Untamed: A Rejected Mate Shifter Romance (Rejected Mate Academy Book 1)

by E. M. Moore

  Contents

  Also By E. M. Moore

  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

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  Facebook Group & Newsletter

  Ravana Clan

  Order of the Akasha

  Coveted By The Dark

  About the Author

  Untamed

  Rejected Mate Academy

  Book One

  By

  E. M. Moore

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by E. M. Moore. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact E. M. Moore at emmoorewrites@hotmail.com.

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  First Edition April 2021

  PA’s: Affinity Author Services (Bibiane Lybaek & Ashton Reid)

  Cover by 2nd Life Designs

  Edited by Chinah Mercer, The Editor & The Quill

  Also By E. M. Moore

  Rejected Mate Academy

  Untamed

  Forsaken

  Saint Clary’s University

  Those Heartless Boys

  This Fearless Girl

  These Reckless Hearts

  The Heights Crew Series

  Uppercut Princess

  Arm Candy Warrior

  Beautiful Soldier

  Knockout Queen

  Crowned Crew (Heights POVs & Stories)

  Finn

  The Ballers of Rockport High Series

  Game On

  Foul Line

  At the Buzzer

  Rockstars of Hollywood Hill

  Rock On

  Spring Hill Blue Series

  Free Fall

  Catch Me

  Ravana Clan Vampires Series

  Chosen By Darkness

  Into the Darkness

  Falling For Darkness

  Surrender To Darkness

  Ravana Clan Legacy Series

  A New Genesis

  Tracking Fate

  Cursed Gift

  Veiled History

  Fractured Vision

  Chosen Destiny

  Order of the Akasha Series

  Stripped (Prequel)

  Summoned By Magic

  Tempted By Magic

  Ravished By Magic

  Indulged By Magic

  Enraged By Magic

  Her Alien Scouts Series

  Kain Encounters

  Kain Seduction

  Safe Haven Academy Series

  A Sky So Dark

  A Dawn So Quiet

  Chronicles of Cas Series

  Reawakened

  Hidden

  Power

  Severed

  Rogue

  The Adams’ Witch Series

  Bound In Blood

  Cursed In Love

  Witchy Librarian Cozy Mystery Series

  Wicked Witchcraft

  One Wicked Sister

  Wicked Cool

  Wicked Wiccans

  1

  Sorrow surrounds me like an unwanted hug.

  I breathe in slowly, trying to temper the chaos of feelings brimming under my skin. Two Lunar Pack elders sit in the front seats of the most expensive car I’ve ever ridden in, and I just know their holier-than-thou asses are attuned to my wolf’s emotions. Fucking pack bond. I would sooner sever it than have them read my pain. I focus outside the vehicle’s window to hold it all in. Acres of moonlit grass lead to Greystone Academy’s two stone turrets peeking above the centuries-old trees in the distance. Lunar Pack is incapable of flying under the radar. Glad to see that’s true even for the place they keep their unwanted.

  Rejected Mate Academy.

  From the first moment I learned of its existence in fourth grade Pack Civics class, I knew I would end up here. The note Bitch Queen Laura threw on my desk that day only solidified those thoughts. Welcome to your future hell, bitch was a lot harsher than the caption in my textbook: Greystone Academy takes in ill-mannered pups for reform.

  That’s me. Ill-mannered, and in need of reform.

  Above those bland words was a black and white picture of the same sprawling structure looming in front of me now. What they don’t describe in detail when you’re in fourth grade is that when you arrive at Rejected Mate Academy, you’ll be grief-stricken from a broken heart you never wanted. So, in essence, I guess Laura was right all along.

  This is my new hell.

  My wolf whines, and I bear down my jaw. I swear the Council elder sitting in the front seat gets a whiff of my suffering and enjoys it. His nose twitches before his lip quirks at the corners, and he drives even slower up the long, desolate road toward my new home as if to draw out my agony.

  It’s cool. I’m used to my own pack taking pleasure in my misery. Bunch of pretentious, know-it-all asshats if you ask me. But the elder taking me to this hellhole should be above the bullying and teasing, right? Wrong. Because this ride of shame proves what everyone’s been saying about me since I was a young pup.

  I’m unwanted. Unloved. Untamed.

  The blacktop road turns to gravel as the car inches past an ornate gate. Stone columns give way to an arch of iron flourishes that reads Greystone.

