Page 7 of Knocked Up By My Fated Alpha
“I, Raven Nightbane, reject you, Elias Blackwell, as my mate.” I met the gaze of the man who’d betrayed me. “I will never get mated to you, Elias.” Shocked gasps and whispers broke out across the pack members at my declaration.
“What?” Elias’s voice was taunt with anger, but after an imperceptible glance in Ivy’s direction that I only noticed because I was watching, his tone softened once more.
“Look, Raven, whatever is wrong, we can talk about it and—” Elias took a step closer to me, only to pause suddenly. He went completely still, a look of fury condensing over his features.
“What is that?” Elias growled, his gaze fixed on my neck.
I tracked his gaze to the gaping collar of my shirt that’d revealed one of the hickeys the stranger had left on me. Damn. Just how many marks had he left on me?
Reflexively, I slapped my hand over it, hiding the expanse of skin, but Elias advanced towards me, roughly grabbing my arm and tugging me toward himself.
“I asked you a question, Raven,” he snarled, a surprising amount of possessiveness and jealousy in his gaze as his mask fell completely. “I gave someone as unworthy of you the privilege of being my mate. How dare you think of rejecting me after whoring around?”
That was it. I broke his hold easily with a move that I’d learned over the years, trying to stand up to Ivy. Then, I slapped Elias right across the face.
The entire clearing fell silent, and Elias stared at me in a mixture of shock and disbelief as though he’d never been hit before. I slapped him again, feeling the pain and betrayal of the night before even more deeply now.
“You are the one unworthy of me. How dare you call me a whore when you are the one screwing my cousin?” My raised voice carried across the clearing even without my intending to, and chaos descended.
Aggressive whispering and exclamations filled the air, the councilmembers wearing similar looks of shock. Aunt Tiffany seemed like she was a breath away from fainting, and Elder Dawson wore a grim expression. Ivy stepped forward, her cheeks flushed almost as red as her hair with embarrassment.
“Raven,you can’t just baselessly accuse Elias and me to excuse your infidelity,” she growled, a silent threat in the sound.
I leveled an unimpressed look at Ivy. “Who said my accusations were baseless?”
Whipping out my phone, I held it out in such a way that the council, as well as any wolf within a few feet of us, could see exactly what was on the screen as I hit play. But even if I hadn’t, the voices from the video were unmistakable and distinct. So were the accompanying wet noises and moans.
Elias and Ivy paled with shock, but it was Elder Dawson who reacted first.
“Enough!” Elder Dawson silenced the crowd with a growl, tossing a cold glare at Ivy and Elias before turning to face the pack once more. “The mating ceremony has been postponed until the council handles the investigation and gets to the root of this issue.
I paused, almost uncertain about this sudden victory. At a council meeting, not only could my rejection of my mating to Elias be finalized, but I could also bring up the more sensitive charge of Ivy stealing my inheritance.
Elder Dawson made a motion indicating that Ivy, Elias, and I follow him, and soon we were all seated in the privacy of the council meeting room back inside the old pack house. The five council members sat on one side of the table while Uncle Dawson took the head of the table, his mate next to him as Ivy, Elias, and I waited for his verdict.
Elder Dawson gritted his teeth as though bracing himself before holding out his hand for my phone. “I will examine the evidence now,” Elder Dawson said.
I felt a strange sense of unease build within me. I knew Ivy’spunishment couldn’t be determined until Elder Dawson sanctioned it, and while I knew my uncle to be occasionally blind to Ivy’s faults, he always stuck to the pack rules regardless of who was involved.
I handed over my phone. Elder Dawson watched the video, his jawline getting more tense with every second that passed. Then the video ended.
“I apologize for my daughter, Raven,” Elder Dawson said tersely, his gaze meeting mine. “However, your betrayal of the Ivory Moon Pack cannot be forgiven.”
I blinked, certain I had misheard. “What?” I echoed, reaching out to retrieve my phone, only for Elder Dawson’s fist to come down, shattering it into pieces.
Elder Dawson’s dispassionate gaze remained fixed on me as he spoke. “By rejecting and cheating on your fiancé, you have not only put the alliance to the Shadow Thorn Pack at stake but put our entire pack in danger of war.”
Elias shrugged, a slight smirk curving up the side of his face.
“The Shadow Thorn Packand I are ready to forgive this slight as long as Raven makes amends by relinquishing her position as alpha heir publicly with immediate effect.”
All around the table, the other elders and Aunt Tiffany watched with stoic expressions while Ivy’s cruel gaze failed to contain her amusement. I felt the steel jaws of a trap snapping shut around me. That was when it hit me.
“You were in on it…all of you,” I whispered, unable to believe it. “You were my father’s family, his personal council, how could you commit this level of betrayal?”
The council members exchanged uncomfortable looks with each other but still refused to meet my gaze. Elder Dawson let out a growl, his eyes lightening to a golden brown with the influence of his wolf.
“Betrayal would be letting the pack my brother died for fall apart under the rule of a wolfless brat,” Elder Dawson intoned. “Your cousin, Ivy, will inherit the alpha position.”
