Hell Kissed: A Rejected Mates Romance (The Rejected Realms Series Book 1) Read online

  Hell Kissed

  Copyright 2021 A.K. Koonce & Harper Wylde

  All Rights Reserved

  Editing by Elemental Editing & Red Line Editing

  Cover design by Killerbookcovers

  No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without express written permission from the author. Any unauthorized use of this material is prohibited.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Fire Kissed

  Also by A.K. Koonce

  Also by Harper Wylde

  About A.K. Koonce

  About Harper Wylde

  Chapter One

  Group Project

  Rhys

  “You’re special, Rhys. Keep your head down. And know that you are love—”

  The woman’s eerie whisper changes abruptly into a harsh, blaring alarm that snaps my eyes wide open.

  “Fuck,” I hiss as I snuggle deeper down into the warmth of my blanket.

  It’s my first word of the day. Just like yesterday. And the day before. Then my dream and the hypnotic voice of the mysterious woman fades all too quickly from my mind as more terrifying thoughts shove in and stake their claim.

  I have to partner with Kyvain and the other alpha fur-holes for our project in Speech 102. They’ll make my life miserable for approximately forty-five minutes. That’s not… too long. I can handle forty-five minutes.

  It’s a terrible way to start my morning, but...

  “Shut that alarm off!” Mary yells from the kitchen.

  My hand sneaks out from the blankets, and a cold chill races up my exposed flesh just long enough for me to hit the off button on the old alarm clock. I slink further into the warmth of my bedding and dwell on the day to come.

  “Get your ass up, Rhys! I’m not going to hear another phone call from our alpha saying you’re skipping classes again.”

  My eyes roll so far back that I think I just learned telepathy in a hidden part of my brain.

  “For the last time, I didn’t skip. Kyvain slammed his locker into my face, and I literally lost consciousness!” I mutter from under the safety of my blanket, fingers tracing the faint remains of the bruise that rings my eye from the incident. It still aches, but it’s worlds better than it was a few days ago. My makeup will easily cover the faded blues and purples, erasing any evidence that he ever hurt me.

  “Up!” she commands, and the moon mark across my chest burns instantly.

  And I stand just as fast.

  My jaw grinds, and I wish like hell I had a different relationship with my adoptive mother. She’s been all I’ve known since I was seven. I don’t really remember much before that except a blur of foster homes I never belonged in. After all this time, Mary should be like a genuine mother to me, but she’s never given me the affection a mother should.

  She isn’t at all like Bea’s mom. Bea’s my only friend, so her family is the only real example I have of what a family is supposed to be like.

  And Mary, she should have adopted a stray dog instead of a child.

  I saunter through my room and grab my clothes for the day. My project in speech keeps picking at the back of my mind, but I swallow it down and try to ignore it. I’m twenty-one years old. I’m too old to be afraid of some boy whose massive ego is probably making up for the shriveled little thing in his pants.

  A warm caress flits across my calf, and I peer down at my number one fan in life.

  “Aww, Loki,” I say in that baby talk voice that even I hate.

  The sweet little gray cat swishes his fluffy tail even more against my lower leg.

  “Good morning, Loki,” I say again with duck lips and all, fully understanding how ridiculous I look.

  His meow is loud and demanding.

  Right. Food.

  Got it.

  He’s my number one fan because I am the goddess of food in his life. It feels a little like he’s using me in that sense, but I’ll take what I can get.

  I fill his bowl near my door and slip out into the kitchenette. The smell of coffee is strong, and the deep frown on Mary’s face is even stronger. Lines etch her tan features. Streaks of silver are smoothed back against her light brown hair, gathering into a loose bun that she wears nearly every day. She doesn’t say anything or glance my way when I walk through the small room and into the bathroom to change and get ready.

  I can’t wait to move out, but in the Dark Moon Pack, you live with your parents until your first shift or until you’re mated, a day Mary has been waiting for longer than even I have. Literally, our calendar has big red X’s slashed across dates leading up to today. She hasn’t acknowledged it or congratulated me, so clearly tonight’s shifting ceremony is an exciting celebration for her.

  Not for me.

  I take my time combing through my white blonde hair. It hangs in a long veil around my pale features. After I’ve brushed my teeth, dabbed on some concealer around my left eye, and pulled on my jeans and black tee-shirt, I’m finally out of time. Speech class awaits.

  And so do the alpha wolves.

  The front door to our tiny cottage closes behind Mary with a heavy slam. Pressure shoves into my chest as I slide on my sneakers and grab my black bookbag.

  Maybe I’ll get lucky. Maybe I’ll get another concussion in the hallway, and I won’t even have to deal with the group project. Why is this an issue in my life? Why is my life so mundane that a group fucking project is the worst thing that could happen to me on the day of the Dark Moon?

  Tension continues to build in my lungs and throat, but I refuse to think about it as I step out into the warm morning sunlight. It shines across my face in a calming ray of tranquility.