  The name is well-known in my pack, supplying us with a long line of strong alphas. Greystone Academy was Silas’ brainchild—the third leader from that superior bloodline who made most of our current laws, and in his tenure, built this enormous school while writing mandates that secured its use. Currently, Lunar Pack is on our tenth Greystone alpha. When I was little, I pretended I was the daughter of that strong line. After all, Greystone wolves don’t get tormented every day of their lives. They’re revered.

  My mind drifts too close to the topic I would do anything to forget right now. My wolf perks up, but I shut that shit down with as much force as I can muster. My wolf and I have been at odds with most things. Hell, I’m not even sure we like each other, mainly because I’ve been avoiding her thoughts and feelings since she started to awaken. Ignoring shit is my coping mechanism. It’s worked wonders for a very long time.

  Today of all days, though, we might be the closest to syncing. Still, she wants to think of him. She wants to relive the pain.

  I’d rather die.

  I smirk when my wolf gives me the cold shoulder. Have you ever given yourself a brush off? It’s pretty freaking weird.

  The height of the building as it comes into view draws me closer to the window. The stone turrets I spied before are impossibly tall and large, even from the ground. The gothic structure spans thousands and thousands of square feet. It’s what happens beyond th
e exterior that scares me the most though. I can only recite the facts I learned from that textbook years ago. Inside these walls, rejected mates learn civility, obedience, pack mentality, more education or less education, basically anything a wolf needs to assimilate back into their own pack on the arm of the mate who rejected them in the first place.

  I’m already calling bullshit.

  The car slows, coming to a stop in front of an arched wooden door at the top of gradually inclining steps. The sparse evening light casts the medieval structure in shadows, reinforcing the gothic look the builders were apparently desperately trying to achieve.

  Between the two turrets, the moon shines bright, and despite myself, the hair on my arms pricks, and my wolf gets restless. Electricity courses through the interior of the car. The moon coupled with this time of night is when our wolves are most alive. New shifters like me aren’t expected to control their shifts. However, I’ve been disagreeing with my wolf for so long, we don’t have that problem. Plus, she’s sulking.

  The pack elder in the passenger seat pushes his door wide. With a deep breath, I wrap my fingers around the strap of my book bag lying next to me on the seat. The door to my right opens, but before I can step out, the yellow wolf eyes of the driver catch on mine through the rearview mirror. Turquoise blue flares from his pupils, ending in a starburst of sunlit gold. His cruel smirk has me exiting the fancy ride quickly, and when I straighten, I stare up at the seemingly never-ending structure. Just…wow.

  The main academy itself consists of four floors of gray stone. The steeples and turrets rise up from there like they’re trying to touch the moon itself. Before tonight, the biggest house I’d ever seen was the alpha’s. His, too, is rock built and large, but this massive structure dwarfs the biggest house in Lunar by far.

  “This way,” the gruff voice next to me orders. He takes off without bothering to see if I’m following and has already ascended the steps before I can make my feet move. I hike my book bag up my shoulder and march forward, quickly catching up so that when he yanks the huge, wooden door open, I’m only a few paces behind.

  Our footsteps echo through the cavernous, stone halls. Every doorway that splinters off from this main artery arches high above us. A mixture of primitive and modern style meshes together with iron chandeliers and sconces for a design that is both impressive and classic. Voices drift down the corridor, but we’re alone as we traverse the building that’s half stuck in time. My wolf peeks her head up to admire our surroundings. It doesn’t last; she settles back down with a whimper almost immediately.

  I straighten my shoulders and do what I always do: put on a brave face.

  “Ms. Ebon is your advisor,” the Lunar Pack Council elder rattles off. “You’ll be meeting with her to acclimate you into Greystone Academy.”

  A hundred questions burn my brain. Is this Ms. Ebon from Lunar? I’ve never met a wolf from another pack before. Was she rejected, too? Is that why she dares work with ill-tempered shifters like me?

  For all the academy horror stories passed down, no tale went beyond its reason for existing. It was nightmarish enough that wolves were sent here, so there was no talk of what it was actually like once they stepped beyond the doors. Now that I have to call this place my new home, I’d like to understand more about it. Considering I had to leave my parents, my home, and my life—as pathetic as it was—against my will, I deserve some sort of guidance.

  Attendance at Rejected Mate Academy is mandatory once you’ve been, you know, rejected.

  A wave of fresh heartache pinches my chest. I mentally wall it behind a locked door to unpack later. If anything, I’m going to be the first student at Greystone that isn’t wallowing in my own self-misery. I’ll make sure of it.

