Chapter 4
1581 Words
Arlenna's POV
I sat right on my bed, staring at what I had placed on the table like it held my whole life in its hands.
My legs wouldn’t stop shaking, and my fingers trembled as if they had a secret they couldn’t hold in anymore.
Just five more weeks to Orion's wedding, and I hadn’t heard a single word from him since that night we made love under the rain.
My heart felt like it was tied in a thousand knots. Orion, my stepbrother, my mate.
The one person I wasn’t supposed to love.
And now... this. I looked down at the test strip on the table again. Still reading. Still waiting. Just like me.
"Oh God," I whispered, running a shaky hand through my hair.
Evelyn had taught me how to use it. She was the only one I could trust. My best friend, my only friend really.
But even she didn’t know who it was. I couldn’t tell her. How could I ever explain?
I stood up and took a small peek at it.
"Please," I whispered again. "Please no."
The memory of that night kept flashing in my mind, his touch, his kiss, the way he held me like he was made for me.
And the way he pulled away like he regretted everything. He left me with silence.
My mother thought I had gone out on that date with Alpha Erik a month ago. If only she knew the truth.
The door burst open, and I gasped, rushing to the table to cover the test strip. But I was too late.
"Arlenna?" Mother said, eyes narrowing as she saw me.
She took a few slow steps inside. "What are you hiding?"
I stood straight, pressing my back to the table, trying to keep my voice calm and normal.
"Mo...Mother..."
"Are you alright? You look pale."
"Y-Yes," I stammered, forcing a smile. "I’m fine."
"You’ve been locked in here for days. Hasn’t Alpha Erik sent word? What’s going on?"
I swallowed hard, sweat filling up my forehead.
"What do you have behind you?" she asked, eyeing me carefully now.
"Nothing! I just—"
"Move away!" she snapped.
"Mother, please!" I cried.
“I said move away now!!”
She yelled again, but this time, she didn’t wait. She stormed toward me and shoved me aside.
My arms flailed, and I stumbled, and then she saw it.
"A test strip?" she said slowly, picking it up.
I stood still, heart pounding in my chest like a drum.
"Arlenna!" she screamed my name.
I didn’t move. I couldn’t.
"What are you doing with a test strip? Tell me you're still a virgin!" she barked.
I nodded quickly, my eyes wide with fear.
She glanced at the strip again, with her hand trembling slightly.
“You’re pregnant?!"
I looked at the strip, too. Two lines.
Two f*****g lines!!!
"I'm... I’m pregnant?" I whispered.
Before I could understand what was happening, her hand flew across my face and my head jerked to the side.
"You stupid little brat!" she screamed.
I fell onto the bed, clutching my cheek.
"What the hell did you do?! After everything I did for you?! Is this how you repay me?!"
"Mother, please..." I sobbed.
She slapped me again, harder. I cried louder.
"Tell me it was Alpha Erik! If it isn’t him, I swear I’ll tear you apart!"
I couldn’t speak. My lips trembled. My tears soaked the entire sheets.
"Who did this to you?!" she roared.
I didn't say a single word.
"You’re not going to talk?"
She lunged at me with her fingers yanking my hair, dragging me back on the bed as she hit me again.
"Mother, please!" I screamed.
But she didn’t stop.
I felt every slap, every hit, I wanted to disappear.
Arelenna!!!
I heard Father’s voice. Before I could lift my head, he barged into the room.
"Oh my!" he gasped, rushing over to me.
He didn’t ask questions. He didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Mother and yanked her off me.
"Stop!" he shouted, dragging her away from the bed.
"Let me go! Let me go!!" Mother screamed, trying to wriggle free from his grip.
"Calm down! Calm down, woman!" Father yelled again, trying to restrain her.
I stayed curled on the bed, my fingers gripping my pillow so tight.
My cheeks stung from her slaps. My arms and neck still burned from her claws. I could still hear her voice ringing in my head.
"This ingrate! This f*****g ingrate!" she screamed, pointing at me like I was a demon.
Tears slipped down my face, soaking the pillow as I held on tighter. My body was hot with shame, pain, and heartbreak.
