Page 52 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

Even though all of this makes my pack look bad, and by proxy me too, I’m also delighted in the fact that this feels like a shaming ritual. I have no doubt that if he wanted to, Nyx’s beta could easily rip these chains apart and free me.

But instead of doing that, showing off the ridiculous strength his large muscles possess, he’s gone out of his way to ask for a key that’s obviously not been brought along.

Maybe it’s a small victory for me after being treated so poorly all these years. A kind of karma that will only happen once in this lifetime for me, but means everything to me all the same.

Something is finally tossed his way quickly, a silver fleck that he swipes out of the air with a flick of his wrist. He rotates it between his fingers until the key is held between his thumb and forefinger. It glints a bit in the soft morning light.

He lowers my arms again, holding them out between us as he works the key into the lock, twisting once to pop the cuff on my right wrist open first, and then the left soon after. It’s a relief to have them off of me after having to sleep in them all night.

The skin underneath them is sore, raw from how hard I’d been dragged out of my cell this morning, the fight in me still apparently undying even as my last ditch effort had been unsuccessful.

Nyx’s beta pauses at the sight of it, his hand hovering just under mine while he stares down at the harsh red marks.

I wish I could know what this says about me—about my pack. Does he find it wrong too? Or is this just another practice that seems petty in the eyes of the Soleus pack and I’ll soon be facing worse when I get there?

He tosses the cuffs to the ground carelessly.

I’m surprised when he lowers himself in front of me to get down onto his knees.

His fingers work quickly to free me from the cuffs secured around my ankles, tossing them too. The metal clatters against the other set, and when he finally straightens back up to his full height, he lets out a soft sigh.

My wolf snarls at me to run, to shift and make a break for it into the forest where I’ve run all my life. I’d have the advantage of knowing the area better than these foreigners. I could get a head start and hide somewhere until they gave up searching for me.

Daniel would have to give them their money back, as long as he hasn’t already spent it on something fruitless.

At least, that would be my pipe dream.

The reality is that I’d be easily outrun before I could get even fifty feet away. Just the sheer size of this beta in front of me, not taking into account how massive Nyx himself is, I’d be cooked.

There’s no doubt in my mind that I would be punished severely for it. Who knows—perhaps Nyx would be sick enough to chase me down himself and then once he caught me, he’d roll me over and mount me right then and there to show me what being sold to him really entails.

It would be his right to, as my new owner.

My body stiffens when his beta grabs my wrist and flips my hand over. The key that had been used to free me is pressed into my palm and then my fingers are bent closed around it by his own. The metal is warm from his hand.

Confused, my eyes dart up to look at him, but he’s already turning away from me in order to join his alpha.

“Shall we?” Nyx says, his dark eyes boring into me.

We could run,my wolf whispers.

He’s statue-still as he watches me, almost like he’s daring me to do exactly that. Would he enjoy hunting me down like some kind of rabbit? Sinking his teeth into my flesh and snapping the life from me as soon as he got ahold of me?

I shudder, a sudden chill freezing me down to my bones.

He huffs softly, much like he had when he first arrived. “Wren, give her something warmer to wear. The poor thing is shivering.”

Instantly his beta, Wren, turns back to me and sheds off his overcoat to wrap me up in it. My body shakes again, but this time from how warm the inside of it is as it’s wrapped around me tightly and secured with a belt around my waist.

It’s fur-lined around the collar and fleece-lined on the inside, made for the deep cold months that aren’t typical of the South. Why in the world would Nyx’s beta be dressed in something like this when he is from a warmer climate?

Maybe they’d figured the negotiations to hand me over would take longer than a few hours, predicting that to settle the price Daniel had been asking for, it would take some time to hammer out the details.

Whatever Daniel said to them to get them interested in buying me in the first place will probably always haunt me. None of them knew what they had been getting into when signing a deal with my alpha. Or did they, considering they already knew about the pregnancy?

I’m moved by this gesture, though. Wren had been ordered to give his coat to me and he’d done so without any hesitation, so I hope that means good things in my future.

Without another word, my new alpha turns and heads into the forest. I follow after him, leaving my old life behind.

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