The Alpha King’s Rejected Mate
Chapter 6

STERLING

I couldn’t replace Snow anywhere at the ranch. I wanted to see her, spend time with her, but she was nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t trying to make a big deal out of it, but Dutch always knew what was going on, so I went to him.

“Who was are you looking for?” he asked

“I’m looking for Snow.”

“Oh? Is there something that I can help you with instead?” Dutch asked, being far more helpful than I wanted him to be. He wasn’t trying to help me, he wanted me away from Snow. I could by how Dutch acted that he was into Snow. I had known him so long, he couldn’t hide his feelings from me.

I felt possessive of her, but when it came to Dutch, I just didn’t worry about him getting very far. He was too shy, and they had worked together for years. He hadn’t made a move in all that time, so I didn’t think he’d get the courage to do it anytime soon.

“No, I’m just going to check on some of the ranch hands.” I was wondering how Onyx was doing. Since I had been quick to hire him without Dutch’s opinion, he was pissy with me about it. Onyx needed to do as well as he said he would. I hadn’t heard anything bad, but I needed to get away from this ranch for a while.

Onyx was supposed to be getting the cattle branded. The newer ones that had been born in the spring and summer would now carry the brand that made me so much money. Cattle used to be the highest earning part of the ranch, but meat prices in stores and lower demand had made it one of the worst. All of the ranches were spending less time with cattle and more time with horses. I hoped the riding lessons would be even more lucrative. A vote could have been called at the last meeting about it, and I doubted all of my sixty-person clan would vote yes, but deep down they knew, like I did, that it was the change the ranches needed.

I watched Onyx work for a while. He was confident with how he took care of the animals. They had a healthy respect for him by the look of it, and I would swear he moved with a grace that seemed similar to my own people. I needed to learn more about Onyx, but I knew enough. He was the man I thought he was, quick judgement or not, and I wanted to encourage him to stay and be loyal.

After a few more minutes, I got his attention and motioned for him to come with me. It was clear that he was focused on his work, and I liked to see it. Onyx was going to go far. I didn’t know him very well, but I already liked him.

“I want to show you some of the other ranches. I have watched you work for a while, and I wouldn’t mind you at any of my ranches. You can have your pick.”

Onyx got in the truck, and we took off to one of the other ranches. I asked him how he was getting along at Pullers, and he seemed to be taking everything pretty good. He thought Dutch didn’t care for him, and I told him the truth, that Dutch was pissed off because I had gone over his head. It was my ranch, I could hire and fire who I wanted, but it was apparently enough to get him all worked up. I wasn’t going to worry about it though. I was well within my right as owner and alpha. Either way, he needed to heel.

We drove one, and I asked questions and he answered. He was polite enough, but it felt like he was holding something back. When we got to Clayton Ranch, I noticed the owner take off once he saw Onyx and me getting out of the truck. He had been one of the voices of discontent at the meeting, so I was curious to see how their search was going to replace someone to give lessons. Maybe I needed to check on a few of them, to get the word out. I was not messing around with this. Everyone was going to comply.

The manager’s son saw me and turned right back around. But I wasn’t going to let him get away like his dad.

“Hey, Jeff, where’d your dad go?”

“I don’t know, Sterling, he could be up at the house.” the boy looked scared and there was no telling as to why. Likely his father had talked about me and by the look on the kid’s face, it wasn’t a good conversation.

I thanked him, then walked up to the main house and waited for his dad to come out. It didn’t seem like he want to come out and face me. Likely because he had done nothing to secure a riding instructor.

“I will personally replace you someone to help out until you replace someone of your own. I have to warn you, though, it’s going to be expensive, Jeff.”

The man’s face crumpled. “We’re going to replace something quickly.”

I didn’t know if it was true or not, but I hoped he would get with the program. I tried to be easy with them, but some of the managers had to be reminded who the hell I was. I didn’t mind. I actually kind of enjoyed it. When we left this ranch, I planned to do the same thing at the next one. I was going to have a good day.

“How did you like that ranch?” I asked Onyx when we got back in the truck.

“It’s alright.”

I was trying to see where he would prefer to be, but maybe he didn’t have a preference.

I was happy and relieved to see that most of the other ranches we checked on seemed to be closer to doing what I’d said. I only had to threaten three of them. I thought that was a win, even though I had wasted a lot more time than I wanted. It wasn’t how I’d wanted to spend my day, but being the owner and leader required me to do a lot of things I didn’t want to do.

I decided on one last ranch before going back to Pullers Ranch, but I still didn’t see much enthusiasm from Onyx. I asked him what he thought of them, and he said they were impressive. Seemed like he thought I wanted him to stroke my ego. I didn’t. I wanted to know where he would be happy, so that I didn’t lose a good ranch hand. There was a lot at stake if things didn’t work out. We needed to hire more good people, not lose people.

It was the biggest ranch, and there was a pretty girl there like at Pullers. Stella Degrade wasn’t Snow, but she was beautiful, with bright red hair and a fiery spirit that was great to be around. Whoever got to be with her was always happy. I’d seen it happen a few times, and though I don’t know what went on, Stella always seemed to be the name on many lips.

When we were leaving, I asked Onyx what he thought of her, and he just shrugged. Him not being interested told me I needed to keep a good eye on him. We got back to Pullers Ranch and I pulled up outside the bunkhouse. “So, after seeing most of the ranches, where would you like to work? You can have the pick of where you want to go. All you have to do is let me know.”

“I’ll go ahead and stay where I am. I think that’s the one for me,” Onyx said.

“What about Stella? It looked like the two of you got along okay.” I didn’t want to sound desperate, but I wanted to focus him to Stella. I had a feeling I knew why he wanted to stay where he was. It wasn’t because the ranch was such a great place to be. It was because of Snow.

I didn’t worry about Dutch because I didn’t believe he would make move. But Onyx, I had a feeling he was a little bit different. He might go after Snow, and since no one there ever had, she might go along with it. I felt like I had to tell him he was playing with fire.

“She’s off limits, man.”

Onyx tried to pretend like he didn’t know what I was talking about by waving me off like there was no need to say it. Obviously, there was. If he was still thinking about Snow in any way at all, we apparently needed to talk about it. He needed to get Snow out of his mind.

“Snow is off limits,” I clarified. “She is already spoken for.”

Onyx nodded like he understood. “I was just curious. Can’t see a woman like that and not be a little curious,” Onyx said with a heavy dose of self-deprecation.

I agreed wholeheartedly. There was something about Snow I didn’t think anybody could put their finger on. She was just someone who drew people in.

“I won’t have anything to do with her,” he promised me, but I didn’t trust him. There was just something in his eyes that told me not to.

It was going to be hard to keep Onyx away from Snow since he wanted to work on Pullers Ranch. I could make him go somewhere else, even though I had given him the choice. A choice given, is a choice that could be taken away.

The fact that I wanted to keep him away from her and the feeling of possession that came over me so strongly was a surprise. I was very attracted to Snow, but being around her the last week or so had really cemented my desires. It was hard not to notice how pretty she was, but I actually wrote her off because of it. She was too pretty. I must have imagined that her head was just as empty. It wasn’t, though, and that was a relief as well as a challenge. I always liked a challenge.