The Alpha's Rejected Heir

Chapter 2The Secret

The pain of rejection was like a fever. It burned through my veins, making me dizzy and weak.

I didn't know how I made it back to my small, damp room in the attic of the Pack House. I collapsed onto the thin mattress, shivering uncontrollably.

He rejected me.

Damien. My mate. The other half of my soul. He looked at me with such hatred.

"Trash," he had called me.

I curled into a ball, hugging my knees to my chest. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, but I had no tears left. I felt empty. Hollow. Like a shell of a person.

I stayed in my room for two days. I didn't eat. I didn't sleep. The pack members ignored me, probably happy that the "disgrace" was hiding away. Jessica and her friends banged on my door occasionally, laughing and calling me names, but I didn't answer.

On the third morning, a wave of nausea hit me.

I rushed to the small bathroom and emptied my empty stomach into the toilet. My head spun. The world tilted.

It must be the rejection, I thought, washing my face with cold water. My body is shutting down.

But then, I felt it.

It was faint, like a whisper in the wind, but it was there. A tiny, second heartbeat.

My hand flew to my flat stomach.

"No..." I gasped, staring at myself in the cracked mirror. My face was pale, my eyes sunken.

Werewolves have heightened senses. We can hear a pin drop from a mile away. And right now, focusing all my energy, I could hear the woosh-woosh sound of a tiny heart beating inside me.

I was pregnant.

Panic seized my throat.

One night. It had only happened once, a month ago. I was cleaning the Alpha's floor late at night. Damien had been in his Rut—a time when Alphas lose control and need to mate. He had been delirious with fever. He didn't know who I was. He had pulled me into the dark, thinking I was someone else, and in the morning, he didn't remember a thing.

I had been too scared to tell him then. And now? Now he had rejected me publicly.

If Damien found out I was pregnant with his child... he wouldn't welcome me back.

No. He would kill the baby.

He wanted a strong heir from a strong Luna. He wouldn't accept a child from a "weak Omega" he despised. He would see the baby as a mistake. A stain on his reputation. Or worse, Jessica would find out and kill it herself.

"I have to leave," I whispered to the silence.

I couldn't stay here. If I stayed, my baby would die. Or worse, be treated like a slave, just like me.

I grabbed my old, tattered backpack. I packed my two spare shirts, a bottle of water, and the small amount of cash I had saved from doing odd jobs over the years.

I waited until midnight. The moon was dark, hidden by thick clouds. It was the perfect night to disappear.

I crept out of the window, climbing down the old garden trellis. The thorns scratched my hands, but I didn't feel the pain. I held my breath as I passed the guard patrol. My heart hammered against my ribs, but this time, it beat with determination.

I wasn't running away because I was a coward. I was running to protect the only thing that mattered.

I reached the border of the Shadow Moon territory. The forest ahead was dark and dangerous, full of Rogues, but it was safer than the castle behind me.

I looked back one last time at the massive window where Damien slept.

"Goodbye, Alpha," I whispered into the wind, my hand resting protectively over my stomach. "You rejected me. But you will never get the chance to reject our child."

I turned around and ran into the darkness, never looking back.

I was a Rogue now. Alone. Pregnant. And hunted.

But I would survive. For my baby.