Page 132 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

We clashed on many things, leading to a contentious relationship. He was old and stuck in his ways and didn’t receive the news of a very young heir stepping into the role left after a bloody battle very well.

“I’m not leaving until she comes home with me, Calloway.”

I wave my hand at him dismissively, turning my back and heading for the trail leading down into the valley. “Then you will be waiting there for the next century, because it won’t be happening.”

“There has to be some price.” His tone is desperate enough that I stop in my tracks to listen. “Whatever it is, I’ll get it and bring it to you. Name your price.”

My wolf coils within me.

An offer such as this comes rarely, if ever, from another equal. We are both in a position of high enough authority that all who answer to us with bow if we so ask. The offer of getting me something in exchange to correct a mistake is tempting.

Too tempting for me to pass up.

“Her mate,” I say, slowly turning back to him.

He blinks in astonishment.

“I want you to bring me her mate.”So that he can kneel at my feet and beg for his life before I behead him.

Aiden blinks twice more before his expression steels again. “That’swhat you’re asking for?”

“Yes. Bring him here so that he can ask me himself.”

To him, the request may seem outlandish. What he doesn’t know is that I want to stare that male in the eyes as he tells me how much of a mistake he made in letting Raine go. How he regrets letting his pack alpha sell her illegally to an alpha rumored for his cruelty.

I want to watch as that male drops to his hands and knees and begs me right before the light leaves his eyes when I punch a hole through his chest and rip out his still-beating heart.

Would it be too macabre of me to present it to Raine as a gift? Perhapsthatcould be her pushing gift. Daniel’s head will simply be an added bonus. Perhaps a one-month gift after the child is born.

Aiden nods slowly. “And then you’ll give her back?”

“Sure,” I lie. “Once Raine properly identifies him.”

He grimaces.

I smirk back. “Come back here once you have him, and then we’ll have another discussion.”

With that, I turn back around and head onto the trail, both Wren and my patrol unit following me. All of them are tense, their nosy emotions buzzing around in my head like flies. Typically, we are not negotiators. My tactics usually end in brute force and bloodshed.

Here though, I need to be delicate in how I handle things. Especially if it means I get to have Raine’s tormentors finally see justice.

“Calloway,” Aiden calls to me.

I stop and look over my shoulder once more at him.

His hesitation is obvious, even if it’s only for a split second. “Tell me…is she still with child?”

I hold back from asking why he’d care. Perhaps that had been the stipulation in coming to get her—a child born in my territory would retroactively be mine to keep, no matter where the mother came from.

Perhaps Aiden isn’t in the business of losing any of his own future soldiers. What kind of king would he be otherwise?

“Come back with her mate and I’ll give you an answer,” is all I say before leaving him and his pack behind.

60

Raine

Smoke billows out of the oven when I pull it open, choking the air around me while I fan it away with a towel. The window over the sink is already open and hopefully sucking out all of the air.

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