Mismatched: Rejecting the Alpha

The clinical lights of the Shifter Reproduction Center bleached the test results in my hands. Probability of conception with Maddox: zero percent.

The clerk across the counter wouldn't meet my eyes. She shifted her weight, sliding a glossy brochure across the desk. "Ma'am, perhaps… consider reassignment?

A Drank shifter might offer a higher compatibility rate. Breeding is highly improbable under your current match." The defect was mine. Maddox was an Srank apex predator.

A Drank human like me had no business breathing his air, let alone sharing his bed.

We only survived the initial pairing because of a fluke in our pheromone compatibility test years ago. He used that excuse every night. We need to breed.

His heavy body pinning me to the mattress, the bruising grip of his hands, driving into me until my vision blurred and my throat went raw.

I remembered the rough scrape of his thumb wiping away the dampness on my cheeks. "Stop crying," he had scoffed, his breath hot against my skin. "An inferior human like you needs to secure a pup.

It's the only way you'll ever be worthy of me." The phantom sting of our screaming match this morning still burned in my chest. I stared at the zero on the paper.

I swallowed the ash in my throat and looked up at the clerk. I gave a single nod. "Alright.

Process the paperwork and find me a new mate." Chapter 1 The clerk's fingers flew across her keyboard. "Perfect, ma'am. We'll get this expedited.

Any specific preferences for your new match?" "Gentle," I said. "Eventempered. Someone who doesn't lose his mind during his rut." Everything Maddox wasn't. "Noted.

We'll notify you in three days. Just sign this confirmation right here." I signed on the dotted line, the scratch of the pen sealing the deal, and shoved the paper into my bag.

Pushing through the clinic doors, I nearly collided with a woman dragging a sobbing canine shifter by the wrist. The guy was a mess, begging, but she didn't even blink.

I recognized the blowout curls immediately. It was my boss, Carmen. Half the office gossip revolved around her revolving door of shifter husbands.

She caught my eye and offered a bright wave. "Ditching yours too?" I rubbed the back of my neck. "Planning on it. My mate isn't exactly thrilled with me. Four years, no pup.

It's time I stop wasting his time." Carmen scowled. "Don't give me that selfpitying crap.

You're making women look bad." She hooked her arm over my shoulder, pulling me close. "So what if he doesn't like you? Get a few more. Build a harem.

Why the hell are you hung up on just one?" I offered a tight, forced smile.

In a society where shifters held all the cards, Carmen was an apex Srank female born to the top of the food chain.

I was a Drank human who had dropped into this world five years ago with nothing but the clothes on my back. Females were scarce. Pups were rarer.

Polyandry was the gold standard, but a shifter settling for a fragile human? Social suicide. When I first arrived, the HumanShifter Harmony Coalition took me in.

They hooked me up with a decent job and handed me the keys to a nice twostory townhouse. The only catch? I had to get married.

Desperate for a roof over my head, I threw my name into the mating lottery. A system glitch labeled me a highcompatibility match with Maddox.

That was the only reason an Srank predator even looked in my direction. The weight of the signed paper in my bag pressed against my hip. I had requested a new mate.

I had officially crossed the point of no return. I was wired for monogamy; I couldn't stomach the idea of a harem. If I was getting a new mate, I had to cut Maddox loose.

He'd probably throw a party once he found out. The drive back was a blur of gray streets. I pushed the front door open, stepping into the quiet foyer.

Before I could even kick off my sneakers, a shadow fell over me. Maddox stood at the edge of the hallway, a dark apron tied over his broad chest.

He braced his shoulder against the doorframe. "You actually came back today?" Chapter 2 This morning, I had practically begged him to come to the clinic with me.

He had looked at me like I was something scraped off the bottom of his boot. "Do you honestly think you deserve it? Four years, Vada, and nothing to show for it.

You might as well divorce me before I lose my patience." I had never pushed back before.

But today, the words had slipped out before I could stop them. "Maddox… do you actually mean that?

