REJECTED BY THE ALPHA BILLIONAIRE

Chapter 5 – The Secret Revealed

The small herbal shop smelled of mint, chamomile, and lavender as I arranged jars on the wooden shelves. Business had been steady — enough to keep food on the table and rent paid. Still, exhaustion clung to me more than usual.

I brushed a hand across my forehead, frowning. Lately, I had been nauseous in the mornings, my body sluggish and heavy. I had chalked it up to stress from the rejection, but the symptoms grew worse by the day.

“Maybe I should see a healer,” I muttered to myself.

That evening, I visited Madam Elara, the elderly healer who had once been my mother’s friend. She lived in a small cottage at the edge of town, surrounded by herbs and runes.

She welcomed me in, her wise eyes narrowing as she studied me. “You don’t look well, child.”

“I’ve been tired. Sick in the mornings,” I admitted.

She asked me a series of questions, checked my pulse, then handed me a small wooden cup of steaming tea. I drank it slowly, the bitter taste coating my tongue.

When she finally spoke, her words shattered me all over again.

“Aria… you’re pregnant.”

The cup slipped from my hand, shattering on the floor. My heart pounded in my chest, louder than any sound in the room.

Pregnant.

With Damian’s child.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “That’s not possible. He rejected me. The bond—”

Elara’s gaze softened. “Rejection severs the bond, but not the body, child. If you lay with him before the bond was broken, life can still take root.”

Tears welled in my eyes. Memories of that single, heated night before the pack gathering stabbed through me. I had thought it was fate drawing us together. I had thought it meant something.

And now… this.

I pressed a trembling hand against my stomach. My wolf whimpered, not in pain this time, but in fierce protectiveness.

A life. A tiny heartbeat. His heir.

“What am I supposed to do?” My voice cracked. “If Damian finds out…”

Elara’s expression grew grave. “You must be careful. A child of his bloodline is valuable — to allies and enemies alike. Protect the child, no matter the cost.”

I stumbled home that night in a haze, my mind spinning. Every step I took, the weight of the secret grew heavier.

I couldn’t tell him. Damian had rejected me, humiliated me, left me broken. He didn’t deserve to know.

But fate was cruel. And deep down, I knew the truth: secrets never stayed hidden forever.

I looked down at my stomach, my tears falling freely now. “I’ll protect you,” I whispered. “No matter what it takes.”

And for the first time since my rejection, a fragile thread of hope lit inside me.