5

ESMERALDA’S POV.

I watched every emotion display across Anthony’s face, every bit of it since I turned around and met his gaze.

Confusion was the first emotion to flick across his features, followed by surprise as his lips parted slightly and his eyes dilated. My best guess is, he has finally figured out that there is a bond between us.

I felt it when he was following me around, I could tell it is him from the scent. I was simply taking a stroll in the forest to clear my head and decide when I would leave the pack when I heard it—the snap of twigs as someone’s presence became known, and as my steps hastened, so did his.

However, at a point, I realized there is no point running away. I am not guilty of anything after all, and the only reason I did so was to avoid talking to him lest he decides to bring up the mistress issue again and heaven help me, I might do something I certainly will not regret.

The look I saw on his face though, somehow lit up what I thought had diminished or should I say, died completely...hope. Hope that perhaps, he has just realized I am his mate, and that he would choose me, and not her.

It sounds foolish to have such thoughts, huh? I know. But, even for the sake of my, our, baby, I had hoped I would be able to give it a proper family after all.

All that hope, every bit of it diminished though when his lips parted, and he uttered the words that broke me completely, to the point of what I believe to be no return.

“I, Alpha Anthony, of Hounds Pack, reject you, Esmeralda Stone, as my fated mate.” He outright rejected me, his tone stern and his resolution of the same feat.

Suddenly, pain struck me like lightening. My heart, it felt as though thousands of arrows are being pierced into it and the pain registered in my body as a whole. I found breathing to be a difficult task, but that was not what made me worry the most.

No, the pain spreads throughout my body but where it intensified the most was my stomach. It started to hurt, way more than I know to be okay. Instinctively, my hand went to my tummy, as if caressing the baby in there which even Anthony is unaware of.

My knees gave out on me, my eyes blurred with unshed tears due to the pain. I tried to speak, reach out to him, not to take back the rejection but to help me and our child. Perhaps, if he offered some sort of aid, I would be able to tackle the issue. Davis’s words played in my mind again, and fear gripped me in a chokehold seemingly impossible to get out of.

“Help me,” I wheezed out, my voice sounded so foreign to my ears, even I could not hear it clearly. “Please.”

Anthony stared at me with emotionless eyes, bare of any sort of compassion nor pity. He must have thought I am overreacting or something, then I heard him say.

“If you know what is good for you, Esmeralda, you better make sure no one hears of this. I do not consider you my mate, nor will I ever…”

I shook my head, the pain intensifying so much that I could feel my breathing begin to cease. “Anthony…” I managed to whisper out, “…please…” My pleas were for him to offer aid, but he took it as me pleading with him to take back the rejection or something.

“Accept the rejection, Esmeralda,” He gritted out, his hands fisted by the side, his tone commanding. “Accept it.”

I tried to vocalize a response, but no words made it past my lips. I could only shake my head as tears began to flow out of my eyes. As black spots began to cover my vision, and I realized Anthony has no plans of helping, I mustered small strength to respond.

“I accept your rejection…”

The moment I said those words, Anthony turned around and disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving me alone on the grounds in the middle of the woods, helpless, and on the brink of losing consciousness.

As I laid on my back and gazed at the sky, I noticed something peculiar. The moon…it was not bright like always. No, this time around it looked red, or maybe I was hallucinating? If so then I was hallucinating the whispers that filled the air as well, almost like incantations as smoke like air began to engulf me, taking my breath as a whole.

Before I completely lost consciousness though, the air cleared and I vaguely felt someone pick me up, then I heard an unfamiliar, deep, and commanding voice say,

“You are safe. It will be alright. You are mine, from now on…”