Page 28 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

12

Raine

Weeks pass by after I come back from Pollis.

The letter in my hand crinkles as I reread it again, Aiden’s loopy handwriting as comforting as a blanket wrapped tight around my body on a cold night.

Since getting back, I’ve been secretly sneaking into town to send him letters and check the PO Box that I opened up with some of the money Delilah stashed for me when she’d come to visit a few days after we’d gotten back.

“So you can write to your mate back in Pollis,” she’d said with a twinkle in her eye.

I still haven’t told herwhoI’m writing to specifically, but sending a letter to him was a genius idea that I’ll never be able to thank her enough for.

Getting up to head over to my desk to write him a new one, my body stiffens and a shot of pain shoots up through my hip to my spine.

I’m pretty sure Daniel popped my joint out of place when he beat me after I came back home. That night had been horrible, and honestly, I don’t know how I survived it without passing out.

My only saving grace had been thinking of Aiden and his promise of coming back soon to claim me.

Daniel’s excuses for beating me—or rather, in his words,punishingme—never make sense, and they hardly did that night either.

From what I gathered between his ranting and raving, he was pissed that I’d come back empty-handed with no information for him on the politics of Pollis and their newly appointed alpha. Even if Aidenhadtold me anything, I never would’ve given it up.

Especially with him being my mate.

It’s taken me almost three weeks to heal from that beating, and I still have pain from time to time. The unfortunate part about my wolf’s healing is that she can only give me so much before she also exhausts herself.

Lately, it’s been like that a lot. Being separated from her mate has made her restless and agitated, which isn’t good for either of us.

A knock at my cabin door has me tensing up.

“It’s me!” Delilah says, rattling the handle before popping it open.

Relaxing, I smile. “Hey.”

She grins. “Hey, you. Got you some food.”

I hide the letter amongst the other papers on my desk before turning to her. I’ll tell her about Aiden eventually. Until I know he’s on his way to claim me, I’m going to keep it to myself.

I trust Delilah with my life, but some secrets need to be kept close to the chest until absolutely necessary.

“What did you bring me?”

“Soup! It’s gotten so rainy and cold out, I figured you could use the comfort food.” She walks through my living room and over to the small kitchenette. “My mom just made it this morning.”

My stomach growls at the memory of her mother’s food.

Delilah’s family hasn’t exactly ostracized me like the rest of our pack, but they’ve definitely kept their distance since my father left. While they don’t exactlydiscourageDelilah from being friends with me, they aren’t keen on it either.

Still, any ounce of kindness from anyone is something that I’ll soak up until it’s gone.

Within Andromeda, that’s so few and far between.

She sets the pot down onto one of my burners and lights up the fire underneath. “Should take only a few minutes to heat up. You hear back from your mate at all?”

I nod, heading over to her. “Yeah. He’s still dealing with pack stuff. He says that he’s planning on coming to claim me before summer hits.”

“How exciting. Shouldn’t be long now!”

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