Page 19 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

“Raine? What’s wrong?” She puts a hand on my shoulder.

“It’s, um…really complicated.”

“How so? He’s part of Pollis, right?”

I nod.

“Are you worried Daniel’s going to refuse the match?”

Lifting my head, I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. “Among other things.”

“Screw him.”

To my surprise, I let out a laugh. It’s so ridiculous hearing anyone from our pack say that, since we’re all terrified of our alpha. He’s never been nice or heartfelt about anything, choosing to rule us with a strong hand that’s never shown kindness.

Living under his thumb has always been suffocating.

“I’m serious.” She squeezes my hands. “If this is a true love match, he can’t refuse that.”

“It’s not just a love match, Delilah. It’s…we’re…”

Her eyes widen. “No way…the mating bond? It snapped into place?”

I nod.

Her grin is so wide that it must hurt her cheeks. “Gods, Raine! No wonder you’ve been sneaking off so much! And here I thought you were just being antisocial! This whole time you were meeting up with your mate.”

“Yes. But you can’t tell anyone. I don’t want any of the enforcers to get the information back to Daniel.”

“He can’t do anything if it’s a mating bond, Raine. You know that.”

While under normal circumstances she’s right, with me Daniel’s rules are a whole different ballgame. He’d sooner throw me down in the damn cellar and leave me there than allow me to become Aiden’s Luna and prove to him once and for all that I’m actually worth something.

“What if he can, though?” Lifting my eyes to look at her, I already feel a few tears slip down my cheeks. “If word gets back to Daniel, he’ll no doubt rip me away from here before I can be properly claimed.”

Delilah’s eyes widen. “Wait, the mating bond snapped into place but he hasn’t claimed you yet?”

I wince at the harsh judgment in her voice.

Normally I’d understand her frustration—I mean, of course I’d feel the same way if some alpha was dragging his feet whenit came to claiming the mating bond with her—but this is an entirely different circumstance.

Maybe this whole time Aiden’s been trying to figure out how to present me to his pack. He’d put on this ball to find himself a Luna and it just so happens to have brought him his soulmate. I can see how overwhelming that might’ve been, and how unexpected.

With a mating bond, there’s no arguing with it, no matter who objects. I have no doubts that Aiden’s expectation had been to find a female from a good pedigree who came from an upstanding pack.

But instead, he got me. A nobody.

“Like I said, it’s complicated.”

She shakes her head. “Still. He shouldn’t be dragging his feet on this. No wonder you’re feeling this way! Bonds are so fragile when they first form. I can’t believe he’s even letting you out of his sight right now.”

Me either…

“You should talk to him, Raine. I’m serious. He needs to realize that he can’t just string you along like this. Mating bonds arefor life. You’re not just some girl he can play around with for a while. Is he an alpha?”

I nod.

“Even more reason to hammer things out.”

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