Page 84 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

37

Raine

Apprehension causes my wolf to rumble softly inside of my chest while we start our walk to the other side of town, me following closely in Nyx’s shadow.

Elders.

While Eris has been kind to me thus far, what’s to say the others will be too? Nyx’s confidence in his pack accepting our current situation is one thing, but having it actually come to fruition is another. What’s to say that he’s wrong about their acceptance of my pregnancy?

It’s not like he’s brought another pregnant breeder to them before this.

“Nyx.”

He turns slightly to look over his shoulder at me.

“Have you done this before? Brought a breeder to your pack?”

The corner of his eye crinkles. “Why, jealous?”

I hold back a snort. Leave it to him to turn this back around on me. Though, now that I think about it, I do feel kind of weird about the idea of me not being the first one. Kind of like I have an unspoken claim over this that hasn’t been challenged thus far.

To me, it seems like Iamthe first and only breeder to be brought back here, but perhaps those feelings are simply a by-product of Soleus’s wonderful hospitality.

“I’m just wondering, so I can prepare myself for their reaction to me.”

He stops dead in his tracks, turning to face me fully. “There is no need to be nervous, Raine. They aren’t going to string you up in the middle of town to publicly shame you.”

Without meaning to, my body winces.

So many memories of Daniel doing something similar to me flood through my mind. The despair that I’d somehow forgotten in the short time I’ve spent with another pack now comes back to me in full force.

I guess it’s not really fair to put that kind of speculation on Nyx’s pack and his elders, even if I’m doing so inadvertently. It’s not like they’ve done anything so far that’s shown me that they’re anything like my old pack.

In fact, they’ve been doing quite the opposite.

Yet I still can’t help but have that be my knee-jerk reaction—to prepare myselfjust in case.

Nyx grunts softly. “Just what in the world did they do to you?”

His words are barely audible, said under his breath and to himself, but with me being so close, I can hear them clear as day. My face heats, but not out of shame. Not this time.

I feel…cared about for some reason.

He shakes his head and then pivots on his heel before continuing on our walk through town. I watch his back for a long moment, my feet glued to the ground.

He is a magnificent-looking alpha, the kind who is both intimidating and alluring, with muscles that ripple under the thin material of his clothes with each step, his head held high with confidence, and a walk that allows him to glide through town with ease.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m surprised he has no mate. Any female I know would be throwing themselves at his feet like they had at Aiden’s ball. Yet the only females I’ve ever seen him around are Rose and Eris, neither of which he had any ofthatkind of chemistry with.

Jogging to catch up with him, I stick close to his back while we weave through his packmates, most of them watching us curiously when we pass.

We come upon a large home, just a smidge smaller than Nyx’s. There are beautiful stained glass windows in the front and a large intricately carved wooden door that greets us. Nyx doesn’tbother knocking before letting himself in, ushering me inside behind him.

The door sounds heavy when it closes firmly behind me, leaving a foreboding feeling in my chest.

Light shines in through the stained glass, giving the foyer a pretty rainbow glow while we head around the grand staircase and down a long hallway. At the end of it is a large circular sunroom containing more stained glass windows that spill light into the room in eye-catching speckles.

A round table is in the center of the room, with its chairs pushed up against it. Toward the far left side is a crackling fireplace that doesn’t seem to emit any heat.

---