CHAPTER TWO: The Alpha’s Rejection

Nira's POV

"The war was hard on all of us, Nira."

I nodded. “Of course it was, my love. I saw it in your eyes just now, the weight you carry.” My fingers curled against his chest. “But it’s over now, because you’re home with me.”

He shook his head.

“Bren…"

“I did not expect it.” His voice cracked. “I did not plan it. But I fell in love during the war.”

For a moment, I just stared at him, my mind blank as fresh parchment. And then, my laugh burst out, nervous and high-pitched. “What? Huh? Oh, Bren....you always were a joker. A year apart, and you tease me like this the moment you return? Cruel man.”

But he didn’t laugh.

He didn’t even smile.

The laughter died in my throat. “You’re not… joking.”

“No.”

The single word crushed the air from my lungs. Bren raised his hand then, and his guards, his loyal guard, parted down the middle and stood on the sides.

My heart pounded as I followed his gaze. His personal horse came forward, the one he swore no soul but his own would ever ride. And yet, there was a figure.

A woman seated tall and proud in his saddle, her long platinum-blonde hair flowing freely behind her.

Bren moved to her at once as she swung her legs down, gracefully might I add, his hand caught hers before she even had to ask. My hand, his hand, the hand that belonged to me, slipped into hers like it had always belonged there.

“Nira,” Bren said. “This is Malacia. My fated mate.”

The world went black at the edges and I wanted to twirl three hundred times until this nightmare disappeared.

He wasn’t finished.

“The woman I love.”

The crowd erupted in gasps and murmurs, but I couldn’t hear them. All I could hear was the sound of my own heart tearing apart, piece by piece.

“What do you mean by the woman you love? I'm the woman you love, the woman you've always loved, and the woman you swore you'll continue to—”

“Nira, please.” he lifted his palm, cutting me off.

“Bren, no.” I looked at the woman, her expression was neutral, almost like she anticipated this and had for long been ready for it.

My hand trembled as I pressed it to my belly.

“I’m carrying your child, Bren,” I whispered, forcing the words past the lump in my throat. “Four months. Do you remember? The elders asked me to do something to welcome you home when the war grew long, so I agreed to the procedure. The insemination and it worked. I conceived. I wrote you, Bren. You wrote back and you were happy.” My voice cracked, “You knew you had a mate at home carrying your child. Your son.”

I stared at him, begging his eyes to soften, to remember, but instead, his gaze hardened.

“You have to get rid of it, Nira.”

I stumbled back, shaking my head violently. “Get rid of it? Bren, that’s not ‘it.’ That’s him. That is our son. Do you hear yourself? That would be an abortion, a slaughter of our child.” My hands clutched my belly protectively, my voice rising with fury and grief. “And even if I wanted to. I could never.”

An abortion when I was this long gone was suicide.

I waited for him to say something, to see reason with me but—

“I love Malacia.”

Maybe the war twisted him. Maybe the blood on those battlefields rotted something inside him. Because the man before me was not the man who held me under the moon, who swore that we'd rule together, who wrote happily when I told him that he would be a father.

What would become of me now? What would become of our son, the life I carried, the legacy of a man who no longer claimed me? And why, in the Moon Goddess’s name, was I suddenly the one who had to defend the right of my unborn child to exist?

Malacia came forward, her tone was neutral, too posh I had to assume she was a high-born and told me that since I had fulfilled my “temporary purpose” with Bren, I’d be moved to the servants’ quarters. But they wouldn’t throw me out of the pack, at least not yet.

I blinked. “Send me away?” I asked, disbelief coating my voice. “This is my pack.”

She gave a tight smile. “If I remember correctly, you fled your former pack because of that wildfire that destroyed your village. You were taken in as a refugee. Bren’s late father allowed you to stay, and you worked in the servants’ quarters before… rising to Luna. So what’s so terrible about going back to where you came from?”

My hand went instinctively to my stomach. “I have a child in my belly. Bren’s child.”

Malacia shrugged. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll find a sure way to get rid of it.”

My heart dropped. “What, you guys are really serious about this?”

Bren was standing there, just like that, like a dummy.

But he finally spoke. “I just don’t want Malacia to be upset or feel threatened by you, or the foetus.”

I stared at him. “Is she pregnant? Is that it?”

He shook his head. “No… not yet. We want to take our time and plan things right. You… you got pregnant too quickly.”

I stared at him, fury and disbelief burning through me. “Too quickly? Your elders told me you wanted a surprise and it would be a good idea for me to go through with it. You agreed to it. You gave the go-ahead before I started the process. It wasn’t like I did this alone. You sent your semen in a sealed jar. By raven, for the goddess’ sake. You chose this.”

He looked away.

“You loved me,” I whispered.

“I did,” he admitted, with no hesitation. “But people grow out of love.”

Then he stepped forward and hugged me like I was a comrade in battle, not the woman who had once been his world.

“I’m grateful for your service,” he said.

“Service?” I yanked away from him. “Bren, we were in love!”

“Please don’t cause a scene,” he muttered. “The baby isn’t a problem. I’ll send for the midwife tonight. We’ll handle it.”