Chapter 2

‘Even without his rejection, as a human, I would never be worthy of standing beside Alexander as his equal,’ Emilia said to herself as she watched Alexander stare at Mia, so lovingly that it added to the ache which had already spread in her heart.

“Enough with the photos please,” Alexander spoke up, “Miss Kim and I have spent countless hours forging something so exceptional and so unique,” he said as everyone around them paused to listen.

‘Countless hours for his ex, but not ten seconds for his wife?’ Emilia thought to herself as fresh tears rolled down her face at his words.

“And today, I would like to announce a game-changing alliance between the Redstone pack and the MoonRay pack. With their backing, I would like to declare my nomination for werewolf presidency,” Alexander stated again, and this time Mia chuckled beside him, and Emilia watched him turn and smile at her again.

“Is alliance another code word for marriage?” one of the journalists asked, “have you marked each other yet?”

“Your opponents claim that without a mate or an heir, you are unfit to lead. What is your response?” Another asked.

Emilia looked down at the gift wrap in her hand and then her hand moved to cradle her belly as a few thoughts began to pass through her mind.

“Miss Kim, are you carrying Alpha Alexander's heir?” the journalists asked, pointing the microphone towards Mia.

“Those are…” Alexander began, but Mia's index finger shot up to touch his lips gently silencing him.

“Those concerns will be resolved soon,” Mia finished with a smile.

There seemed to be a hidden meaning behind her silencing Alexander with her finger because all of a sudden, the small crowd became excited and began to take more pictures of the both of them.

Emilia, who had decided to leave the vicinity, turned to do so, and all of a sudden, a security guard shoved her hard, making her stumble to the hard floor. Pain shot through her entire body, making her wince, but as she raised her head back up, her eyes landed on Alexander, with his arms around Mia, protectively shielding her from the wild crowd.

‘My husband is too busy protecting another woman to notice me bleeding at his feet,’ Emilia said to herself as small droplets of blood dropped from her forehead to the floor. Before she could stand to her feet, strong arms picked her up from the floor.

“The servants quarters are at the back, let's go human,” the man who had picked her said, while holding her bound.

“Get your hands off me,” Emilia said as she struggled to free herself from the rough man's hold. “Leave me alone,” she said louder, her voice alerting Alexander to her presence.

“Release her! Now!” Alexander ordered, his voice loud but not loud enough to alert the journalists around, who were now being held back by security. “What the hell are you doing here? You know the rules, no unauthorised access,” He continued as Emilia walked closer to him, her forehead still bleeding.

“Why? Are you afraid that I'll interrupt your important work?” Emilia asked, her voice shaky with tears even though she tried to control it, “or your not-so-secret affair? which is it?”

With a smile still on her face, Mia gently stepped out from Alexander's hold and walked closer to Emilia. “You must be Emilia, Alexander's fated mate. Thank you for taking care of him for the last four years,” she said, her voice pleasant.

Then Mia moved closer again to Emilia, and in a swift move she held up Emilia's face and moved her chin to the right side. “No mark. Good,” Mia said, after taking a good look at Emilia's neck. Then she moved back to Alexander's side, “Sweetheart, I appreciate you keeping your promise of marking nobody but me,” she said to Alexander.

Emilia's eyes widened with shock as she looked from Mia to Alexander, her gaze questioning. “It's not like that,” Alexander answered, looking at Mia.

“Honey,” Mia continued in a condescending tone, turning to look at Emilia without missing a beat, “I hope you know that human marriages mean absolutely nothing in werewolf society, right?”

“Nothing?” Emilia asked, choking slightly on the fresh tears that bubbled from inside her as she looked at Alexander. “Is that why I'm still unmarked? Because I'm just a human?”

“Look, just go home,” Alexander said, not bothering to answer her question, “have the maid clean up your wound, okay?”

“Yeah, darling, we should go,” Mia said, turning to Alexander.

“Alexander, wait,” Emilia said, her voice sounding low and defeated. “Don't walk away, you need to see this,” she said, stretching the gift box in her hand towards Alexander.

Before Alexander could properly get a hold of the box, Mia snatched it from his hand. “This little surprise can wait. We can't be late for the baby's first check-up, right?” She asked, turning to look at Alexander.

“Yes, you're right. We can't,” Alexander replied.

“She's having your pup?” Emilia asked with widened eyes as she was unable to believe what she'd just heard. At Alexander's silence, she grabbed a hold of the box in Mia's hand, “then this isn't for you. You don't deserve it.”

But as she tried to grab the box from Mia's hand, Mia refused to let go, leading to both of them tugging at the box, each refusing to let go.

“Hey, hey,” Alexander called, trying to stop what was going on.

All of a sudden, Mia subtly used her werewolf strength to tug the box out from Emilia's hand, then she pushed herself backwards to make it look like Emilia had pushed her.

“Alexander!” Mia exclaimed, inching closer to his body, and holding him tight, “the baby,” she added scrunching up her face like she was in pain.

For a moment Emilia stood with confusion written all over her face as she looked from Alexander to Mia and then back at Alexander.

“Something is wrong with the baby,” Mia continued as she clung to Alexander's body.

“What the heck is wrong with you, Emilia. Mia is pregnant for fucks sake,” Alexander said, raising his voice a bit.

“No, I didn't….I didn't do…” Emilia began, stuttering a bit. But before she could complete her sentence, Alexander carried Mia up in his arms and into his vehicle, the simple act made the journalists who were being held back by security to begin taking fresh pictures and demanding a statement.

Now in the vehicle, Mia rolled down the window and with a triumphant smile on her face, she tossed the gift box towards Emilia with just enough Alpha power that the box hit Emilia on her stomach with so much force that she stumbled and fell to the floor.

And for the third time that day, excruciating pain shot through Emilia's body making her pass out cold. As Alexander's vehicle drove off, rain began to pour down on Emilia heavily, making her regain consciousness.

“Uhh…,” Emilia groaned as she tried to lift herself up from the wet floor with rain water splattering consistently over her. “Oh no,” she cried out again as she looked down at her body—a pool of blood flowing slowly from her body onto the floor. “Somebody help me, please,” she pleaded, to everyone and anyone that would listen, but the few persons she saw around her walked away from her and some of them even climbed over her to get to where they needed to go.

“I'm so sorry, baby,” Emilia whispered to the photo of the foetus that had been in the gift box but now lay on the floor, blood stained. “If your mummy hadn't been such a worthless human, your daddy wouldn't have left for another werewolf,” she said again with tears flowing freely down her face.

And at that moment, another stab of pain shot through Emilia's abdomen making her gasp painfully as her body convulsed profusely.

From the corner of Alexander's office building, Harper Lee walked out from where she had been hiding and watching, waiting for the perfect opportunity to step out. She had seen when the crystal necklace that had been on Alpha Alexander mate’s neck had fallen down.

With the way Emilia was weak, it was hard to believe that she was anything more than a mere human, but she didn't want to take any chances, so she picked up the crystal necklace and wore it around her neck.

Harper moved a few feet away from Emilia's now unconscious body and fell down with a thud on the hard floor just as a black car with the emblem of the lycan royal family arrived at the scene.