Revenge of the Rejected Luna

CHAPTER 3

THE TWINS ARRIVE

(Seven months after)

The moment I heard the footsteps of my husband just outside the door, a chilling fear clutched at my throat. I grabbed the hand of the midwife who had just delivered me of the twins.

"Take one of the babies, take the boy," I begged the shocked nurse. "Hide him before he comes in. Just hide him! Now!"

Knowing that this was a very big risk even to my life, the shaky midwife immediately wrapped one of the still-wet babies and ran into the nearest room. Just then, the door opens and there he stood. Tall and unapologetically handsome. The monster called Alpha Ephrata. The one who had bought me just a few weeks ago to be his Breeder. His eyes were cold and void of any emotions, but when he sees the moving little creature in the cot, his eyes twinkled. This had been his dream: to have an heir! A male heir.

He walked towards the baby and examined it. "It's a boy," he said, a smirk of joy leaping onto his face.

I was shocked by this statement! But the midwife had taken the male one inside! What...

"Just one child?" the Alpha asked now, glaring down at my vulnerable figure.

With my heart hammering in my chest, knowing that I was so close to death. That if Alpha Ephrata found out I was deceiving him, I'd be in a big mess. But I nodded weakly. "Yes, my Lord. Just one."

Ephrata's stone eyes scanned me, distrust lining his brows. "Hmm. Why am I not okay with all of this?"

I swallowed hard. "How, my Lord?" Even as I said this, I felt even more afraid. The hollow in my heart, the ringing voice in my head, told me to stop this lie! But I was already deep into it. I was going to protect at least one of my twins.

“He's telling the truth, my Lord," a voice said behind me. I turned to see the midwife coming from the room, drying her hands. She was trying so hard to maintain her cool.

Ephrata turned to leave. "Bring the baby along," he ordered the midwife.

The midwife stopped short. And I knew just what she was thinking. How would we tell Alpha Ephrata that the baby was actually born premature? That for this one to survive, we would need to employ a lot of sophisticated medical personnel and life-support machines?

As the midwife turned to me, she raised her finger to her lips: "stay calm."

But just as they were leaving the door, another baby's cry was heard from within!

I leapt up from the bed, eyes blazing.

The Alpha halted immediately, turning. "And what was that?!" he thundered.

The midwife, who had the second baby in her hand, stopped short, and only a little chance stopped her from dropping the baby.

The tension in the room was so real, so tangible that I couldn't breathe anymore. As for Alpha Ephrata, my Lord, his face was a canvas of conflicting emotions. His Lycan senses were roaming frantically, searching, digging for answers that weren't forthcoming.

"I ask again," he emphasized, "what was that crying sound I heard?!" He turned particularly to the nurse. "Speak to me or you'll have yourself to blame."

The midwife's brain must have stopped because she began to stutter endlessly. "Um. It eh... I..." Then she turned helplessly to me.

A large lump came in my throat. And then, like a saviour from nowhere, a woman came out from the door holding a child in her hand. She was followed by her husband and their older daughter.

Their baby was the one crying. I looked suspiciously at the wailing bundle. Was this my own child this couple was carrying?

"My Lord," the father greeted, bowing, "I am honoured to have my own child alongside your own tw—"

"Child!" the midwife cut in just in time before the man said 'twins'. "How was our maternity service, dear Gamma Martha?" she added, grinning foolishly.

"Fantabulous," the mother said, but her eyes were on me, and at the single baby the midwife was carrying. She wasn't particularly excited.

I met her eyes too. And in that short moment, a thousand messages were passed. An agreement of not revealing our secret. And as this happened, I looked closely at the baby the couple was carrying. Then I realized. THAT was MY baby. The couple was totally fake.

But Alpha Ephrata was far too smart to be deceived that easily.

"Is there something you all are not telling me?" he asked now. "Because if there is, trust me it isn't going to be funny if I find out."

"Everything is perfectly okay, my Lord," said the meek father. "We owe you our lives for allowing my wife deliver at your highly-esteemed and well-furnished—"

"Leave here, you talk too much," the 25-year old Lycan snapped at the man. Without any more words, they slipped away. Carrying with them my baby. And I could do nothing but watch.

Soon after this, a bodyguard walked into the room, bowing to Ephrata.

"The doctor is here," he announced.

"The same that ran an ultrasound scan on this girl?" he asked, pointing at me.

"The same, my Lord."

I wanted to go insane. The pain of childbirth seemed to come rushing back to me again. What on earth was the doctor doing here, now?

Ephrata watched me closely, noting the anxiety I was fighting to hide. Then he said, "And I guess she can tell us if our dear Chloe was indeed pregnant with one child. Or..." He faced the midwife... "there was more."

The midwife started. "Sir, I delivered Chloe myself. There was only—"

"Keep lying, woman, go on," Ephrata said coldly. Then he turned to his bodyguard. "Usher in the doctor. And more importantly, stop that couple that just left now."

He turned back to the two terrified women. One carrying a quiet baby, and one laying powerlessly on a green bed, knowing that she had gone deep into this mess.

The door opened, and in came the doctor.