  The council elder stops at a door to our right, rapping on the wood, and a few moments later, a woman with long, raven hair stands before us. She pays my escort no attention, keeping her dark gaze fixed on me. “Kinsey Walker?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the council member interrupts my own confirmation. “Lunar Pack,” he grunts as if I’m a disgrace to his very being.

  I guess, in actuality, I kind of am. I’m the reject—the wolf shifter the pack basically shunned. And to put the chocolate sauce on the turdburger, I’m also unwanted by the wolf I’m supposed to be fated to. My partner—my mate.

  My wolf really whines now. The guard next to me shudders involuntarily, but Ms. Ebon doesn’t blink. She must have built up an immunity to newly-shifted, despair-ridden pups. If she’s worked here for any length of time, she no doubt had to.

  “Thank you, sir,” she says stiffly. “I’ll take over from here.”

  He retreats, his footsteps waning. I turn my head to watch him go. From when we’re pups, we’re taught pack above all else. We’re taught pack before family even. The greater good. As the elder turns the corner, I don’t know when I’ll see someone from Lunar again. It doesn’t matter that I disgusted him, my instincts warn me that this is wrong.

  “You’re going to be fine, dear,” Ms. Ebon states. Her voice is sharp yet even. She has naturally thin lips with large eyes. Her straight hair is silky smooth, parted down the middle in long sheets like cascading water.

  I watch her, my naturally suspicious nature rising to the surface. I’ve never been at home in my own pack, but I’m not sure I can trust this woman either.

  She tugs the neck of her buttoned shirt down, revealing her brand, and my lips part in recognition. I have the same exact black, quarter moon mark on my clavicle. However, while hers is aged, mine sits stark in comparison. For most of my life, I hated the damn birthmark. Loathed it to my very core. Yet today, it’s oddly comforting.

  “I’m the Lunar students’ advisor because I’m from Lunar Pack. The seven other advisors at Greystone represent their own packs as well.” Stepping back, she gestures toward her office. It’s a large space, filled to the brim with bookshelves and a huge, wooden desk. “Do sit in the chair just there.”

  Two eggplant upholstered chairs with high backs face each other. Pintucks gather fabric together under glassy, circle ornaments. It looks too nice to sit in but I do as I’m told anyway.

  She takes a seat in the fancy chair opposite mine, her discerning gaze traveling down the length of me. I place my hands on the arm rests, attempting casual when this day has been anything but. In fact, it’s arguably the worst day of my entire life. I just happen to be truly gifted at separating my emotions from my actions. A lesson taught to me at a very young age by my wolfpeers.

  Her brow wrinkles. “You are an odd one, aren’t you?”

  I blink. “Excuse me?”

  “My new students are usually crying by now.”

  I scoff. “Because one self-absorbed asshole goes against his basic instinct and rejects the one thing that’s supposed to be fated in our entire lives? Gee, I can’t imagine why.”

  The corners of her mouth quirk. “Yes, that about sums it up nicely. Most pups take it harder than you.”

  I relax back into the chair. “If you’re expecting waterworks, save your tissues. I learned long ago that tears don’t solve anything.” I pretend like I’m not studying her, but I am. When I’m around another wolf in my pack, I’ll usually recognize them as such—an inherent sixth sense that everyone in Lunar is born with. With Ms. Ebon, I don’t get anything, and a piece of me wonders if it’s because I’ve already separated myself from Lunar? Have I pushed my wolf so deep down that I can’t feel my pack anymore? I wish the elder was still here so I could reach out to see if I’m going crazy.

  “Excellent,” Ms. Ebon notes. “Consoling is my least favorite part of the job. Perhaps we’ll get right down to the business part then, shall we?”

  A wave of trepidation hits me. Knowing I’d most likely end up here did nothing to prepare me. Wolf reform is about as vague of a descriptor as you can get. And in all honesty, Jonah—

  My wolf lets out a howl of anguish. I moan, my fingers curling into the arm of the chair. I’d forgotten to curb my thoug
hts, and the despair drives into me so quickly I double over.

  The truth is, I’d never felt anything like it before. The true bliss of shifting for the first time coupled with the overwhelming call of nature. The sense of family with my pack. Then, the hint of the most delectable smell on the wind. Pawing through the grass as fast as I could until I spotted him. A deep russet, shaggy coat. His ears alerted, and the most overpowering warmth cocooned me in acceptance and love. A feeling so foreign that it buckled all four of my legs, bringing me to the forest floor.

  All rational thought left. Everything I’d told myself not to do. Don’t track. Don’t look. Don’t let your guard down. My wolf had taken over, and she found him. Her mate. Her fate.