Page 79 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha
I relish his touch, taking in his familiar mango scent and resting my head against his shoulder. His heartbeat is steady, and for a moment, everything feels right in the world.
73
Hannah
Sitting at the dining table with Saben beside me, eating a stack of pancakes, and the little pup in my arms suckling away at her bottle, I watch as Aileen paces back and forth, wringing her hands. My friend is a ball of nervous energy, all because we have begun to look into the pups the hunters were breeding and selling and are working on finding where those already sold may be.
“I can’t believe it’s already been a week since we came here,” Aidan grumbles, taking a seat at the table while nursing a mug of coffee.
“Or that newborns would be so hard to raise,” Fabian mutters with a sigh, making me chuckle.
“You have no idea,” I say, watching Aileen’s lips curl into an amused grin before she stops.
“Do we have any word on what is happening at the warehouse right now?” she asks, and I shake my head no.
A week has passed since I was asked to come to Vancouver to help comb through the data the hunters left behind in the warehouse. So far, everything has been heavily encrypted with multiple layers of cybersecurity, and my wolves and I have been slowly breaking through each one. It has taken seven days—almost losing all data once when we nearly wiped the hard drive—but we have finally reached a point where we should be able to uncover what the hunters were up to, hopefully by tonight.
“Alpha Cross!” The door to the dining room is slammed open, scaring Saben and the pup in my arms, making both of them cry. I snarl at the wolf who intruded into the room, glaring at Greggory, one of the tech wizards in Trail Corporation that Claira and I hired last year.
“Shit, I am so sorry, Alpha,” Greggory apologizes immediately, showing his neck in submission while Aileen and I settle the two pups.
“You know there are pups in this house. You need to be quieter,” I order my packmate, watching as he looks down at the floor in guilt.
“I know, Alpha, and I am sorry. But I got word from the wolves at the warehouse—they cracked the files. We can finally see what the hunters were doing with their attempts to breed a wolf–witch hybrid,” Greggory explains, his excitement quickly dissolving any frustration I felt.
“We got access?” I ask, and Greggory nods enthusiastically.
Suddenly, my phone rings, and Aileen slips over, taking the pup from my arms so that I can answer it. I see Julian’s name on the screen and grin, answering right away while motioning for everyone—including Saben, who does not want to leave my side and the pup’s—to follow me.
“Hey, I just got the news. Give me a second to get to my laptop,” I say before Julian can say anything.
He chuckles at this but tells me he can wait. Five minutes later, I am sitting at the desk in the small office Aileen set up for me, my screen filled with files sent by my team at the warehouse.
“It seems they were working on digitizing all of the files related to their research,” I state, my hands flying across the keyboard.
“They were. We have found files that match the journals we discovered in the hidden room,” Julian replies with an exasperated sigh, his voice coming through the speaker.
“It seems this project started two hundred years ago. They caught a wolf–witch hybrid named Sarah Rose back then.”
Aileen gasps at this, her eyes widening in shock.
“Sarah Rose was the name my niece Abbigail wanted to use if she ever had a daughter,” Aileen says, tears forming in her eyes. I reach out, taking her hand in mine and squeezing it, hoping to comfort my friend.
“It seems this woman is related to you, Aileen,” Julian states, his words filled with sad empathy. “I’m sorry.”
Aileen says nothing as she slowly walks away to sit beside Saben, holding my pup close. He is too engrossed in the show on his tablet, his ears thankfully covered by the headphones on his head, and I take a deep breath of relief. I know Saben wants to stay close to me now that he has a little sister, but I still do not want him to learn about the troubles plaguing our world yet.
“It seems this wolf–witch hybrid was captured during a raid on the pack her parents led,” Julian says. “Sarah Rose was sixteen at the time and newly shifted, unable to control her powers. The hunters soon discovered that she was not only part wolf but also part witch when she used a spell that caused one of the hunters who was trying to rape her to burst into a ball of flames. It was decided then that they would use her and her bloodline to breed more wolf–witch hybrids and control them to help eradicate vampires and werewolves,” he continues explaining while I focus on reading the research.
“It seems they were successful about one hundred and fifty years ago, with twin pups being born,” I say. “One was a pure wolf, while the other was a wolf–witch hybrid who was promptly separated and taken away from her twin. In those one hundred and fifty years, the hunters have bred Sarah Rose’s line over and over again, keeping the prettiest and strongest-looking pups to train and raise…” my voice trails off, and I close my eyes. They were keeping the pups as sex slaves for the hunters’ pleasure, using them as they saw fit over the years. This resulted in a few pups being born and quietly shipped off to the highest bidder.
“What sick bastards,” Fabian growls, the rumble carrying through the room and startling Saben for a moment.
“Aileen, could you have a member of your coven take Saben out of the room?” I ask my friend, giving my son a pointed look when he opens his mouth to protest.
“Saben, I need you to go play somewhere while we do some grown-up things, okay? Maybe you can help with the other pups in the mansion,” I state, letting my son know there is no room to argue.
Aileen thankfully agrees, and soon, Miella is at the door, her pink hair pushed back with a bandanna as she whisks Saben into her arms.
