Rejected, But He Begs Me Back

Chapter 2: Saved By The Outcast

"Don't you dare die on me! Do you hear me, girl?"

Old hands slapped my frozen face. Hard. Again and again.

"Open your eyes! Breathe!"

I tried. My eyelids were heavy like stones. Cold was inside my bones. I could not feel my feet. I could not feel my hands. Only pain in my chest and pain deep in my belly.

"Please..." I whispered. My voice was gone. "My... baby..."

"Baby? What baby?" The old woman's voice got close to my ear. She was panting, dragging me through deep snow. She was small but strong. "You are alone! There is no baby!"

"Inside..." I coughed. Blood came from my mouth again. The rejection pain still ripped my heart. "Inside me... please... save..."

The old woman stopped dragging. Her rough hand touched my belly under my torn white dress. My belly was flat. I was too thin. Too weak. No one would think I was pregnant.

But her hand stayed there for three seconds. Four seconds.

Then she gasped.

"Oh Moon Goddess!"

She picked me up. I was light. I had not eaten well for years. The kitchen omegas always gave me leftover food.

She carried me on her back. She ran. An old woman ran through a blizzard with a dying girl on her back.

I went in and out of darkness.

I heard wind. I heard her heavy breathing. I heard her praying: "Hold on, girl, hold on, my house is close, hold on..."

Then I smelled smoke. Fire smoke. Warm.

A door banged open.

"Come on! Inside! Inside now!"

She laid me on something hard. A wooden table. The house was small. One room. Fire in the corner. Smell of herbs everywhere. Dried herbs hanging from roof.

The old woman moved fast. She threw blankets on me. Three, four blankets. But I still shook. My teeth clacked so loud it hurt my head.

"Cold... so cold..." I whispered.

"I know, I know," she said. She rubbed my feet hard with her hands. My feet were blue. White at toes. Frostbite.

"You stupid Alpha boy! Leaving a girl in blizzard! I will kill him!"

She rubbed my hands too. Then she ran to fire and poured hot water into a bowl. She added black leaves.

"Drink this. Now."

She lifted my head and forced the bitter water into my mouth. I coughed. It tasted like dirt and blood.

"What... is this..." I choked.

"Wolvesbane tea. Small amount. To stop bleeding inside."

She lifted my dress. I was too weak to stop her. She looked at my belly. No bump. Just blood between my legs.

"Oh girl," she whispered. Her eyes got sad. "You are bleeding down there. How many months?"

"I... I don't know..." Tears ran down my face and froze on my cheeks. "I... two months ago... one time... in storage room... I thought it was dream..."

She pressed my belly gently. "Does it hurt here?"

"Yes!" I screamed. Sharp pain.

"And here?"

"Yes!"

She closed her eyes. "One month. Maybe one month and two weeks. You are early. But the rejection... the rejection shock... it wants to kill the pup. Your body wants to push it out because you are weak and stressed."

No! My hands flew to my belly. I held it tight, even though it hurt.

"No! Please don't let it die! Please! It is all I have!"

My body shook with sobs. Not from cold now. From fear.

For five hours I was alone in pack. No friends. No family. My parents died when I was five in rogue attack. The pack raised me as servant. They beat me when I broke dishes. They laughed when I had no wolf at 17.

But inside me now, there was someone. A tiny someone who was mine. Who would not reject me. Who would love me.

"Please... please save my baby..." I begged. I grabbed the old woman's sleeve. My bloody fingers stained her coat. "I will do anything. I will be your servant. I will clean your house. Just save my baby!"

The old woman looked at my hand. Then at my face. Her hard eyes softened.

She sighed. "I am Mara. I was the healer of Silver Stone Pack for 40 years. Before Caleb's father kicked me out for saying his new wife was poison."

Mara. I knew that name. Old wolves whispered it. The best healer.

"My name is Sophie," I said. My teeth still clacked.

"I know who you are, Sophie Lane. The wolfless omega. The pack talks."

She stood up and opened a big wooden box. Inside were hundreds of small bottles. Red, green, blue liquids. Dried plants.

"I was going to leave this area tomorrow. Go to human city. But Moon Goddess sent you to me. So I will stay."

She mixed three liquids. Red, white, green. She whispered old words I did not know.

"Drink," she ordered.

I drank. It was sweet this time. Warm honey and mint.

Heat spread in my belly. The sharp pain became dull. The bleeding slowed.

"Good," Mara nodded. She put her hand on my forehead. "You have fever. Rejection fever. It will kill you and pup in one night if I do nothing."

"What... what is rejection fever?" I whispered. My eyes were closing. I was so tired.

"When Alpha rejects mate, bond snaps. For strong wolves, it hurts for days. For weak wolf like you, with no wolf to protect you, it can kill. And it kills pup first."

My hand tightened on my belly again. Even in sleep, I protected it.

Mara covered me with more blankets. She put a cold cloth on my head.

"Sleep now, girl. I will watch you and your pup all night."

I wanted to thank her. But darkness took me.