Every time you say it?" He had crossed his arms, his gaze flat and unreadable. "What do you think?" I hadn't stayed to see his expression. I had run.

Usually, when Maddox threw the 'D' word around, I'd find a park bench somewhere, cry until I was hollowed out, draft a pathetic apology in my head, and slink back the next day.

I dug my nails into my palms, forcing the tightness in my chest down. "I… I came back because we need to talk." He dismissed me with a flick of his wrist. "Not interested.

Busy." Before I could force the words past the lump in my throat, a voice drifted from the kitchen. "Maddox, is it ready yet?" I knew that voice. Seraphina. His childhood friend.

A vulpine shifter. She was stunning. Elegant. Everything a fragile, lowgrade human wasn't.

They had been the perfect match, destined for each other, right up until the system glitched and shoved me into the picture.

The sharp edges of Maddox's face instantly softened into something approaching a smile. "Almost." A cold numbness settled over me.

I forced my mouth into a stiff line. "I'll give you two some space. Text me when you're done." I spun on my heel, reaching for the door handle.

A hand snapped around my wrist, the grip bruising. "Is this it, Vada?

You're just going to take it?" His voice was a low, dangerous rumble, the sound vibrating in his chest. "I tell you to divorce me, you don't fight back.

I bring another female into our home, and you don't even flinch." "Are you that numb? Or are you just a stray dog?

You come when I call, and you roll over when I tell you to?" The words hit like physical blows. My eyes burned, the sting sharp and sudden. I didn't have the energy to mask it.

I kept my head down, my voice barely above a whisper. "Let go of me, Maddox." His grip tightened, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of my forearm. "Then why are you crying?

Do you actually think your tears do anything to me?" He knew me too well. He knew every flinch, every ragged breath.

He knew how to break me down, and he knew he didn't care enough to put me back together. During his ruts, he was a monster.

His teeth would tear at my neck, my collarbones, leaving me covered in deep, purple bruises. It was agony. I would sob into the pillows, begging him to stop.

His eyes, bleeding a feral red, would just stare down at me. "Why are you crying? You deserve this." He was rough. Relentless. I usually passed out before he was finished.

But I'd always wake up clean. The sheets would be changed, my body washed. The first few times, I was stupid enough to think it meant something.

I was stupid enough to let hope bloom. He always crushed it before I could even process the thought. "Don't flatter yourself. I have to clean you.

I can't stand the mess." He'd sneer, the disgust rolling off him in waves. "Touching you makes my skin crawl. It's just the rut.

Pure instinct." I'd bury my face in the fresh sheets and cry until I couldn't breathe. Then, I'd wipe my face, paste on a smile, and serve him breakfast. Maybe he was right.

Maybe I was just a stray. I forced my head up, trying to pull my mouth into a smile. It felt like my face was cracking. "Maddox. I came back to talk.

Let's just lay it out." "I went to the Shifter Center today. I filed—" "Maddox, why are you always so mean to Vada?" Seraphina stepped out of the hallway. "She's your mate.

I've told you a hundred times, you need to be gentler." Maddox flinched. He dropped my wrist like it was redhot iron. I rubbed the raw skin and took a step back.

Seraphina closed the distance, her gaze dropping to the high collar of my shirt. "Vada, does it hurt?

Do you want me to look at it?" She was looking right at the spot Maddox had bitten me two days ago. I was wearing long sleeves and a high neck, but she saw it anyway.

Chapter 3 Seraphina was a genuinely good female. Even though I was the glitch that wedged between her and Maddox, she never took it out on me.

Once the initial shock of our matching wore off, she plastered on a smile, helped me pick out flower arrangements, and stood by my side as my bridesmaid. She was perfect.

So perfect it made me feel like dirt beneath her shoes. I took a halfstep back and waved a hand in the air. "It's fine. You two eat.

I have an errand to run." I didn't wait to see their faces. I pushed through the door and hit the pavement. My pace quickened.

