The untamed Alpha and his human mate

Chapter 24: Deadly deception

Amaya

I waited until morning, Esther got Odette’s breakfast ready. It was peaceful with only the soft clatter of dishes and the warm smell of breakfast filling the air. Odette was chatting happily at the table, her little voice sweet and carefree. I started cleaning around the kitchen, then the living room, using it as an excuse to go into Clay’s room and clean too. I wiped surfaces that were already clean just to pass the time and work myself up to what I was going to do.

He was downstairs eating with everyone else, and my heart began to race faster at what I was about to do. I stripped the bedsheets and kept looking over at the bin, it was gross and cringe and all kinds of wrong, but I forced myself to go over and get out the used c.ondom. He never had s**x without using protection. I slid it in my pocket, and when I cringed inside, I reminded myself it was this or die, and with Clay it would probably be a horrible death.

I cleaned a little longer so I didn’t come off as suspicious, and then I made my way to the bathroom, cold tiles beneath my feet a slight distraction from the heat and sweat forming at what I was about to do.

Using a spare plastic medicine syringe people used for Calpol that I found, I filled it with Clay’s s.emen, lucky for me, he came a lot, it seemed. I lay down and, well, used it on myself, trying to s.quirt it as deeply inside as I could. I did that every day for a whole two weeks, I needed to make sure it worked.

As the days ticked by, my fear grew. I hated not knowing what Clay was thinking. I hated waking up wondering if today would be my last day, I had no clue when he would kill me or how, and it was driving me mad. By the time my period came around, I was a bag of nerves, but my period never came, and hope filled me.

I asked Esther to get me a pregnancy test when she went shopping, he trusted her to go out alone more than he trusted me. She knew what I had done, and while she hadn’t agreed with it entirely, she understood why I had done this. When she returned, I took the two tests to be sure, and both came back positive. I was pregnant. I stared at it a long time, my hands were shaking.

Clay loved Odette, and I knew he didn’t like harming children, so by getting myself pregnant with his own child, I hoped it would make him let me live, at least for the nine months I would have, that gave me enough time to come up with a plan to escape.

Clay wasn’t stupid, he noticed me not having a period because every month I smelt like I was in heat to him, and it drove him mad. This month he wasn’t struggling, and he noticed.

“Amaya,” he called out to me.

I stopped washing the dishes and looked at him. “Hmm?”

His eyes traveled over me. “Are you feeling well?”

“Yes, thank you,” I replied. I didn’t dare ask why and give him the opportunity to ask questions.

I was hoping he would walk off, but he didn’t. “You’re late with your moon time, have you noticed?”

“Oh, am I? That happens sometimes,” I tried to smile, but my racing heart gave me away.

“Your heart is racing, anything worrying you?” He asked, voice cold though the words were sarcastic, because he knew damn well there was.

I shook my head. I didn’t even know why I was lying. The whole point of getting pregnant was for him to know so he wouldn’t kill me, but now I was faced with him, my legs turned to jelly, and I was so scared I could barely utter a word.

“I haven’t let you go out alone, so you can’t be pregnant with some man’s child, so why are you still not bleeding yet?”

“I k-know you want to k-kill me,” I stuttered.

“I know you know. What does that have to do with you not bleeding?”

Oh god, ok, I wiped my clammy hands on my trousers, took a deep breath, and said, “I used your s.emen to get pregnant, so you can’t kill me.”

Of all the things I could have said, I don’t think he prepared himself for that. He stood there staring at me, I think he was stunned speechless for a moment.

Clearing his throat and looking on the verge of anger and disbelief, he said, “let me get this straight, you used my semen to impregnate yourself? Meaning you must have used one of the used condoms I threw in the bin after I f.ucked Bliss?”

I nodded quietly, and his hands clenched into fists. “You selfishly decided to get pregnant and put your baby at risk?”

“Our baby,” I corrected. I needed him to see it as his, or he might not care as much. “I know you don’t hurt children.”

Out of nowhere he grabbed me by the throat and pinned me up against the wall, lifting me slightly off my feet, and snarled, “that is not my baby. Even pregnant, I can still cause so much damage, as long as I avoid your stomach.”

