The Tyrant Alpha’s Rejected Mate is the first novel in Cate C. Well’s Five Packs series. The novel is a self-published paranormal and werewolf romance that will appeal to fans of the classic “rejected mates to groveling for forgiveness” pipeline in shifter romances.

Synopsis (courtesy of Cate C. Wells):

Una
I keep my head down. In this backwards pack, females rank low, and my bad leg makes me damaged goods. It doesn’t help that I’ve never shifted. I don’t mind the late twenties single life, though. No one’s paying any attention as I build an illicit farmer’s market empire.

My roomies and I are doing it for ourselves, and if life under Killian Kelly is stifling, at least it’s predictable. We can deal.

But when biology finally kicks in, I lose my mind. I claim our alpha as my mate. And he rejects me in front of the whole pack.
It’s all good. It only hurts when I breathe. I’ll survive. That’s what I do.

Who wants an arrogant jerk for a mate, anyway? I’ve got a business to run.

Killian
To lead this pack out of the dark ages, I’ve had to be hard. Merciless. I don’t flinch, and I don’t make mistakes.

Una Hayes isn’t my mate.

My wolf might have some kind of strange infatuation, but if she were mine, I’d know it. And I can walk away, can’t I?
And if I keep coming back? If she starts living in my head?

I’m the strongest male in five generations. My pack scrambles to do my bidding. I can bring one quiet female back in line. No one can possibly be as stubborn as I am.

There’s no way I’ve ruined the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

Thoughts:

• Una Hayes is a low-ranking and unmated female of the Quarry Pack. She has a damaged leg and is working towards building her “farmers’ market” forbidden business with other low-ranking females of the pack.
• Killian Kelly is the ruthless alpha of the Quarry Pack. He has worked hard towards modernizing his pack’s outdated and unmerciless ways. When Una’s wolf publicly recognizes Killian as her mate (much to her chagrin), Killian rejects Una Hayes her in a cruel and humiliating manner.
• Killian is a polarizing “hero” and very much an a-hole at the outset of the novel. He eventually comes to realize his error in rejecting Una and readers learn about Killian’s efforts towards ensuring that low-ranking/unmated females of the Quarry Pack are protected.
• Despite Killian’s extensive groveling and good deeds, some readers may still be left unsatisfied and hurt by his previous actions towards Una. (SPOILER: I’m still salty over Killian letting another female sit on his lap and gyrate all over him (presumably to teach Una a lesson that she was most definitely not his mate). Like asshole, go die).
• While the sex scenes are raunchy, they are few and most definitely not long enough. The true erotic nature of this novel is in the foreplay. It is in the “will they or won’t they?” moments of push and pull between Killian and Una.
• IMHO, the big secret reveal does not make much sense but is just there to add dramatic effect to the “fated mates” aspect of the plot. (SPOILER: Killian learned he was Una’s mate when he was nine years old (on the day he saved her from the attack that injured her leg). At the urging of one of the pack’s witchy elders, Killian drank a magic tea to forget about the mating bond so that he could focus on becoming alpha and changing the pack to be a safer place for Una. He couldn’t do this while knowing Una was his mate? Come on…).
• The characters get their happily ever after but the bonus epilogue (obtained by subcribing to author’s newsletter) is the true happy ending of the novel.
• WARNING: This novel contains many references to r*pe and abuse of women/females.