Rejected My Alpha Mate novel Chapter 17

Tyler POV

Camelot Records Auditorium

"No wonder you've kept her hidden all these years! I wouldn't want the world trying to steal my woman all the time either."

Dylan Roberts had been my best friend since we were boys. He was the youngest son of House Roberts who were the Alpha House of New Moon Pack. My father had wanted me to have strong friends; all the boys put into my orbit growing up had been potential new Alpha leaders or betas at least.

The merit of a friendship was judged based on how useful the friendship could prove to be in the future as far as Alpha John Wright was concerned.

I doubted my father had ever had a conversation without first weighing whether or not he could benefit from the exchange of words.

"Thanks for letting me sign her. I gotta admit I was surprised you agreed to it with the travel involved in her tour package, but it's a very generous---"

"Travel?"

Dylan looked at me with a short bark of laughter, "Tyler, have you heard anything I've said? We signed your wife last week with one of the most ambitious tour schedules in years. People are hungry for exactly the intimate performance experience Rachel delivers and she does deliver every single time, man! She's a natural!"

'Silence!'

I closed my eyes in frustration as I ground my teeth together. My wolf was getting away from me again. Wynd had completely taken over to snap at Dylan.

"I apologize, Dylan. Wynd is not keen on the attention Rachel is getting. He'd also like it noted she is our mate, not our wife."

"Understandable," Dylan agreed cautiously, edging back toward the stage as he eyed me, "I'm going to go check in with the team. Make sure everything is ready to go."

I let him run while he could. Wynd radiated a smug aura in my mind which I couldn't fault him for as he was a strong Alpha. Wynd had not been the one to lose our mate: I shouldered the blame alone for Rachel's absence.

'Damn right you do. It's your place to get her back, too!'

'Do you have any suggestions for returning her?' I asked my wolf, feeling a fool for having a conversation with myself in public even if it were entirely confined to my mind.

'Why would I have any idea how to get your mate back? My mate didn't leave me. Your mate left you!'

Wynd had a point.

Rayne had gone with Rachel the way Wynd would always have to go with me. Our wolves were trapped inside us as much as we were trapped with our wolves. I sometimes envied the silence humans must enjoy inside the sanctity of their private minds. I knew the quiet wouldn't be worth the tradeoff though.

Humans were an overall weak race and I had not been bred to tolerate weakness.

Dylan had not returned in some time and the stage remained empty. I was growing more restless than the reporters. Unsurprising, I supposed, as reporters were regularly expected to wait while I waited for no one.

Moonrise Entertainment handled many press conferences every single week. I was annoyed over the extensive delay in presenting the talent.

I told myself I was frustrated by the lack of professionalism, but Wynd gave a snort inside my mind to prove he knew my irritation was fueled solely by my impatience to lay eyes on my mate again.

Dylan was shaking hands with an older man by the wings. I couldn't see Rachel. My view was obstructed as my stepsister Charlotte made her way in front of me.

"Tyler! You have to meet Nathan Lewis. He's Alpha heir to Full Moon Pack. He says he knows Rachel!"

I didn't care if Nathan Lewis knew the location of the Holy Grail, the Fountain of Youth, and Osama Bin Laden's weapons cache. If he kept blocking my view of my mate, I was going to kill him.

Holding his hands up jokingly, Nathan offered, "Easy, big fella. I'm only here as a friend. I promise I will leave your little sister in the same piece I found her in."

"I don't give a damn how you leave Charlotte. She's capable of handling her own affairs."

Charlotte had never needed a male to take care of her. She wasn't delicate the way Rachel had always been. I suppose my father was lucky in his daughter because I'd never been responsible for protecting my sister.

"Ouch. Char, you sure big brother has your best interests at heart?"

"Don't worry about Tyler. He's all bark and no bite."

I had plenty to say about her description, but, right then, Rachel appeared on the stage and the world fell away.

A slip of blue silk whispered over her body, molding itself to her curves and moving as smooth as water being poured into a glass. Her skin glowed with health. She'd paired a set of red stilettos with the dress for a pop of color; I couldn't stop staring at how long and strong her legs looked.

Applause sounded throughout the audience as she settled on the piano bench.

Dylan returned to my side and bumped my shoulder with his own, "She's a real showstopper, right?"

Rachel had a natural magnetism to her. I'd thought it was a sign of inheriting her grifter father's thieving ways, but there was almost no deception in Rachel at all.

She didn't even tell polite lies gracefully so she'd mastered the art of creative omission.

I had been the reason she'd needed to learn the skill. I wasn't proud of how I had treated her. I wasn't ashamed of it either.

Rachel had been cared for from the first moment she had entered my life. I could have done better, but she could have done worse as well.

"Stop growling, would you? You're going to ruin the atmosphere."

I clamped down on my emotions, forcing Wynd back to the farthest reaches of my consciousness as Rachel began to play.

Closing my eyes, I let myself feel the music. Her voice was a gentle breeze on a hot summer day. The piano was rain sprinkling down in spring.

My wolf preferred to sleep with his mate at his side; I had indulged my nature by playing the YouTube video of Rachel singing "Love at the First Sight" as I readied myself for sleep at night.

With my eyes closed, I could remember the exact moment I had first laid eyes on her in LUST.

I knew this song was about her love for me.

"I can't believe it! You really like this one!" Dylan chortled in my ear.

"This is my song," I told him confidently, "Rachel is singing about the first time we met. I can tell."

Dylan was grinning from ear to ear as I opened my eyes at the end of the song. The audience went crazy. They loved Rachel! She was a star.

My father was going to have plenty to say to me about not handling her contract myself. Who knew what was included in the fine print?

Dylan wouldn't try to take advantage of my mate out of malice, but there were business standards in entertainment which were accepted practice to try to arrange for the good of the production company.

Dylan and I were the best of friends---yet friendship did have limits within the business realm.

He was going to try to do right for Camelot Records the way I would always try to do my best for Moonrise Entertainment.

"We're going to start the interview now!"

"Shh," I heard, looking over to find Nathan Lewis patting my sister Charlotte on the arm to try to settle her down to better hear the reporters up front.

"Rachel Flores everyone! Rachel, I think the question on everyone's mind has to be: what was the inspiration for Love at the First Sight? Have you felt love at first sight yourself? Are you singing from experience?"

Rachel gave a throaty laugh I hadn't heard in far too long. She stood from the piano bench to share the standing mic with the famous announcer who represented Camelot Records in their press junkets, Carlton Joy.

"I have, actually, felt love at first sight. This song was inspired by my own life. I consider myself blessed to have the memories."

"So you're not with your first love?"

"I am currently single," Rachel allowed with a toothy grin which earned her some wild applause.

"You've gotta give us more," Carlton urged, "At least give us a little more of a peek behind the scenes, Rachel! Please?"

Rachel laughed again, "You surely aren't interested in hearing this? Oh, okay! Okay! So, I was---"

"Finishing high school," I murmured confidently.

Dylan raised a brow at me as Rachel finished.

"---a freshman in high school---"

Dylan mimed being shot through the chest and I crossed my arms to avoid punching him. What did Rachel mean a freshman in high school? We hadn't even met!

"I had known his family all my life. I'd thought he was cute, but he had never noticed me. I got turned around in the halls, wound up in the wrong class, and he offered to walk me back to piano---then he stayed for my lesson. Just to hear me play. I knew I would feel happy if I could just play for him for the rest of my life."

I didn't pay attention to the rest of the interview, instead I was focused on the flush on Nathan Lewis's face and the fact he was paying far too much attention to my mate.

The minute the interview was over, I shot to my feet: I was going to have words with Rachel!