“Stress isn’t good for the baby either,” I choked. Apparently I had a death wish by sarcastically saying that. He squeezed my throat tightly, cutting off my air supply for a moment, but and then he let me go, growling in anger. “You stupid f.ucking b.itch!” He raged and paced the room, and then he smashed his fist into one of the cupboards, smashing a hole through it.

I was terrified, and I don’t know if it was the fear or part of the pregnancy or both, but I felt like I was going to throw up. I stayed there for another minute before I had to run. Clay yelled, “where do you think you’re going?!”

I couldn’t answer, I found the nearest toilet, dropped to my knees, and threw up in it. Clay came in behind me, leaning against the doorframe. He folded his arms and said, “serves you right. I hope you suffer f.ucking horribly through the pregnancy.”

“Clayton, don’t be so cruel!” Bliss gasped.

He turned to face her and snarled, “why not? You do realise the b.itch got herself pregnant with my seed?”

“It’s your baby?” She asked quietly.

I felt guilty hearing the hurt in her voice. Did she love him?

“That thing is not my baby,” he growled, “she did it to herself, so she can take care of it herself. I am not the father, I’m nothing to it, and it is nothing to me.” He cupped her face between his hands and kissed her softly on the lips.

A tear slid down her cheek, and she said, “you can’t mean that.”

“I do.”

“You shouldn’t, as much as it hurts finding this out the baby doesn’t deserve you treating him or her like they’re nothing, they deserve a father and to be loved. They aren’t to blame for this.”

Looking back at me on the floor, Clay said, “Bliss is right, it’s not the baby’s fault, when it’s born, I’ll kill you and bring the baby up myself.”

His words hurt, truly hurt. All the times I thought he was being kind or we were having a moment, I learnt right here and now on the floor that it had been nothing more than respect. Any ideas I’d had about thinking there was some sort of friendship developing were clearly wrong.

I broke down sobbing on the floor. I hadn’t cried like this since I had first arrived at this place. Bliss tried to bend down, but Clay blocked her path. “Leave her,” he said. “This is her own mess and she can deal with the consequences.”

He led her away, and I cried for a really long time, but it would be the last time he made me cry like that. Finding out I was pregnant was shocking even though I had planned this, but more surprising were my feelings towards the life now growing inside of me, they were fierce and strong, I had only known for a day, and already I loved this baby and knew I would do anything to protect us. I may not have been able to defend myself, but my baby? I knew I would die for them.

I got myself up off the floor and went to my room. The collar with Clayton’s name on it was sitting on my bedside table, I still had the card he had given me too.

I no longer wanted to think of him as Clay, it felt too informal, and we weren’t that close, nor did he deserve me calling him that, so he was back to Clayton, petty maybe, but it made me feel better.

That night I waited until everyone was sleeping. Clayton hadn’t made me sleep in his room since I had woken up to them having s**x. When it was quiet and all the lights were off, I put on the collar, grabbed the card, and snuck my way down the stairs and out of the house. Clayton didn’t lock it up like a prison when he was home, like most of the gods, he was arrogant enough to believe no one would dare try to escape with him home.

The stairs sounded deafening with every creak, but I didn’t rush, I took my time so I could keep as silent as possible. When I reached the front door, my heart was pounding painfully against my chest.

I slowly slid the chain across to unlock it, then I unlocked the door itself and opened it, wincing with how loud it sounded. Even the very breeze blowing inside made me worry he might feel it somehow.

I quietly closed the door behind me, the cold air hit my face, cold and sharp, making me shiver. Even outside, I walked as quietly as I could until I was about half a mile from the castle, then I finally began to run as fast as I could. Branches snapped underfoot, making me paranoid he would hear or somehow appear behind me, cold air burned my lungs, my heart was pounding so hard it hurt.

I kept expecting him to turn up any moment or be waiting for me outside the forest. I waited for a hand to grab my shoulder, he always seemed to know when I was trying to escape and where I was. When I reached a bus stop, it felt like an eternity as I waited. Any moment I expected him to turn up and drag me back. It wasn’t until I was finally on the bus and sitting down as it pulled away that I finally relaxed and felt relief. I was finally free. He wouldn’t be able to find me and kill me, I would make sure of it.