The streetlights flickered on as a suffocating tightness gripped my throat. My phone buzzed in my pocket. [Vada, please don't misunderstand!

Maddox called and said you two were fighting again. I knew things were tense, so I came over to give him a piece of my mind.

I just didn't expect you to cool off so fast and come home early.] I stared at the glowing screen, my thumb hovering over the keyboard. [We didn't fight. I just figured things out.

I'm letting him go, and I'm letting myself go.] [???] I locked the screen and dropped the phone back into my pocket. Seraphina wasn't stupid. She'd connect the dots.

I wandered the concrete grid of the city until the sky bruised purple, then faded to pitch black.

As I turned the corner to our street, a shadow detached itself from the brick wall of our townhouse. Maddox.

My sneakers barely scraped the pavement, but his head snapped up instantly. Canine shifters owned the night.

In the wash of the moonlight, his silvergray hair gave off a cold, metallic sheen. His eyes, usually halflidded and bored, were wide and alert.

I watched his pupils contract into razorthin slits, then slowly expand, adjusting to the darkness with predatory precision. Maddox loved the night.

It was when the beast in his blood woke up. But I hated the dark. It terrified me. In my old world, I was an orphan.

My parents had been drowning in debt, buried under threats they couldn't fight. The last thing I remembered was my mother tucking me in, her hand trembling as she smoothed my hair.

When I woke up the next morning, the house was dead silent. Their skin was already cold to the touch.

For a long time after that, the night was a physical weight, crushing the air out of my lungs. During the day, I could fake it.

But when the lights went out, the memories clawed at my throat. Maddox was the first person in this world who felt like family. It hadn't always been a nightmare.

In the beginning, there were good days. He had noticed my habit of leaving the bedside lamp burning until dawn.

Worried the glare would mess with my vision, he started staying up with me.

He would rub slow, soothing circles into my back, his deep voice awkwardly stumbling through old fairy tales until my breathing evened out.

Only when the tension bled from my muscles would he reach over and click off the lamp.

If I flinched, his arms would wrap around me, pulling me flush against the warm, solid wall of his chest. "Don't be afraid," he would murmur against my hair. "I'm right here." Wrapped in his heat, the darkness had finally stopped feeling like a grave.

That illusion shattered a year later. When my stomach remained stubbornly flat, Maddox marched into the Shifter Center demanding answers.

The experts ran the data, scrubbed the files, and handed down their verdict: The human female likely consumed a hormone spike before the initial test, artificially inflating the compatibility metrics.

Maddox kicked the front door open.

The lab report hit my cheek with a sharp sting and fluttered to the hardwood floor. "Read it," he demanded, his voice dangerously low. "How could the system make a mistake on an Srank?

Was this your plan all along?" My stomach dropped.

I stared at the paper, a memory flashing in my mind—Carmen handing me those bitter supplement shots the week before my test, claiming they were just vitamins. "Maddox, I… I did drink some supplements from my boss, but I didn't know what they were." My voice shook. "I never tried to fake anything.

I swear." He looked at me like I was a cockroach on his shoe. "Are you really that pathetic, Vada?

You can't even own up to it?" He turned his back on me. "Let's get a divorce." Chapter 4 In this society, a husband couldn't dissolve a bond without his wife's signature.

And ruts had to be spent with a mated partner—any deviation meant brutal penal codes. For three years, I had used those laws as a cage.

I had anchored him to me, selfishly ignoring the ice creeping into his eyes and the disgust curling his lip. I just couldn't let go. I squeezed my eyes shut, blocking out his face.

Then, I took a step forward. "Maddox. I'll sign the papers." Before the words fully left my mouth, his hand shot out. Long, bluntcut nails dug into the pulse point at my throat.

His grip wasn't tight enough to crush my windpipe, but it pinned me in place, stealing the air from my lungs. "Seraphina already tipped me off." His voice was a dangerous rasp against my ear. "Trying to bait me into another divorce trip so they can lock me up again?" A few months ago, after a blowout fight, I had actually agreed to end it.