"Do you know what future I had secured for you, Arelenna?! Do you?!" she barked at me, still fighting against Father’s grip.
"Do you know what I gave up to clean your name, your past?!"
Father turned to her, looking confused. "Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?!"
Mother didn’t wait.
"Here! Here you go!" she yelled.
He looked down at it and blinked. "What is this?"
"Your darling stepdaughter is pregnant! That’s what that is!"
Just then, another voice rang from the doorway.
"Arelenna is pregnant?"
I looked up.
Orion.
He stood frozen in the doorway like he had walked into fire and didn’t know how to run out.
Mother turned sharply to him.
"Yes! Yes!! YES!!!" she screamed, flailing her hands.
"Your virgin little stepsister is pregnant! By some rogue, some God-forsaken fool—I don’t even know who!"
He didn’t say a word. He just stared at me.
I stared back.
"Are… are you sure about this, Mother?" Orion asked her.
His voice cracked. He didn’t even realize how messed up that question sounded.
Mother threw her arms up. "This is the test strip! I caught her hiding it!" She pointed at me like I was a criminal.
"f**k," Orion muttered.
He looked at me. Then he asked something so dumb, even he looked stunned after saying it.
"Have you only been with one man, Arelenna?"
Mother whipped her head around to face him. "You mean Arelenna’s been sleeping around?"
"No! No!!" I cried out. "I have only been with one man and only one!"
I looked straight at Orion. Right into his eyes. I wanted him to see it. To feel it. To know he had sowed a forbidden seed inside me.
"Who is he?" Father asked.
I didn’t speak. My eyes were still locked on Orion.
Mother turned to him slowly.
"You know who it is, don’t you?" she asked him.
"No. No!" Orion said, his hands up in surrender. He obviously lied.
I didn’t blame him. I didn’t even know how to say it myself.
My stepbrother is my mate. And now… I was carrying his child.
Was this punishment? A curse from the moon goddess?
My heart screamed, but I kept the words to myself.
"Oh, f**k!" Mother yelled, clutching her hair, dragging her fingers through it like she’d pull it out strand by strand.
She turned to me again, her eyes were mad.
"Please tell me it’s Erik. Please tell me it’s Alpha Erik!" she shouted. "Say it, Arlenna!"
I couldn’t.
Because it wasn’t.
It was him.
The one standing by the door.
“This is a shame! A very big shame, Arlenna!"
Father’s voice was firm, loud, and full of something I had never heard before when he spoke to me.
I felt his disappointment.
"I am the Beta," he continued, "do you know how embarrassing this would be if word gets out?"
Mother stood at the side, pacing like a wolf trapped in a corner.
"So you don’t know who the father is?"
I looked up at her, my lips trembling.
"Maybe I’m just like you, Mother," I whispered.
Her reaction was swift as she rushed at me and slapped me again as I fell back to the bed.
"That’s enough!" Father yelled, stepping in between us.
"You ungrateful little wretch!" Mother spat, her eyes were wild.
"Do you know how rich Alpha Erik is? Do you? And he’s looking for a virgin! You were supposed to be one! And now you’ve thrown it all away!"
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even breathe properly.
Orion’s voice broke through the madness. "Don’t tell me you’re going to keep it, Arlenna."
I turned my face to him, "I’m not killing my baby."
"Of course you are!" Mother screamed, rounding on me again. "You are going to take that bastard out, and you will tell Alpha Erik you’re still untouched! He won’t know the difference if we act fast!"
I shook my head over and over again.
"No... No... I won’t... Please... Father..."
He didn’t come closer. He didn’t soften. He just stood there, shaking his head slowly, like he was looking at a stranger.
"We need to move up my wedding," Orion said suddenly, as if nothing else mattered.
I blinked at him in disbelief. My lips parted, a gasp catching in my throat.
"Is that the only thing that matters to you right now, Orion?"
"Of course it is!" Mother snapped in his defense. "This is your mess!"
"If you’re not taking it out," Father said firmly, "then you have to get married."
My heart nearly stopped. "Wait... What?"
"You either take it out or we’re marrying you off!" Mother snapped again, crossing her arms.
I sobbed harder, barely able to form words. "To who?"
- Writer
