Page 12 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

That’s the worst part about having a fated mate—being separated feels like death.

I force a large smile onto my face. “Your Grace, my apologies.” I bow deeply at my waist, a flowery show of respect that is hopefully enough to get my point across to him. “I unfortunatelyam not feeling well and must retire to my room. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

He says nothing. Not even a single noise of complaint or acknowledgment is thrown my way, which only makes my cheeks feel hotter.

I don’t look at him or raise my eyes from the floor. It’s too embarrassing. But I wait for him to dismiss me. I can’t move unless he does so and until then, I’m simply stuck bowing to him for an infinite amount of time.

Maybe this is how he’ll torture me—force me into bowing for the rest of the meal until he’s finally had his fix of entertainment. This certainly wouldn’t be the first or last time that I’ve been used as nothing more than a cheap trick at a party. Daniel’s certainly a fan of doing so himself.

No one else in the room moves either, barely breathing while we all wait for Aiden to say something. Do something.

Finally, he clears his throat. “You may go.”

The words have no emotion behind them. They’re simply devoid of anything other than abject boredom. It hurts me, I think, to hear him say them so callously to me, as if last night meant nothing. As if the sweet words he whispered to me, each time he tantalized an orgasm out of me and held me afterward when my body shook from the force of it, meant nothing.

How cruel.

But then again, what do I expect? My lot in life is this—misery.

Keeping my eyes low in submission, I turn on my heel and quickly leave the dining hall, aware of the multiple pairs of eyes following me until I’m finally out of view and heading back up the stairs to my room.

My eyes burn the entire way while a sob chokes at my throat.

How could last night mean nothing to him? How could he stand our bond being tested like this?

Isthis some kind of test? To see how loyal I am? If so, it fucking sucks.

I’ve never been in the presence of another pack alpha outside of Daniel. Even when my dad was still around, he never spoke of the other packs or how their inner politics worked. So honestly, I can’t even be sure if this is a normal thing—for a pack alpha to test their mate for…some reason.

Maybe to see if I’m resilient? If we were to make this public, I’d be named his Luna immediately. Perhaps this is him teaching me?

I hope so. Because if it’s not, then I don’t know how I’m going to survive this.

***

After breakfast comes and goes, Delilah heads up to check on me.

I send her away soon after though, not wanting to socialize or even get into why I rushed away from our meal so soon after sitting down with Aiden. It would be much too complicated totry to tell her anything while my thoughts and feelings are still a jumbled mess.

Plus if I involve Delilah now while I still have no answers from my mate, then she’s likely to go scorched-earth on my behalf and get usbothinto trouble with Daniel.

So I fake an illness and stay in for the rest of the morning and afternoon, hiding myself away while Delilah promises to be back when night falls before disappearing out the door to go explore the rest of the Pollis pack grounds.

I wish I could be like her—not caring about things or letting anything get me down. It seems silly in comparison to have an alpha I barely know rule my emotions so heavily. What will happen once I’m forced to go back to Andromeda?

Will Aiden ask me to stay?

Flashes of him smiling and kissing that other girl’s hand send me into a bitter rage again as I flop over onto my other side and curl under my covers.

Fuck him.

I never needed a mate before this. I certainly don’t need one now.

The door to my room opens quietly, alerting me to Delilah’s return. I peek out from under my covers at the window next to me. Dusk has just begun to fall, leaving the fading sunset to still illuminate the room somewhat.

I keep my back to the door and hunker down again.

Maybe she’ll figure out that I’m still not feeling well and forgo asking me to come with her down to the ball. Surrounding myself with other females and flirty Pollis packmates sounds like the worst idea on Earth at the moment, given my already foul mood.

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