---

I woke up to the sound of crying.

Not my crying. Small. Like a kitten.

I opened my eyes. It was still dark outside the small window. Fire was low. Mara was asleep on a chair next to my table, holding my hand.

The crying stopped.

I looked down at my belly. Still flat. But warm now. Not cramping.

"Is... is baby alive?" I whispered to Mara, shaking her hand.

Mara woke up with a start. "You are awake! Good! Good!"

She quickly put her hand on my belly again. She closed her eyes and listened.

Thump-thump. Fast. Stronger than before.

I heard it too. Not with ears. With my heart.

Two heartbeats inside me now. Mine, slow and weak. And his, fast and brave.

Mara smiled for first time. Big smile with missing teeth.

"He is alive. Strong pup. Fighter like mother."

Tears poured from my eyes. Loud sobs. I covered my mouth with both hands.

"He is alive... he is alive... thank you... thank you..."

I sat up, even though my chest still hurt. I hugged Mara. She was surprised, then hugged me back. Her body was thin and smelled like herbs.

"Thank you for saving us, Mara."

"We," she corrected. "I saved WE. You are two now."

She gave me more soup. This time I could hold the bowl myself. My hands still shook, but less.

"Why did you save me?" I asked between sips. "You don't know me."

Mara stared into fire. Her face got hard again.

"Because 30 years ago, I was you. I was rejected too. By Caleb's grandfather. Because I was born with weak leg. I bled in same snow. No one saved me. I crawled for two days."

She pulled up her long skirt. Her left leg was twisted, scarred.

"I lived. But I lost my pup. My first pup. Because no one helped me. I swore to Moon Goddess, if I ever see a rejected girl in snow, I will not let her lose her pup like I did."

We both were silent. The fire cracked.

I touched my belly. "Mara... will my baby be okay? With no pack? With no father?"

Mara looked at me long. "Who is father? You said one time in storage room. Who?"

My face turned red with shame. I looked down at soup.

"I... I don't know for sure... but I think... I think it was Alpha Caleb."

Mara's bowl dropped and broke on floor.

"What did you say?"

"He... two months ago... after battle, pack had party... I went to storage to get wine... someone grabbed me in dark... he smelled like pine... like Alpha... he was drunk... he called me Jessica... then he... he..."

I could not say it. Shame burned my face. I hugged my knees.

"He left before light came. I was scared to tell anyone. Who would believe omega? They would say I seduced Alpha."

Mara sat frozen for long time. Then she stood up fast and started pacing around small house.

"Caleb Blackwood! That arrogant, blind, stupid boy! He rejects his true mate, and his true mate is carrying his heir!"

Heir? I frowned.

"What do you mean heir?"

Mara knelt in front of me. She grabbed my shoulders.

"Sophie, listen. If that pup is Caleb's, and you are his true mate, then that pup is not normal pup. That pup is Alpha heir. Strongest blood in pack. And if pack finds out you are pregnant with Alpha heir after rejection... they will hunt you. Jessica will kill you. Elders will kill you to hide shame."

Fear shot through me. I held my belly tighter.

"No... no one can know..."

"They won't," Mara said. "We leave. Tomorrow. We go to human city. Far from here. I have a small house there. We start new life. You, me, and this pup."

"You... you would come with me?" I asked.

"You think I let you raise pup alone? You are 18! You know nothing about babies!"

She tried to sound angry, but her eyes were wet.

I laughed through tears. First laugh in years.

Then I coughed. Blood came again, but less.

Mara quickly wiped my mouth and checked the cloth.

Her smile disappeared.

She took my bloody cloth to the fire light. She looked at it close.

"Sophie... your blood..."

"What about my blood?"

She brought it to my face. In the fire light, my blood was not fully red. There were silver threads inside, like glitter.

"This is not omega blood," Mara whispered, her voice shaking. "This is... this is White Wolf blood. Royal blood. Thought to be extinct for 100 years."

White Wolf? I had heard stories as child. White Wolves were healers, queens, could cure any curse with their blood.

"I... I am white wolf?" I whispered. "But I have no wolf... I never shifted..."

"Because your wolf was sleeping. Hiding to protect you. But now, with pregnancy and rejection, it is waking up. That is why your blood saved pup. White Wolf pups are strong."

Mara looked at me like she saw ghost.

"Girl, do you know what this means? You are not weak. You are the strongest wolf alive. Stronger than Caleb. And your son..."

She put hand on my belly again.

"...your son will be half White Wolf, half Black Alpha. He will be more powerful than anyone."

Outside, wind howled. Inside, fire crackled. Two heartbeats beat strong in the small house.

Mine and my baby's.

For first time in my life, I did not feel worthless.

I felt powerful. And scared.

Mara suddenly blew out the fire and pushed me down on table.

"Shhh! Someone is outside house! I smell pack wolves!"

Footsteps crunched in snow outside. Many footsteps. And a voice I knew too well.

Jessica's voice: "Search everywhere! That omega b***h's body must be here! Alpha ordered no body left behind!"