Page 131 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

I don’t move. Nor do I breathe.

Raine was never supposed to be a breeder.

I remember her cowering before me when I came to collect her. How scared she’d been and the scent of her fear burning my nose when I pulled it deep into my lungs. The way her pack alpha, Daniel, had conducted himself, and how woefully disorganized the entire event had been.

No dowry. Nothing but the clothes on her back. Her intense struggle to understand that none of the members of my pack were out to get her.

Daniel sold her to get rid of her. He sought out the highest bidder, most likely hoping that the rumors about me were true and Raine would meet her end by my hands, or worse. Did he hope I would torture her endlessly?

I’m sickened to my core.

“I see.” My voice is rough as I speak; it’s hard to push back the emotions brewing just under the surface.

My regret for not going back there and slaughtering her entire pack is now here to bite me in the ass—to show me that I was right in knowing how corrupt they all were. Raine’s kind nature, her much too big heart, had held me back when my instincts were telling me otherwise.

The sweet way she told me not to bother. I should’ve presented it to her as a gift, instead—her pack alpha’s head on a platter, and asked for forgiveness instead of approval.

Aiden clears his throat, shifting slightly on his feet. “Her mate is requesting her return.”

Glancing around at the enforcers behind him, along with the lone female, no one moves to step forward.

Interesting.

“And he is where?” I say.

Aiden shifts again, clearly uncomfortable. “Does that matter? I’m here to collect her to bring her back to where she belongs.”

For some reason, his words trigger me. A deep dark feeling settles in my stomach and blooms slowly through my veins. I sit with it for a moment, letting it fill me until I finally realize that it’s true, unadulterated rage.

Raine’s mate—a coward not worth his weight in salt—is onlynowstaking a claim on her when before, he couldn’t be bothered to properly care for her, let alone ask her to stay with him to raise their child together.

And instead of coming here himself to ask me to give her back, he’s sent his fucking alpha king to do the job for him.

In the hope that I, another alpha king, will bend to the will of my equal.

I huff out a laugh, the sound growing louder as reality sets in on how trulyridiculousthis all is. Raine had it so horribly before I came and got her, and now these people want to take her back to all of that?

Absolutely not. I’d rather lay myself on a bed of hot coals and let my skin melt from my bones before I ever let any of them even lay an eye on her ever again.

Your Grace…Wren’s voice tingles in the back of my head at the same time that I double over, not being able to help myself.

Honestly, when I chase this pack away from my lands, the first thing I’m doing is going back to Andromeda and finding Raine’s mate. I’ll delight in skewering him.

“I don’t find any of this very funny.” Aiden’s perturbed voice causes me to laugh harder.

To think that this alpha has no true idea how any of his packs run—selling illegal breeders, treating pregnant females as worse than cattle. Hell, treating her poorly before that. How can he call himself an alpha king?

I’ll admit, I am a harsh ruler, but my hand seems like nothing compared to his careless one.

Catching my breath and sobering up, I finally straighten to my full height in order to wipe away the tears that have collected under my eyes.

“If you think,” I say, focusing back on him, “that I will ever let you step foot past that territory mark and into my packlands in order to fix somethingyoufucked up, you are truly out of your depth.”

His arms drop to his sides, shoulders bunching up toward his ears. Behind him, one of his enforcers lets out a low growl.

Stepping back from the territory line, my shoulder brushing against Wren’s while I usher him backward, I say, “As much of a shame as it is to be meeting you under these circumstances, I wish you well on your journey home.”

My beta is reluctant to move, even with my insistence. It seems he’s not as trusting as I am that my young counterpart will behave and leave like I’ve requested him to. While my knowledge of Aiden is practically non-existent, I knew his father quite well.

---