He had frozen, then let out a sharp scoff. "Finally." We never made it to the clinic. A feral, infected rogue shifter had breached the city perimeter.

Screams ripped through the street. Bodies shoved past me. I was knocked to the asphalt, the rough gravel tearing the skin off my knees. The coppery scent of my blood hit the air.

The rogue's head snapped toward me, eyes glowing with rabid hunger. I screamed Maddox's name. He didn't come. A deafening gunshot shattered the chaos.

A highranking female Commander—Maddox's superior—blew the rogue's brains out just inches from my face. She publicly dressed him down.

A patrol officer failing to protect civilians was bad; failing to protect his mate was treasonous. I had dragged my bleeding leg forward, desperate to intervene. "Commander, wait!

He was shielding a child in the crowd.

He didn't mean to leave me exposed." I swallowed hard. "Besides, we were on our way to finalize our divorce today." "Divorce?" The Commander's gaze swept over me, cold and calculating. "Who initiated?" "I did." She didn't buy it.

Her eyes locked onto Maddox. He stood in silence for a long beat before speaking. "I did." The Commander's face turned to stone. "Everyone knows how Vada treats you.

She's remained strictly monogamous.

And this is how you repay her?" "She's a defective human." Maddox didn't even blink. "I don't need her." The Commander stared at him with absolute detachment.

Then, she flicked two fingers. Guards dragged him away. I had panicked, begging her to let him go, insisting it was mutual. She just offered a chilling smile. "Relax.

We're just sending him to reprogramming. You'll get a perfectly obedient mate back." I found out later he was thrown into a Shifter Discipline & Reconditioning Facility.

A month later, he walked back through our front door. He was… perfect. He made breakfast. He pressed soft kisses to my cheek. He even knelt to tie my shoes before work.

I thought we had finally turned a corner. I thought, despite my inability to carry a pup, we could be a real family. Then his rut hit. And the drugs wore off.

Right in the middle of it, the hazy warmth in his eyes vanished. The cold, suffocating disgust slammed back into place.

His fingers had clamped around my throat, squeezing just enough to make black spots dance in my vision. "Did you actually think I loved you?" he had sneered against my ear. "It's the suppressants, Vada.

Just the drugs." That was the exact moment something inside me permanently broke. I was losing the only family I had left.

Chapter 5 "No." I stared at him, my throat tight. "I mean it this time." A single, hot tear broke free and hit the back of his hand.

He flinched like the drop was acid, his fingers snapping open. "Who would believe you." He jerked his head away, stepping aside to clear the path. "Go take a shower.

You stink of sweat." I had been walking all day. My skin was sticky, my face stiff with dried salt. I stayed under the hot spray in the bathroom for an hour.

But when I pushed the door open, Maddox was in the living room, digging through my bag. The clinic's lab report was clamped in his hand. My stomach dropped.

I rushed forward. "Don't look at that." He hoisted the papers above his head, ignoring my grab. "It's just a lab report. Let's see just how incompatible we really are.

What are you hiding?" The confirmation receipt was tucked right behind the report. I lunged, jumping to snatch it. The papers tore.

A single white sheet fluttered to the hardwood floor. Before I could drop to my knees, Maddox snatched it up. He stared at the bold print.

His mouth moved, reading the words with dead precision. "Application for Mating Reassignment." The silence in the room thickened. He slowly dragged his eyes up to mine.

The temperature in the room plummeted. "You suddenly want a divorce, Vada, because you found someone else?" The blue of his eyes darkened, his pupils contracting into sharp, jagged pinpricks.

His jaw locked, a muscle ticking along the bone. I had promised him, once, that he would be my only mate. I dug my nails into my palms.

There was no point in hiding it now. "That's right, Maddox. I thought we could make it work, low compatibility or not." "I thought we could wait for a pup.

