep my mouth shut afterward, saying even if we were no longer mates, he wouldn’t spare me if I spoke against him.”

Then she laughed, a wild edge to it. “This is the last time he’ll lay a finger on me. You knew, you knew exactly why I hired you—to help me get rid of him for good. Why did you bond with him?”

Arielle wasn’t finished. She even started to undress in front of me. Her back was a map of bruises, not an inch spared. Her chest bore burn marks, still raw.

Old scars layered with new ones. She had shown me once when we first met, and now there were many more wounds.

I turned my gaze away, speaking firmly. “Enough, Arielle. Stay away now that you’re rejected! Don’t badmouth my mate, and stop showing up to cause trouble.”

“Why does he only beat you, not others? In the six months we’ve been bonded, he hasn’t laid a finger on me! Stop trying to drive a wedge between us.”

She couldn’t hold back any longer and stormed out, pulling on her clothes as she went.

“He’s fooling you. You’ll regret this! You’ll regret it!”

I watched her angry figure disappear into the distance. Perfect, that’s exactly how a rejected mate should act toward the new one.

Stay away, Arielle. Don’t come back.

I pulled out the mate bond certificate from my bag. I’ve waited for this moment for so long.

Francisco, we’re finally officially bonded now.

How could I ever regret this?