My pregnant mate

CHAPTER3

Kale’s POV

How am I supposed to exist in a world that no longer has my mother in it?

That question has haunted me every damn day since the night they took her from me. She was all I had. My reason, my anchor. The only light I had in this miserable world of power-hungry wolves and their cursed royal bloodlines. Now she’s gone, and the pain of it is the kind that never quiets. It just claws at my chest every second.

I warned her. I begged her not to return to Moonstone. I told her that the Alpha King, my so-called father, was no savior. That the wolves in his bloodline carried only cruelty. But she didn’t listen. She wanted to give me a place in this world. She believed in second chances. She thought we could build something new in Moonstone. All I ever wanted was the world she and I had built together—quiet and peaceful. Just us.

She died the day the Alpha King was supposed to wed her. That same cursed day, we were ambushed near Moonstone. Not far from the gates, rogues attacked us, paid and precise. My mother was taken. Slaughtered. And I know exactly who ordered it, even if I can’t prove it yet: the Alpha King. And I will make him pay.

Since that day, I’ve lived alone on the edge of Moonstone territory. They call me a rogue. They call me a bastard. I don’t give a damn. I’m here for one reason only: to find my mother’s killer. I want justice. No, I want revenge. And until I get it, I’ll play the part of the castaway son if it gets me close to the truth.

My wolf, Bee—that's what I call him—has been restless lately. We don’t agree on everything, but he’s the only thing that keeps me sane. The moon was high the night she came again. The Moon Goddess. I felt her presence before I saw her, silver and glowing, walking straight into my cabin like she owned the place, Bee groaned. “Not again…”

I closed my eyes, already exhausted. “What now?”

She gave me the same speech she’d been giving me for years. That I would meet my mate soon. That she would be the one to guide me. That she would have the strength of my mother, the love I’ve been missing, and the fire to stand beside me as I claimed the world I was born to lead, I laughed in her face.

“I’ve heard it all before,” I said. “And I still don’t have a mate. I’ve never even caught a scent. You keep showing up with these prophecies, but all they do is give false hope. If this is a joke, I’m tired of being the punchline.”

She didn’t argue. She just smiled, like she knew something I didn’t. “You will see her soon. At the royal summit.”

“Oh, great,” I muttered. “More lies. If she’s real, where has she been all this time?”

“You’ll understand when you see her,” she whispered, then disappeared into the night.

The next morning, I told Bee I wasn’t going to the summit. “I’ve got better things to do than stand around watching pompous alphas flex their egos.”

But then a letter came.

A friend of mine from a small pack near the eastern border wrote to me in desperation. Rogues were attacking their village. They had sent letters to the Alpha King for help, but of course, no answer ever came. Moonstone only protects those it finds useful.

Bee nudged my thoughts. “We should help. We owe them.”

“I’ll go,” I said. “But we’re not stopping at that summit nonsense.”

“We can do both,” Bee argued. “Just stop by the summit on our way back. What if the Moon Goddess is actually right this time?”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t care about some prophecy. Life comes first.”

So I went. We fought alongside that village and drove the rogues back. I hate those bastards. Cowards for hire. The same kind that tore my mother from me. If I could wipe every rogue off this earth, I would.

After the fight, Bee pushed again. “We’re already close to Moonstone. Just go, ten minutes.”

I gave in, not because I believed the Moon Goddess, but because the way home passed close to the summit anyway. I didn’t expect anything. I didn’t care. But then… I smelled it.

The scent hit me like a lightning bolt to the chest. Wildflowers and storms rain soft but strong. Familiar but new. I froze mid-step. My heart skipped. Then pounded. My breath caught in my throat, and Bee howled inside my chest. “OUR MATE.”

I turned, trying to see where it came from. The smell was close. It was laced with something… pain. Desperation. A cry for help. We followed it until we found ourselves standing just outside the summit arena. It was loud, filled with noble wolves and their prideful showboating. I scanned the space until I saw her.

Chained, barefoot, eyes down, and belly round.

She stood in the center of the court like a prisoner. Whispers and mocking laughter surrounded her. And the Alpha King, my father, stood just behind her, cold and smug.

“She is no gift,” the Alpha King announced. “Anyone who wants her may take her.”

My heart stopped.

Her scent was pouring off her in waves. My wolf went silent for half a second, then growled low and fierce.

“That’s her,” Bee whispered. “That’s our mate.”

I didn’t want to believe it. “She’s pregnant,” I said, stunned.

Bee didn’t flinch. “She’s ours.”

I clenched my fists. This had to be a mistake. My mate? A disgraced slave being tossed around like trash? A pregnant wolf that the entire court laughed at? This couldn’t be what the Moon Goddess meant. I felt rage burn through me. Not at her. Never at her. At them. At the ones mocking her. At the man who stood behind her, the same one who killed my mother and now humiliated my mate.

I turned to walk away. “No. This isn’t it. The Moon Goddess is playing games again.”

But Bee didn’t let me.

He surged forward, tearing through my hesitation. He took control, just like that, and stepped into the center of the arena.

“I will take her,” my voice echoed through the hall, but it wasn’t just mine. It was Bee’s. Ours.

Gasps rose across the room. The crowd erupted in whispers and scandal. I heard the words like knives.

“Kale? That rogue?”

“The bastard son?”

“What is he doing here?”

“Is he insane?”

But I didn’t care. I only looked at her. Her eyes lifted slowly, scared and wide. When they met mine, the whole world stopped.

For a heartbeat… Everything made sense. All the pain. All the prophecies. All the years of running and hunting and grieving. She was the beginning of my truth.

And then I saw it. A flicker of recognition in her eyes, not fear, not hatred, but just shock and confusion. Maybe even the smallest spark of something else buried deep under the weight of pain and betrayal.

The Alpha King stepped forward, fury in his eyes. “You have no right.”

I looked at him, expressionless. “She’s mine now.”

That was the moment everything in Moonstone changed. And I knew… the war had just begun.

As I walked toward her, her hand drifted to her stomach, and she whispered something I couldn’t hear. But the way her wolf surged beneath her skin and the way the guards started closing in told me something wasn’t right. I caught the scent again, stronger this time. Not just pain, not just desperation, but blood.

Something was wrong.

Bee growled, “She’s in danger. Right now.”

And before I could react, she collapsed to the floor.