Page 49 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

I hate that the smell of my fear is obvious, and even more so when Daniel chuckles.

“Well, Raine. This has been a rather splendid outcome. I only wish that I’d gone through with it sooner instead of letting you make a mockery of this pack.”

I stare on ahead, not giving him any kind of reaction outside of my heart involuntarily beating rapidly. He won’t get anythingout of me other than the stone-cold acceptance that I’ve been practicing since last night.

His last memory of me will never be of me weeping at his feet and begging for a second chance. I’m done doing that. I’m done giving him the satisfaction that he’s won yet again.

Ahead of us, the brush moves and the scent of another pack—foreign—wafts over us. My entire body stiffens while my wolf grows silent, both of us waiting for what’s to come.

Finally, they arrive.

Satisfaction fills me a little bit as Daniel’s enforcers stiffen uncomfortably. It isn’t often that the Andromeda pack runs into shifters that could easily beat them down if they wanted to. My pack has always been on the poorer side, but we make up for that in our scrappiness and how far we’re willing to take a fight.

However, these shifters of the Soleus pack are on a completely different level.

The first three shifters who break through the tree line are huge, much larger than any of the enforcers in the Andromeda pack. The one in the middle, a large black male shifter, lets out a gruff huff before approaching us, while the other two hang back.

Daniel and I are standing a little bit back, with three enforcers on each side fanned out at an angle. The show is meant to look intimidating, but clearly that’s not working at all with how amused the three Soleus shifters look as they bat their tails.

The male shifts, a tall and broad figure replacing his wolf.

He has dark hair that falls in long waves down to his shoulders, slightly tousled away from his face in a middle part. His black shirt is cut directly down the middle in a wide V, reaching just below his sternum and showing off the hard muscles under the thin fabric. His skin is a shade darker than mine, a nice even tan that compliments his darker features, like his lashes and brows.

The most striking thing about him is two piercings, twin black hoops that fit snugly over his full bottom lip.

The air that this male exudes is pure power—purealpha.

My entire body shivers.

“Welcome, Your Grace.” Daniel bows to the alpha, his hand sliding into the back of my hair and clenching at the strands attached to the nape of my neck, pulling hard enough for my eyes to water.

He forces me down into a bow as well, deeper than his by a longshot.

“Thank you,” the male,Nyx, says. His voice is deep, much deeper than Aiden’s.

Daniel straightens back up but keeps me bent over at the waist, continuing to bow to the Southern King. I don’t fight him, figuring that if anything, maybe this alpha will take pity on me and make my suffering a little less in the coming days.

“I see you’ve brought me my breeder,” Nyx speaks again.

“Yes.” Daniel’s voice is eager, which is strange to hear coming from him. He’s never been one to “lower” himself with pleasing other alphas, especially kings like Aiden.

So what didthisking do to earn his respect? Is buying me worth that much to him? It must be.

Surprisingly, Nyx doesn’t speak for a long moment, leading to a very uncomfortable and heavy silence. I can only tell that it’s become uncomfortable by the way Daniel’s hand tightens in my hair, causing me to bite my lip in order to hold back a whimper.

No one else around us moves, not even our enforcers who, only moments before, were shifting on their feet uncomfortably.

When Nyx finallydoesspeak, all he says is, “Hm.”

Daniel’s scent changes then, fear finally breaking through his usual nauseating confidence. “Is there something wrong, Your Grace?”

If I wasn’t trying to keep myself from crying out, I’d be grinning right about now. I’veneverheard Daniel sound so worried before.

“I’m simply…surprised, is all.” The cadence in the Alpha King’s tone is…odd. He’s speaking slowly, but not because he’s testing the waters with my pack alpha. There seems to be something more there that I can’t exactly put my finger on.

“Surprised?” Daniel’s tone pitches up uncomfortably high.

“I’ve been here all of five minutes and not one offer to have a cup of tea. I would’ve thought your pack to be far more hospitable than that. Clearly, I was mistaken.”

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