The Rejected Alpha (Book 1 of the Rejected Series)

Chapter 18

I stared at myself in the mirror and pursed my lips, hating how different I looked. I moved a hand through my shoulder length hair, not knowing if I liked it this short or not.

I was wearing the dress that Nike had given me, and I was not a fan of it. The dress was short, barely reaching mid-thigh, and black. Instead of having regular straps, it had skinny straps and left my back mostly bare.

Paired with the black dress, Nike had given me black heels and fake silver jewelry that were weapons in disguise, and they were given him by his brother. On my face, Analina had placed "natural" makeup, but she did go a little overboard and placed eyeshadow that made my gray eye and a bold red lip. She also almost poked my eye out a couple of times, making my eyelashes darker and fuller.

"Well, how do you feel?" Analina asked, watching while I looked at myself in the mirror. She folded her arms across her chest and stood right behind me; her dress and makeup were done perfectly.

"Like the Viper," I replied, turning until I could look at myself from behind before pulling my gaze away from the mirror and looked at her. "Let's just hope that they won't put two and two together."

Analina shrugged her shoulders, slipped her arm through mine, and started to lead me towards the door. "I am sure that they won't," she said, grabbing our clutches. She handed me mine, and I grunted out my thanks. "I mean, I thought that since you hadn't been going around as her..."

"She wears the bold lip, dark dress, and the makeup," I replied. I shrugged my shoulders and grimaced. "Or at least I wore it when I was her. The only thing different was that I wore boots, a leather jacket, and half-fingered gloves." I held up the clutch. "And I didn't have this."

The Viper... a name that was given to me by the highest person on our team for the way I was able to strike when it was least unexpected and so precise that my prey didn't know what was coming. She, well I, had been called a seductress by members of different packs, able to seduce anything on two legs when I wanted to.

I had been called a ghost, a shadow, able to move through them and deliver death. I was the one that had been called if things got rough.

I was the one that people warned their children about, the boogeyman in the middle of the night.

"You're not changing," Analina said. "I mean, your hair is different than her, right? And you are more scowly than you were."

"I don't think that makes a difference," I replied when she opened the door. I bit back a scoff when I noticed Anthony standing at the opposite wall, waiting for us and looking at the ground.

Analina opened her mouth to say something but stopped when I pulled at her arm. She gave me a quizzical gaze but didn't say a word when I shook my head and closed her door.

We started walking the way we needed to go when Anthony called out, "Analina," and we paused.

"What?" Analina said, turning her head towards him. She kept going and pulled my arm, indicating that she didn't want to stop.

"Where is she? Nike said she was with you," Anthony said. "However, I don't see her." He didn't look at me, and I had to keep facing forward because all I wanted to do was roll my eyes and flick him off.

"Then call her. Why don't you?" Analina asked, her voice shaking a bit from laughter. She cleared her throat. "I have to take my friend, who doesn't speak English, down to Nike. She's visiting from China. Isn't that right?" She squeezed my arm.

I shrugged my shoulders and bit back a smirk. I knew that Anthony had learned Chinese and could detect who I was if I did speak it, so I kept silent.

"Ya, sure, whatever," Anthony said, distracted.

"Why don't you call her?" Analina asked. "Maybe you can find her that way." She winked when I shot her a glance and looked towards him.

Anthony snorted unamused. "The bitch is pissing me off," he muttered. He pulled out his phone and called mine.

The sound of Nike squealing like a pig filled the hallway around us, and I turned towards him, pulled out my phone, and raised an eyebrow, answering the call. "You need to pay attention, Anthony," I said, watching as he took a step back and cleared his throat. "You're a Kingsman." I hung up the phone and placed it back into the clutch, turning and going the way I was going.

"I didn't expect your hair to be short," Anthony said, running to my other side. "I thought you didn't like haircuts."

"I don't," I replied coldly. "My grandmother and Analina forced me to have one." I shot Analina a look, and she snorted. "Isn't that right?"

"It was time for a change," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Does she look like her?" she asked, changing the subject. "Alex is worried that she does."

"I am not worried," I mumbled. "I just feel like I do."

Anthony walked in front of us and stopped, and we had to stop before we ran into him. He studied me with a critical gaze before twisting his finger around and telling me to turn.

Rolling my eyes, I took my arm out of Analina's and complied with Anthony's wishes, making sure to do it slowly.

"Really?" Anthony asked when I turned to face him again. He scowled and gestured for us to continue going towards the party. "That was unnecessary."

"What was unnecessary was for you to stop in the middle of the way and almost caused us to run you over," I replied.

Anthony shrugged his shoulders. "You do look a bit like her," he mused. "But, I do not think they would know." He paused and studied me. "He doesn't know. Does he?"

I shook my head, knowing that he was talking about Levi. "No," I said. "He doesn't know about her." I shrugged my shoulders. "I didn't want him too scared, especially since I had taken over as his Beta."

Anthony nodded his head. "I think you will be fine," he consoled, and I hesitantly nodded my head. "Oh." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small box. "Put everything on. Do you think you can get some of his blood?"

I shrugged and took the box from him. "Depends on what tools Corey made for me," I replied. I opened the box to see an earpiece and two rings. "The rings are for the blood?" I asked.

Anthony shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know," he replied. "I think you need to ask her that." He nodded to the earpiece. "That'll help you contact her. They're all there."

I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes in disgust. I hated the earpiece with a burning passion. I hated having them hear my thoughts, which was why I had placed my old one in a box in my room, hidden underneath a floorboard with all of my other Kingsmen stuff.

"Put it in, Alexandra," Anthony warned. He narrowed his eyes and watched as I did what I was told to do.

"There?" I asked, turning it on so that others could hear me as well. "Happy?"

Anthony smirked, while the others gave me their greetings. "Ecstatic," he said. He gestured for me to put the rings on. "And, now, put them on."

I rolled my eyes complied, hoping that Corey would tell me what they would do soon.