  Everything’s going to be fine.

  Kyvain won’t taunt me. And I won’t accidentally attack his dick with my fist again.

  Because that is truly the worst thing that could happen.

  Alpha Morganson nearly disowned us that day. Mary was furious. She said we could easily be packless if I dishonored our alpha again. A lone wolf can’t survive in the wild, she said. The wild being typical suburban America.

  Shudder.

  But she’s right. I barely fit in with my own kind. How could I possibly live in the human world outside of our pack community in the quietest part of Los Angeles?

  “Rhys!” Her excited voice blooms in my chest, and I can’t explain the tingle of wolf magic that shakes through me.

  “Bea!” I smile hard as she jogs from her cottage just next door to mine.

  Her thick brown hair falls in glossy waves around bright green eyes. She’s as beautiful as she is kind. The Dark Moon Celebration will be the night of her dr
eams, I’m sure.

  She’ll shift and find a mate. Me… I’ll be lucky if the brooding wolf inside me decides to show her face to this pack of assholes.

  A man catches my attention from just behind Bea though. I freeze in my steps. He’s a stranger. I’ve never seen him in our pack, I’m sure of it. Messy dark hair falls into his eyes as he follows my friend’s movements until she gets to me. My heart stutters when I meet his intense, studious stare.

  I blink, and the scent of ash singes the air.

  Then he’s gone.

  I close my eyes and check again several times…

  It’s so busy out this morning, maybe it was just another neighbor with a bad hair day… bad hair month… year.

  All around us, the other cottages are a rhythm of opening and closing doors. The community is more of a village. I’ve seen a human television in the mall that once referred to our pack as a cult during a news report.

  They’re not entirely wrong.

  Take tonight for example. The entire pack is going to gather on the hill for the most important night of my entire life. The night of my twenty-first Dark Moon.

  My wolf will finally show herself. Some will claim mates tonight, others will simply find themselves.

  I’ll probably be the latter… Maybe. If the she-wolf inside me feels like it. Because let’s face it, she wears the pants in our relationship.

  She’s the alpha dom and I’m just some quiet submissive who owns the body she struts around in.

  I grimace at that thought but keep heading to the end of the lane where the monstrosity that is Dark Moon Community College awaits.

  Our alpha’s great-great-great-grandfather built the school himself. That explains why it’s all one level and the windows slant on the left, like the institute had a bad stroke once upon a time.

  “I’m paired up with Jov today,” Bea whispers with a deep blush as we walk up the two small steps to the front entrance.

  I bump my arm into hers and give her that smile I’ve always shown her when she mentions her crush. She’s also paired with Monica and Aimee, but I guess she’s forgetting those two narcissistic she-howlers. Thank God the teacher didn’t pair me with Kyvain and those two.

  We turn into the second room on the left, and the small speech class is filled with students who mill around before the lecture starts. I take a seat at the large table in the back, and Bea joins me there. The two seats on the other side of us remain empty.

  I don’t know why she does it. Why does she remain my friend when it doesn’t gain her any brownie points with anyone else? Everyone loves Bea. She’s the sweetest person I’ve ever met, and she’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember.

  I’m forever thankful that out of all the people in this place, she’s my neighbor.

  The scraping of a chair sounds near us, and I look up to find Jov pulling a chair over to Bea’s side.

  “Hey,” he whispers with a shy smile.

  “Hey,” she says back in a breathy voice.

  God. Stop it and ask her out already! Put her breathy, blushing girl brain out of its misery already, Jov!

  That faint stirring swirls inside me once more, and I feel that magic even though I don’t understand it. She’s always there with me even though we’ve never met.

  My wolf.

  “Do you want to go to the Dark Moon with me tonight?” Jov blurts his question out, and even I’m impressed as I pretend to ignore the two lovesick puppies at my side.

  “Oh. Yeah. That sounds great,” Bea says with a smile eating up her words.

  Wow. Way to go, Jov.

  Really, it’s a terrible idea. What if she mates with Benn or Calvin or one of the dozens of other men who check Bea out weekly?

  Jov finally manned up and asked her on a date on the same night she might find her fated love. She might go with him and leave with someone else.

  What an idiot.

  He should have kissed her a long time ago, because tonight it might be too late.

  He should have kissed her like she’s always wanted...

  A collective gasp and a moan of… Why does that sound like a porn moan right now?

  I peek over out of the corner of my eye to find Bea’s fingers threaded tightly through Jov’s hair as he kisses her so hard even my own vagina is starting to get secondhand turned on right now.

  Um…

  “Mr. Ravensen, please remove yourself from Miss Stevens’ tongue and find a different seat.” Professor Reed stares at the couple down his thick-rimmed glasses, and it honestly takes several more lip locking kisses for the pair to separate.

  Seriously. Kudos, Jov. What romance novel have you been reading to make a move like that?

