Page 10 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

By the time I’m getting myself dressed and ready to head out to forage for some breakfast, a sharp knock at my door startles me.

Aiden?

He must be coming back to check on me, probably with food.

When I reach the door, I notice that it’s locked from the inside—Aiden’s doing?—and I flip the lock away from the jam and open it. To my surprise, though, it’s actually Delilah on the other side of the door.

“There you are!” she exclaims, pushing her way into the room before I can say anything. “What the hell happened last night?”

“Uh.” I quickly shut the door behind her. “What?”

She’s still in her dress from the night before and her hair is a little disheveled. Other than that, she still looks absolutely stunning.

“Last night after the ball.” She turns to look at me. “You just disappeared. I tried looking for you but I couldn’t find you. And then when I came back here, the door was locked and I couldn’t get in. I knocked and knocked but you weren’t answering. I had to sleep with Milly and her weird stuffed cat!”

I wince a little, though relief shoots through me at the confirmation that she hadn’t walked in on anything last night. At least for now, my cover isn’t blown.

“Sorry, I was super tired from our trip and came back here to lie down. I must’ve passed right out because I didn’t hear you knocking.”

Delilah’s eyes grow soft. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. Probably just all the stress finally leaving my body for once.”

She smiles a little.

Delilah’s the only person in the pack who knows about what Daniel’s put me through. She’s unfortunately powerless, like myself, to stand up to our pack alpha, but at least she’s always there to lend a shoulder for me to cry on. I couldn’t ask for a better friend.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t sleep here. It won’t happen again, I swear.”

She waves her hand. “Don’t worry about it. Let me change and then we can go grab breakfast.”

I sit on the bed while she gets out of her dress and washes her face in the small private bathroom attached to our suite. My thoughts drift back to Aiden.

I wonder where he is or what called him away that forced him to leave me.

It must be important—dire even. It has to be.

“Ready to go?” Delilah asks, popping her head out of the bathroom doorway.

I slowly stand, trying to not make it obvious how sore I am. If she asks, I can probably wave it off as not being used to standing in heels for a few hours.

At least it’ll buy me a little time until I have to come up with my next lie.

Heading downstairs with her, the wafting smell of food hits my senses and has my stomach and my wolf growling in delight. Since I barely ate last night and had nothing after rolling around in the sheets with Aiden for hours, it’s safe to say that I’m goddamn famished.

A bunch of the other female shifters are already down in the dining hall when we enter, all seated at a very long table with platters of food already served. Delilah and I take two seats near the left end and start immediately covering our plates with food.

“Mmm, oh gods.” Delilah groans with her first bite. “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

I nod while wolfing down mouthfuls of egg. It really is.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Pollis pack lives well—after all, they are the pack that rules us all. But goddamn do I wish we had this back in Andromeda.Iprobably wouldn’t get a cut of any of this, but it seems unfair that Delilah can’t either.

The clinking of a fork against a glass has the table quieting down and turning to the source of the noise. A man around Daniel’s age stands at the head of the table and smiles at us all.

He bows his head slightly and then says, “Welcome ladies. It’s nice to see you all up so bright and early. While the rest of the estate is still waking, I wanted to address you all first by saying that last night was lovely. Unfortunately our king-to-be wasn’t able to make it, but rest assured he’ll—”

“I’ll take it from here, Riker, thank you.”

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