But I can't stand your temper anymore, so I—" A heavy hand clamped around the back of my neck. He crashed his mouth down on mine, swallowing the rest of my words. Teeth clashed.

Copper flooded my tongue. I shoved hard against his solid chest, wrenched my face away, and swung. My palm cracked against his cheek. Maddox didn't flinch.

He rolled his jaw, pressing his tongue against the inside of his bruised cheek.

His gaze dropped to my mouth, heavy and suffocating. "You're doing this to me, Vada, over some stray mutt?" Silvergray ears snapped upright from his hair.

The sharp glint of fangs peeked past his lips. His blue eyes pinned me in place. He took a slow, deliberate halfstep forward. The air left my lungs.

My scalp prickled, and my feet automatically scrambled backward. "Maddox, you can't force me." A low, rough chuckle vibrated in his chest. "Can't?

Vada, you're my wife." He reached out, his long fingers caging my jaw. His rough thumb dragged over my split lip, catching a bead of fresh blood.

He pulled his hand back, staring at the red smear on his skin before touching his thumb to his own mouth. "Even if we divorce, you're going to remember who marked you." Heavy fists slammed against the front door.

A megaphone crackled to life outside. "City Security Bureau! Open the door!" The lock shattered before we could move. The door flew open.

Three tactical officers stormed the living room. They took in the torn papers, the blood on my chin, and Maddox, completely shifted into a feral, halfbeast attack stance.

The lead officer's face turned to stone. "Take him." In the back of the armored transport, the lead officer shoved himself onto the bench between us.

Maddox didn't even acknowledge the guard. He just stared past him, his icy blue eyes locked dead onto my face. The officer cleared his throat. "Watch yourself, sir." Metal clicked.

Heavy cuffs locked around Maddox's thick wrists. Chapter 6 At the Bureau, I was ushered into a sterile interrogation room.

The officer from the raid walked in holding a paper cup of warm water.

He was tall, his shoulders broad under his dark uniform, and just his presence sucked the tension out of the room. "Hello, ma'am.

I'm Rhys." A gold pin on his chest flashed under the harsh fluorescent lights: SSRank Dragon Shifter. Rhys.

He slid the cup across the metal table. "If you are being abused, you need to tell us.

We can handle it." In a world where males were biologically wired to dominate, the City Security Bureau had a zerotolerance policy for domestic violence.

As he talked, the pieces clicked into place. The neighbors. They had heard the yelling. They had seen me walking out with redrimmed eyes and bruised skin.

Yesterday's screaming match had been the final straw. I buried my face in my hands. The heat of humiliation burned my cheeks. "No, it's not… I was just crying.

It wasn't physical…" Rhys listened without interrupting.

The line of his jaw hardened. "Psychological torment is still abuse, Vada." He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a certified counseling license, and tapped it against the table. "You look exhausted.

Do you want to talk about it?" His voice was so calm, so completely devoid of the sharp edges I was used to.

The tight knot in my chest loosened just a fraction. "I'm divorcing him," I whispered. "He never wanted me…" My vision blurred.

Wet heat spilled down my cheeks and dripped off my chin before I could stop it.

Rhys slid a box of tissues toward me. "Walking away from a dead end takes guts," he said softly. "You're going to be fine, Vada." The corners of his eyes crinkled.

It was a real, unguarded smile. I looked up, and that warmth settled right into the hollow ache in my chest.

I took a ragged breath, wiped the wetness from my jaw, and nodded. "Okay." I crossed paths with Maddox in the hallway. We were heading in opposite directions.

Rhys had told me Maddox's attitude in the holding cell was combative, showing zero remorse. Protocol dictated a mandatory separation period.

Maddox was getting locked in holding for a few days to cool off. As we passed, he tilted his head, his iceblue eyes tracking me. I snapped my gaze to the floor tiles.

But when his heavy footsteps faded down the corridor, I stopped. I looked over my shoulder and watched his back until he disappeared around the corner. Rhys drove me home.

