SHE ISN’T JUST A BREEDER. I FEEL SOMETHING FOR HER.
1210 Words
Chapter 17
Alpha Kael’s POV
SHE ISN’T JUST A BREEDER. I FEEL SOMETHING FOR HER.
After the whole situation with the elders, I had to leave my meeting chamber and go back to my room. I roughed my hair gently, walking slowly, with the guards trailing behind me. The thought of Aria mesmerized my brain, that I had to stop halfway close to her door. I turned to the guards, furiously.
“Hey! You all can now leave. I would love to walk alone,” I ordered.
They all glanced at themselves, their expressions stiff with hesitation, then shook their heads like I’d asked them to lick silver.
“What? Did I just give an instruction or—do you want me to behead you?” I growled, voice low but deadly.
That got them moving fast.
Silence fell behind me as I reached her door, and something about the air changed. The scent in the hallway felt warmer… Like grief. Like something ancient and cracked open. I felt so weak to open the door but I had to push the door open.
As I opened the door, raising my gaze from the ground to look at the room, I stopped, staring around surprisedly.
Tissues were scattered across the floor, balled up in angry little fists. The light in the room was dim, curtains drawn halfway, and a soft, muffled sound filled the space like a heartbeat in water.
she was sitting at the edge of the bed, curled like she’d made herself small enough to vanish. Her shoulders trembled. Arms wrapped around her stomach. My feet moved before I could stop them.
“Aria…” I said her name quietly.
She didn’t hear me. Or maybe she did and just didn’t care.
I knelt beside the bed and reached out to touch her arm lightly, barely touching her, My wolf howled.
Not out of dominance, Not even out of rage or even lust.
It howled in pain.
A crack of something old and primal shattered in my chest. My entire body jerked back, like she’d burned me.
I staggered, breathing hard, gripping my own wrist as if I could contain it—whatever that was.
She lifted her face, finally. Eyes red. Nose raw. But it wasn’t the crying that killed me—it was the hollow look in her. Like she’d already said goodbye.
“I’m pregnant.”
It was barely a whisper. Just breath and broken syllables. But I heard it. Every goddamn word.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.
She looked down at her lap like she was disgusted with herself. Like the words tasted like ash.
“I’m pregnant, Kael. And it’s yours.”
A slow silence bled into the room.
“I didn’t ask for this,” she continued, voice low and bitter. “I didn’t want any of this. I was sold like a damn goat to be bred. Used. Like that’s all I’ll ever be.” She exhaled shakily. “I thought I could survive it. I thought I could get through it without losing myself. But now?”
She pressed a hand to her belly. It was still flat. Still quiet. But something had changed.
“You got what you paid for,” she said softly. “The breeder is doing her job.”
I felt like the floor moved under me.
“And after I give birth,” she added, eyes locking on mine like twin daggers, “I want to go.”
My jaw clenched. “What?”
“Let me go.”
“No.”
“Promise me, Kael.”
“No, Aria—”
“Don’t make this harder than it already is!” she snapped, suddenly loud. The sound cut through me like claws. “You don’t want me. You want a womb. A body that serves a purpose. You made that clear the moment you put Vanessa above me, made her your Luna, and left me in this room like a broken tool.”
I stared at her. Every word she said—truth. Not dressed up. Not dulled down. Just truth.
“You think I don’t see it?” she continued, a humorless laugh breaking through her tears. “She’s everything you want. The perfect Luna. Beautiful, cruel, trained. And I’m just some nobody dragged in to push out a baby.”
“I didn’t—”
“Don’t lie to me, Kael. Please.”
The way she said my name. It wasn’t soft. It was shattered glass.
I turned from her. Walked to the window. Stared out like the view would explain all the things I couldn’t.
“You want the truth?” I said, my voice colder than I meant.
She didn’t respond.
“You’re right. Vanessa’s got everything I want. Power. Legacy. Status. I’ve known her my whole life. She knows how to rule beside me, She doesn’t… she doesn’t cry in rooms like this.”
I hated myself for saying it. But the words kept coming. Like poison being spat out.
“You were brought here for a reason. You were paid to serve that reason. To be a breeder. You knew the terms.”
Still, she said nothing.
My hands balled into fists.
“You want me to promise I’ll let you go after you give birth?” I turned to face her. “Fine.”
Her eyes widened.
“Fine. You’ll be free. I’ll make it official. I’ll put it in writing if that’s what you need.”
She blinked fast, like she hadn’t expected me to agree.
“You mean that,” she said quietly.
“I do.”
“Because I mean nothing to you.”
My throat burned. “Right.”
She nodded slowly. “Good.”
But the way she whispered it? That wasn’t good. That was a heartbreak in disguise.
I stared at her for a long time.
I wanted to walk over. To take it back every word, every cold truth.
But I couldn’t.
Because if I touched her again—if I held her—I might never let her go.
And I already promised.
She sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. “Thank you, Alpha.”
The title punched me in the gut. She hadn’t called me that in weeks.
I forced a smirk. “Don’t thank me. Just do your job.”
She looked away. “Already am.”
I walked to the door, hands clenched at my sides.
But right as I touched the handle, she said something.
Something I wasn’t ready for.
“I wish you didn’t feel the need to lie.”
I turned. “Excuse me?”
“You do feel something. I know it. I felt it too. That first night you looked at me like I wasn’t a piece of property. Like I was… human.”
I opened my mouth, but she raised her hand.
“I get it. You can’t say it. You won’t. Because feelings make you weak, right?” she scoffed bitterly. “ I forbid the Alpha to feel something real.”
I didn’t answer.
So I opened the door. Let the silence swallow everything we didn’t say, with a smirk on my face, I excused myself.
- Writer
