THE MARKED BOUNTY: Betrayed By My Mate

Chapter One

~Rae’s POV ~

I stared down at the stick in my trembling hand, my stomach churning.

Two pink lines.

Two, not one. I swallowed the lumps in my throat, shaking my head.

“It can’t be. I am done for”, I choked out in tears, the reality sinking in, I shouldn’t have. My heart hammered against in my chest on what I had done.

I was pregnant. I already knew-- I’d felt the changes, my late period, the constant throwing up but seeing it confirmed was like being sucker-punched twice.

And I didn’t even know his name. My hands shook as I make my way out of the bathroom, seeing my bestfriend pacing around in the room, I broke down in tears.

“Breathe”, Lillian said, her hands rocking me back and froth to calm me.

“Okay? Just breathe”.

I couldn’t. My lungs were locked, my mouth is dry. “It’s been a month, Lil. I don’t even remember his face clearly”, I choked out, face-palming myself.

“Are you sure he’s human?”, Lillian questioned, her eyebrwos creased and she was biting her long nail. My face paled at her words.

That night, what I felt-- the way he talked and moved, his scent, his eyes, it wasn’t normal. They couldn’t be…

“I am not sure he’s”, I whimpered, avoiding her gaze.

“You think he was werewolf”, She asked, I didn’t answer, I was staring blankly into space with my hands clumped together with the stick.

She sighed. “Rae, if your parents find out--”.

“They will fucking kill me”, I said it before she could. “Or worse, lock me up. You know how Dad feels about werewolves”, I exhaled.

“They’d definitely pull you out of the academy”, she added.

“You’re already on thin ice for sneaking into those clubs”, She lets out, back to her pacing sessions.

“I needed to find him”, I snapped, sitting up. “If he’s a werewolf, I need to know, I need to be ready”. Ready for worse, I concluded in my mind.

Lillian’s eyes softened. “I am not judging you. I just… we need to be careful”, She sighed heavily.

“We?”, I lifted a brow.

“Yeah, we’re in this together. You think I would leave you, any decision you make, you know I would always stand by you, you know that right?, Lillian said, pulling me into an embrace. A tear slipped from my eye, I know she’s right, we’ve been inseparable since when we were kids.

I stared, my eyes bulging in the socket. “You’re serious?”

She shrugged. “When have I not been?”

“You think I’m letting you sneak into another supernatural party alone?” She smirked.

“No way. I already got the name of a private werewolf event. Invite-only, full moon special. We will crash it, maybe we would get lucky by seeing the father of my god-daughter”, She joked, pointing at my stomach and we both bursted out laughing.

We dressed in black, something sleek but nothing too flashy. Lillian wore silver hoops and painted her lips red. I wore a burgundy velvet shoes to match, and did some small touches to my face.

We waited behind a hedge until the guards looked the other way, then slipped through a side door and sneaked out of the academy. The party was hosted on the edge of the city--some old mansion turned supernatural hot zone.

Lillian had already got us an invite despite not being a werewolf she claimed she had her sources. Inside, the air was different.

It smelled like pine, liquor and something sharp. Something that made the hairs on my arms rise. My gut twisted. There were no humans here which I am very sure of.

Lillian kept close, her hand occasionally brushing mine like a lifeline.

“See anyone you recognize?”, She whispered as we moved through the crowd.

“No”, I murmured. “But the wolf scent is stronger”, Guessed this werewolf party aren’t for the low ranked wolves. I have fought with many wolves but their auras aren’t as strong those that surrounded us.

We passed by them, their eyes lingering on us. Maybe they realized we aren’t wolves but humans. The wolves we passed by always casted a long glance at us which makes the hair on my skin rise. I didn’t belong here but I had to be here.

To search, I needed to find him-before this baby started showing. Before I had to explain something I didn’t understand myself.

“VIP section’s upstairs. Betas and higher”, Lillian nudged me snaping me out of my thoughts.

“You think he could be--?” I arched a brow.

“Only one way to find out”, She quipped in.

Lil distracted a passing guard with some fake and flirtatious smile while I slid past him and climbed the staircase.

The music was softer up here, the crowd quieter. I began opening and peeking in through rooms murmuring some incoherent statements looking like I had lost my way.

The air shifted, and I caught a faint trace of cologne--bergamot, musk and a slow burning spice that curled low in my stomach.

My skin prickled. I’d breathed it in once with my face buried in his neck. One night. One mistake.

I turned sharply, my heart racing in my heart. Where was the courage from earlier?

I gasped as I slammed into a wall.

No.

Not a wall. But a hard chest. I stumbled back, my head aching from the impact.

“Easy, sweetheart”, a voice drawled me back and I froze. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost”, That voice, I couldn’t mistaken it for anything. I looked up at him and my breath seized.

He stood like sin wrapped in tailored black--broad shouldered and impossibly tall, his jaw was cut clean, sharp with the kind of stubble that looked effortless. A strong Roman nose, his full lips which I remembered worshiped every parts of my body that night.

I swallowed the lumps in my throat, that night etched in my memory and my devilishly handsome handsome stranger standing in front of me with his steel-gray eyes prying at me like I am his predator.

“Lost your voice ever since that night”, He arched a brow at me, a smile tugging in the corner of his full lips.

“You remember me?” I blinked, fluttering my eyelashes. I stood there like I was rooted to the ground.

“Of course I do”, He stated like it was obvious. Like I was the unfrogettable one. Not the other way round.

He leaned in slightly. “I thought I’d have to search longer. But here you are”.

I noticed the mark on his chest then-- a tattoed embroidered crest in the shape of a crescent fang.

NO.

Not just a werewolf.

A fucking Alpha. I gasped stepping back, my knees weakening.

“What’s wrong?”, He asked, his eyes scanning me from head to toe.

“You’re… you’re from Crescent Fang”, I said, barely able to speak.

“Damon Wolfe”, He said, offering his hand like we were old friends meeting for coffee. My mouth parted from my jaws, my breath hitching in my throat.

“Damon Wolfe”, The name rolled on my tongue and I shook my head in disbelief. There was only one Wolfe surname in the werewolf community, from the Crescent Fang Pack. Then it clicked--

Alpha.

The word slammed into me like a brick wall. I had a one-night stand with a damn Alpha, not just an Alpha. From the largest and ruling pack in the community.

You’ve been looking for me”, He stated firmly.

“Haven’t you?”, Damon tilted his head slightly, a devilish smile playing on his lips.

I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

But he stepped closer, his nose barely touching mine.

“Careful”,he whispered into my ears, his voice low and smooth which is making my stomach tingle. “You keep looking at me like that, Rae Blackthorne, and I’ll think you missed me”, He smirked.

I widened my eyes, nearly budging out of the socket.

He fucking knew my name. I pushed him off me making a dash for it.

I burst out of the mansion and down the back alley, nearly slipping on the gravel. My heart pounded like it was trying to escape my chest.

Lillian found me near the gate, panting.

“Did you find him?”, She asked.

I couldn’t speak. I nodded once, tears streaming down my eyes.

“Oh no”, She said. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“He’s… he’s not just a werewolf”, I stuttered amidst tears. “He’s the Alpha”.

Her eyes widened.

“And he fucking knows who I am”, I added.

“He knows I am a human bounty hunter”.