Page 99 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

“What?” she asks.

She drifts over toward me, catching my attention and drawing my eyes up from watching the water move.

“He’s my fated mate.”

Her jaw drops instantly. “What?”

Nodding, I say, “Yeah. And he still rejected me.”

“He knew?!”

“Of course. It’s not something you can hide.”

Rose stumbles back, looking completely bewildered. “How…why? Does he know about the baby?”

“He doesn’t think that it’s his.”

Her brows pull together. “What an asshole. Is he stupid?”

For some reason, that makes me laugh. She may not know who we’re talking about, but hearing someone call an alpha king stupid is a little vindicating. “I don’t know.”

Though I’m sure even if Rosedidknow who we were talking about, her opinion would remain the same.

“Does Nyx know?” she asks. “About that guy being your fated mate?”

I shake my head. “If you wouldn’t mind not telling him…or anyone actually, I’d appreciate it. It’s just…it still really hurts, you know? I’m not really ready to talk about it in depth with anyone…just yet.”

To my surprise, she grabs me and pulls me into a tight hug. “You have my word. My lips are sealed.”

“Thank you, Rose,” I mumble into her shoulder, and squeeze her back.

It feels nice to have a friend in a foreign land I don’t know. I don’t feel as alone anymore. It’s probably shitty of me to be asking her to keep secrets from her brother and her pack alpha like this. I’m grateful that she’s willing to, though.

“Excuse me,” a third voice says. “What do you two think you’re doing on my land?”

45

Raine

We jump apart, spinning around to face the voice.

A woman, human, stands just at the water’s edge. Her gray, wiry hair is tied up tightly on top of her head, and prominent wrinkles indent her tanned skin. She’s wearing loose-fitting pants and an oversized jean jacket that has grease stains all over the front of it.

“We’re just swimming,” Rose says, gesturing around us.

The woman eyes us warily, shifting on her feet just enough to touch something out of view behind her back. “This is private property.”

I open my mouth to apologize to her, but of course, Rose beats me to it.

“There weren’t any signs posted.”

I wince inwardly.Oh Rose…

The woman frowns. “There are at the beginning of the trail.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” I say. “We didn’t come down a trail. But we’ll get out of your hair—”

“No way,” Rose cuts me off. “There aren’t any signs anywhere. I’ve been up and down this river plenty of times and I’ve seen nothing. We don’t know what you’re talking about, lady.”

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