CHAPTER FIVE: OMEGA’S DESPERATION

Seraphina

Yes.

I had just agreed to destroy the only thing in this world that was truly mine. A child conceived in love, or what I had foolishly believed was love, was now condemned to die to save its mother from the idiot who helped conceive it.

Asheron’s expression didn’t even soften at my decision. If anything, a flash of disappointment flashed across his face. Perhaps because I had chosen self-preservation over the life growing inside me.

“Good” he nodded once. He roughly detached my fingers from his shirt “The pack doctor Lira will prepare the procedure to get rid of it tonight. But first, we have to get rid of that your ex first. He’s causing a nuisance on my territory.”

With that, he left me in the room leaving the door wide open.

My chest heaved as tears blinded me. I wrapped both my arms tightly around my stomach, sinking down until my knees hit the floorboards and my forehead touched the wood.

I prayed silently to the moon goddess. ‘Forgive me, Forgive me, my sweet pup...please’

Rowan was out there. The arrogant fool didn’t know about the baby because I had been holding onto that secret, waiting to give him the ultimate gift when he became Alpha.

Now, he had come to claim me like I was stolen property, completely oblivious to the fact that his betrayal was forcing me to erase our child before it ever had a chance to draw breath.

Asheron's intention was to display me to Rowan to show him that I was now nothing more than his own branded, bound property.

But for how long was I going to keep letting these two men decide for me?

If I was going to survive this nightmare, I needed to stop acting like a helpless victim waiting to be saved.

With a mew resolve, I pushed myself up from the floor. My hands were still shaking, but the fever had broken. Asheron thought he held all the cards because of that damned contract.

He wanted a ruthless game? I would play it.

I smoothed down my rumpled clothes and wrapped Asheron’s scent-laden jacket firmly around my shoulders, and stepped out into the dark corridor to follow the Alpha into the storm.

The iron gates of the estate groaned under the force of Rowan’s newly attained Alpha aura.

From the top of the courtyard steps, I watched Rowan step through the perimeter line, flanked by six of his highest-ranking royal guards. His eyes were wild and his wolf sat right beneath his skin.

“Sinclair!” Rowan started off “Return what belongs to my pack, or this is an act of war”

Asheron descended the steps slowly, he was clearly unbothered “You’re trespassing, boy. And last I checked, the royal pack doesn’t claim unranked Omegas. You publicly rejected her and named her step sister your Luna. She crossed my border willingly to me.”

“She is my family’s responsibility!” Rowan snarled, taking a step forward as his guards drew their blades. “She stole from the pack house before she ran!”

That was a pathetic lie to justify his bruised pride. I never stole anything

“Is that so?” Asheron smirked as he halted a few paces away. “Because from where I’m standing, she didn’t look like a thief. She looked like a woman fleeing a house of cowards.”

I took a deep breath and stepped out. The breeze shifted instantly, carrying the rich, intoxicating cloud of my scent straight toward them.

Rowan’s head snapped toward me. His eyes widened in absolute disbelief, then flared with violent, dangerous fury as his gaze landed on Asheron’s jacket swathing my body—and the dark, unmistakable scent of another Alpha’s claim clinging to my skin.

“Seraphina...” Rowan gasped, his voice cracked with rage and confusion. “What did he do to you? Take that off and come here!”

I didn’t flinch. I walked past Asheron’s guards and stopped just half a step behind Asheron’s right shoulder. I was pale and trembling, but I forced my eyes to remain cold and dead.

“He gave me a safe space, Rowan,” my voice rang clear and steady across the courtyard. “Something you sold to Quinn.”

“You don’t belong to him!” He took an impulsive step toward me, but Asheron’s aura slammed into him like a physical wall to force him back. Rowan glared at him “She’s my mate, Sinclair! You can’t keep her”

“She signed a contract of total submission to my house” Asheron said with precision “She chooses me, Rowan. She is erasing every trace of you. Get that into your head”

Rowan stared at me in horror. “Seraphina... no. You wouldn’t. Tell me he’s lying. Tell me you didn’t sell yourself to my enemy”

I swallowed hard over the lump in my throat. I needed the weight of my hatred to crush him. “I’d rather be his prisoner than ever let you touch me again.”

Rowan let out a primal roar of betrayal, his claws extended as he lunged forward but before his guards could restrain him or Asheron could strike, a sharp, shattering scream ripped through the upper balcony of the estate.

“Asheron! Stop!”

Pearl stood at the top of the balcony, her face was flushed with fury.

“They’re both lying to you, Rowan” Pearl shrieked as she pointed a shaking finger down at me. “She didn’t just sign a contract with my Alpha, she’s carrying a royal bastard! Your baby is growing inside of her”

Rowan froze mid-stride, his eyes snapped from Pearl to my stomach in utter, paralyzing shock. “You’re... what?”

“Rowan...I...” I stammered as my earlier confidence shattered. But I quickly regained composure “I am pregnant. But not for long. Nothing will bind us together anymore. In fact, I don’t mind doing it right here, right now, just to express my hatred for you.

As an Omega, life never came with too many options. I hated to admit that I would have a hand in getting rid of a part of me but I had no choice, I was in survival mode.