Chapter 01

Penelope's POV

My hands shook as I picked up the tray, baby bump slightly hitting the kitchen sink as I made to walk out of the kitchen.

" I can do that for you Luna! You are pregnant, you need to rest. Let me take it to her for you" my hand maid, Mina said, trying to pry the tray of hot chocolate out of my hands.

I smiled gently just as I had been taught to do when the pack members hit me. They hated when I cried in pain. Made them feel like monsters, they had claimed. So they made me smile.

" No, it's fine. You know how Laura gets. She is pregnant and she needs care" 

Mina stared at me as though I had just grown another head.

" She is pregnant and so are you! You are the Luna of this pack, carrying the future of this pack, and She is just the alpha's cousin. You have more right to rest than she does. I wonder why you let her treat you like this" Mina said.

I sighed internally. She has this conversation with me two times a day, when she was washing my hair or getting me dressed.

And my answers never seemed to be enough to please her.

" Get me a small basket of fruits from the market instead. We will talk about this later." I said instead, walking towards the living room where Laura sat.

Ever since she came into this pack a year ago, she had managed to make my life a living hell. 

" She just left an abusive marriage, you should take care of her as Luna." My mate would say, and slowly, I could feel the expectations crippling me, the bad side that she refused to show anyone except me suffocating me.

" Took you long enough..I told you I was thirsty and you took your precious time to bring the chocolate? Are you trying to kill my child? Is it because you think you are carrying the alpha's child now all of a sudden you are better than me?" 

I bit my lips. I could not talk back to her..I was Luna. I was supposed to be a prodigy at managing my emotions.

" I had to heat up the chocolate Laura. It's here now is it not?"

She hummed, giving me one of those demeaning glares she reserved only for me.

" I wonder why the moon goddess would decide to make you the mate of someone as powerful as alpha Dax. You are an omega and the best thing that has ever happened to you was him coming into your life. The moon goddess sure knows how to play a prank" 

She was not wrong. 

Dax was in fact the best thing that happened to me..I still had nightmares from my days as an omega. The beating and the slaps, the constant living in fear of my abusers and the longing for death.

" I have to go get dinner ready before the pack members are ready to eat, enjoy your chocolate." 

Somehow, I had mastered the art of not talking back to her, because somehow, she  managed to gather the sympathy of the pack and leave me looking like the witch.

" I can't believe she treats her like that just because she is jealous. Alpha Dax cares for his cousin. Just how insecure can she get?"

I heard the whispers severally on my way to the market or to the town's mall. They would stop whenever I passed, but that did not make it anymore unbearable to deal with.

" Actually, I don't want the chocolate anymore.. prepare a hot bath for me, I think that would do me more good."

Breathe Penelope. Breathe.

" I will have one of the maids do that for you then" 

Her glare intensified.

" Did I tell you I had no idea I could get a maid? What? You think you are better than a maid here because the moon goddess happened to give you a man as perfect as Dax for a mate? 

I want you to run the bath for me, and be quick with it" 

I was at my wits end with this woman. I had managed to endure most of her insults for the sake of peace, but this was the last straw.

" If you know you can get any maid to do it for you, then please get them. I have other things to do." 

I turned around to leave and I had barely taken a few steps away from where she sat when her ear piercing scream cut through the air, frightening me and forcing me to whip back to stare at her.

I gasped.

This bitch had purposely poured the chocolate all over her and was now screaming bloody murder.

I tried to react fast.

Dax's office was just a few feet away and with her ear piercing scream, I knew he would come running in not less than a minute.

And I was right.

" What the hell happened to you?" He asked, rushing over to her side and trying to get some of the hot chocolate spill off of her.

I bit my lips.

" I don't know, I think I have to go now..I will be fine on my own really" she was saying, attempting to get up.

" Go where?! What are you saying? Please calm down, you know you are heavily pregnant and should not stress yourself like this!" Dax yelled.

Now I knew he had probably not noticed my presence yet. It was like that with him. When she was around, I seemed to fade into the walls and she was the only thing he ever saw. Not his pregnant wife.

" I was just trying to talk to your mate about not being able to help in getting dinner ready because my feet hurt and I can't get up, then she started insulting me about how weak I was and she just....poured the chocolate all over me." 

Her voice broke slightly at the end, painting the truly pathetic state she was craving for the world to see.

" You know that is not true! I never asked you once to help in making dinner!" I said, finally gaining my voice.

I watched my mate stalk over to where I stood, and before I could say another word, his hand landed heavily on me, dazing me.

I fell to the floor, my stomach hitting the porcelain floor as I clutched my abdomen in pain. No. My baby.

" How dare you touch her? You are so selfish, do you know that?” He was saying, his legs coming down  heavily on my stomach as I tried to roll away from his hits, my vision blurring and each kick sending my stomach reeling in pain.

" No no, please don't hit her. This is all my fault really. I should have never come here in the first place. I hate that I now feel like I'm ruining your marriage. Please let me just leave" 

" You don't have to go anywhere. This is all because of how insecure she is! It has nothing to do with you!" 

I could feel the red liquid begin to pool at my thighs as I clenched my teeth, refusing to scream out in pain.

" How can you be so cruel to such an angel? You know what? I don't care about you and that bastard in your womb any longer. I will be taking Laura to the hospital to make sure she does not have any severe injuries and by the time I get back, I want you to be gone.

Because I , alpha Dax of the Dark moon pack , rejects you as my mate and I renounce whatever bond that thing in your womb will have to me"

His words stung more than the blows, and even long after he left, I still laid there, bleeding, in pain, with the words running through my head.

He rejected me.