  Jov looks like he’s in a daze as he stumbles over to the chair at the table across from us. And if I thought Bea was a blushing mess before…

  She looks at me with the biggest smile, and I can’t help but laugh.

  Damn.

  Who knew Jov Ravensen was a dream man?

  Mr. Reed flips through the calendar on his desk at the front of the room and the class quiets, despite several girls throwing curious glances at Jov and Bea.

  “Everyone pair up with your assigned groups. Your debate on Pack Origins: Blessed by the Gods or an Evolutionary Trait, is due by the end of the week.” The professor plops down in a black swivel chair behind his paper cluttered desk and seems set on ignoring us all for the next forty-five minutes.

  My heart slams and dips down hard as I lift my chin and look up at the man seated two tables ahead of me. Calvin slouches down in the seat across from Kyvain with a twisted smile kissing his lips. Calvin tosses his bag into the chair next to him as he speaks quickly and quietly. I can’t see anything but Kyvain’s unruly blond hair and arrogant square shoulders.

  I stand slowly, and as I walk to their table, a mantra of good vibes and calming energy circles my mind.

  Don’t punch him in the dick. Don’t punch him in the dick. Don’t punch him in the dick.

  My sneakers squeak when I stop at the empty chair at Kyvain’s side. Without a word, I lower my bag to the table, but his hand flies out fast. He shoves the bookbag from the surface, and it hits the old tile floor with a solid thud.

  “Seat’s taken. Sorry, Rice,” he says with a cruel smirk on his lips as he mispronounces my name like we haven’t been in school together since second grade. His fingers tap the desktop, his large family ring glinting like a constant reminder of his status in our pack.

  The wolf in me stirs. That’s truly our problem… my problem. I’m no different than any other girl in this pack, but my wolf is. And they know it. The beasts in them recognize the beast in me, and for some reason she isn’t like the others. She doesn’t bow to social norms. She doesn’t care about respect or alphas.

  She will fuck Kyvain’s perfect little egotistical world up. And she doesn’t give a shit that I suffer her consequences.

  Maybe that will change with time. Maybe once she and I bond tonight, I’ll no longer be a target for assholes like Kyvain.

  “There are only three of us.” I try not to roll my eyes, but the chair next to Calvin has two backpacks slouched in it, and it’s becoming very obvious that they’ve intentionally waited for me to take this seat.

  Or try to, at least.

  “Seat’s taken. I don’t know what you want me to do about it.” His striking blue eyes that are so similar to his father’s look up at me.

  I don’t look around. I don’t dare let him think he’s as superior as he acts.

  Even if he really is.

  There are two shoving, conflicting emotions warring inside me. One is my own—that’s the nervous side.

  And the other… the other is the wolf who likes to get me in trouble. That’s the I’ll-kick-your-ass-and-I-don’t-give-a-fuck-what-your-daddy-has-to-say-about-it side.

  My wolf didn’t get the memo about us possibly being rejected from the pack who took us in out of the kindness of their hearts. No, she doesn’t give
a wolf’s furry ass about rejection.

  “Do you want me to move the chair to the other side?” I suggest with a sugary sweetness I don’t feel, striving to be the good little peacemaker I know I should be.

  “No.” Kyvain shakes his head slowly, a ruthless glint in his blue gaze. “You know what I want, Rice-a-Roni.” He nods to the right, but… nothing’s there. Just an empty aisle between work desks.

  I shrug, confusion pulling at my brows.

  What. Does. He. Want? Just get it over with already!

  “Be a good girl and sit,” he says with a sharp curve of his lips.

  Calvin snorts under his breath, and it dawns on me that Kyvain wants me to sit on the floor at his side.

  Like a dog. Like the whore he often calls me.

  A current of anger rises up, and a growl hums at the back of my mind as I stare at the asshole in front of me.

  “Sit,” he hisses once more, the air of alpha authority he likes to lord over me filling his harsh command. Someday, he’ll probably take over his father’s position and lead the pack. What will happen to me then?

  My heartbeat thrashes, and that nervous, kind side of me that I cling to so hard is quickly stomped over by the wolf that hides deep inside. She refuses to obey, and the demand he expects me to follow rolls off my shoulders like water as I ignore him.

  His eyes flash for the direct slight, and I can practically feel his own wolf bristle and snarl at the insubordination.

  Fuck him.

  “It’s sad really,” I say without thinking.

  “What is?” Kyvain snaps.

  “That tiny dick syndrome causes so much aggression in men like yourself.” Sometimes I surprise myself with my bravado, but ages of being bullied will do that to a person.

  All the snarky replies I’ve built up over the years wait on my tongue like an arsenal, ready to be used when they push me far enough. It doesn’t take much for my wolf’s rage and my own smart mouth to get there these days. The closer I get to the Dark Moon, the closer my wolf seems to be, and the thinner my self-preservation filter becomes.