Page 109 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

Something grazes over my cheek, a whisper of a touch barely there. I snatch it with my hand, and a soft squeak escapes her.

Peeling my eyes open, I spot her hand clutched tightly in mine. Was she…petting me?

“Um…” Her eyes are distressed as they dart between me and her trapped hand.

“No need to worry about me so much.” I keep my tone light while I speak. “I heal quite quickly.”

Instantly, my words have her frowning. “Are you kidding? You almost got your throat ripped out!”

Oh. She’s angry.

Howodd.

I push myself into sitting up, and she grabs at me with her other hand to try to settle me back down. I’m already halfway through the motion though, and lean forward until I’m fully up.

“Can you stop?” She’s frantic in trying to push me back down. “You need to rest.”

“I’m fine.” My thumb runs along her pulse point absentmindedly, the fluttering of her heart rate sending a slight shiver up my spine. What is it about Raine that drives me to this point? To lose all sense of myself and forget who we are?

“Nyx.”

“Yes?” I say.

Slowly, she huffs. “Are you even listening?”

“Are you?” I shoot back at her. “What in the world were you thinking, jumping into the middle of battle like that?”

Under my thumb, her pulse steadies while her features fall into a stubborn frown. “I was thinking that you were getting yourasskicked and needed someone to pry that other guy off of you.”

My lips quirk up into an involuntary smile.So passionate.

When I first came into contact with her, I had a feeling that there was a more fiery spirit hidden underneath all of that meek sadness. I’d seen it in her eyes when I lifted her chin and she met my gaze—stared me down for a brief moment before looking away like she’d been trained to.

My attraction to her had been startling then, as I’d never planned on touching her to begin with. What would be the point in that when she was already with child? But that seed ofsomethinghad been planted in me.

Fondness, perhaps?

“Thank you,” I say.

She lets out a small huff, eyes darting away from mine while a soft pink color warms her cheeks. “I…you’re welcome.”

My grip on her wrist tightens. “You’re forbidden from ever doing anything like that again.”

“Nyx—”

I cut her off. “Do you understand me?”

51

Raine

His gaze is intensely fixed on me.

Something flares in me then, a feeling that begins in my belly and spans outward. What is it about Nyx that always has me acting like this? I’m supposed to be playing the demure breeder and keeping my head down, not gaining his attention by boldly exclaiming my real feelings.

It seems that no matter what I do, Nyx refuses to turn away from me. Instead, he pulls me in, poking and prodding at me until everything within me comes exploding out. Like he’s doing it in order to see the real me.

Maybe he is? Maybe this is what he’s been wanting all along.

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