I stared out the passenger window, chewing on my lower lip. "Is he going to be okay in there?" Rhys turned the steering wheel with one hand, his tone steady. "We're a regulated bureau.

He'll get a lecture, not a beating. Don't worry." I let out a long breath. I crashed as soon as I hit my mattress.

The next morning, my phone rattled hard against the nightstand, jarring me awake. I swiped the screen. The clerk from the Shifter Center practically yelled into my ear. "Ma'am!

Congratulations! We found you a match. An SSrank shifter!" "Are you free to meet him today?" I sat up, the blood rushing from my head. "SSrank?

Didn't I ask for a Drank?" "We bypassed the rank requirement because your pheromone compatibility hit ninetynine percent!" Maddox's accusations echoed in my head.

I gripped the phone tighter. "Are you sure? The system isn't glitching again?" "One hundred percent positive, ma'am. He's cleared his schedule for this afternoon.

I'll text you the address. Don't be late!" The line clicked dead. Chapter 7 The clock on my nightstand read a quarter to noon.

I scrambled out of bed, washed my face, and aggressively patted concealer under my eyes until the swollen, red rims were hidden. The address the center sent was a cafe downtown.

The exact same cafe where I first met Maddox. I remembered how he sat across from me back then, practically radiating frost.

I had been so anxious I knocked over my mug, frantically mopping up the spill with napkins while he just stared at me, his brow pinched in a deep scowl.

Looking back, Maddox had probably loathed me from the very first second. I sank into a booth, my fingers twisting the hem of my shirt.

Suddenly, a familiar voice drifted down from above. "You're my perfect match?" I snapped my head up. Rhys.

He had traded the tactical uniform from last night for a wildly different look.

He wore a sharply tailored dark overcoat that highlighted the broad span of his shoulders and the long line of his legs.

His hair was pushed back, casual but neat, drawing attention to the warm amusement dancing in his eyes. My heart did a strange, tight stutter against my ribs.

It wasn't logic; it was a pure, biological tug.

He slid into the booth across from me, the corner of his mouth tipping up. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon." I gave a stiff nod, still trying to process the shock.

He raised a hand, catching a waiter's attention, and rattled off an order. An iced Americano for him, and a toasted caramel milk tea for me.

When the steaming mug was set down in front of me, I blinked at it. He knew my exact order.

Rhys caught my expression and offered a casual shrug. "I read your file before I got here." It was true. I couldn't stomach anything bitter.

The first sip was pure sugar and warmth, the thick foam carrying the rich scent of burnt caramel. The tight knot in my chest loosened a little more.

I wrapped both hands around the ceramic mug, anchoring myself.

I looked at the man sitting across from me—steady, elegant, lightyears out of my league—and forced the words out. "You know my file.

I'm just a Drank human." "It's the exact reason my current mate can't stand looking at me." I swallowed hard. "If you don't want this, don't force it.

I can tell the Center we weren't a match." Rhys listened, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Vada, you work for the HumanShifter Harmony Coalition.

Are you letting yourself be brainwashed by all that rigid classsystem garbage too?" He leaned forward, closing the distance between us.

In the sunlight streaming through the window, I could see the distinct, golden slit pupils of a dragon shifter. But there was nothing cold or predatory about them.

They looked like warm, liquid amber. "You don't act like this on the clock," he said, his voice dropping into a smooth, steady cadence. "When you're dealing with the people who need your help, you listen to their struggles.

You fight for their rights.

When they tear themselves down, you build their confidence back up, piece by piece." He tilted his head. "So why do you shrink away the second it comes to your own heart?" I stared at him, my mouth slightly parted.

How did he know all that? My job was literally bridging the gap between humans and shifters, dismantling the exact prejudices we were talking about. It was a grind.

I spent my days bouncing between field visits and community centers, but I was positive I had never crossed paths with a highranking dragon shifter. "Right now, you think this is only our second time meeting," Rhys said softly, his gaze locking onto mine. "But Vada, I've seen you more times than you could ever count." Chapter 8