Chapter 4:

ASTRID.

He pushes me back gently, and I stare at his dark gray eyes shimmering in the dark. My heart throbs ever so painfully, I want to look away but my eyes stay glued to him.

"Where are you going?" His dark eyes never leave mine, electricity cackles in my bones. Look away, I so badly want to do that, but my hands tremble.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice shaking badly, his eyes roamed to my tiny nightgown, a layer of dark forming in his eyes, he steps closer and I inhale the sharp smell of his cologne.

"I am the Alpha of this pack." I stare, mouth agape at me, my head throbs and I think I am going to faint. I catch a whisk of a dragon tattoo at the baseline of his neck. Earlier, I spotted it on Zeke’s neck.

Is he Zeke?

"I am not Zeke." As if sensing my question, he snarls. "I am Logan, his twin brother, we are both the Alpha of this pack."

When did my father’s enemy have twins? I stare at them both, there’s only a slight resemblance, their eyes are different, while Zeke's is deep blue, his is a fleck of gray, Logan is a bit slim, while Zeke is broad.

He steps closer and sniffs me, "You don’t have a mate." He growls, his eyes turning a layer of red. "What are you doing outside in the middle of the night?" My heart pounds heavily, oh no. Does he know that I want to run away?

"Nothing!" I hurriedly say, before giving him a bow. I turn and dash towards my room, when I enter the room. The candles are already blown away, I curl into the cold sheets and rest my head on the pillows.

The memories about my life hurriedly pass by me in a flash, from being the next to the Alpha rank, to being imprisoned, to being a soon surrogate.

I don’t want to bear his heir, I won’t bear his heir. I think about Logan, his eyes, a mystery of his soul. My mind thinks about Zeke, and I feel my lids grow warm, I fall asleep thinking about the twins.

---

"Wake up right now!" I hear a voice, slowly. I blinked my eyes into the surroundings. I am still on my bed, but I notice a woman is beside me, she’s wearing a scowl and she does not look happy.

"Why are you butting around?" she says angrily, and for a second, I feel my heart stop. "You are demoted to an Omega. Your job now is to take care of the pack-house and make sure that the Alpha’s needs are attended to."

I feel my head bang, he really demoted me to an Omega, I threw away the sheets, when I asked for the clothes to wear, the woman whom I found out is Mrs. Perry threw a wrinkled cloth at me.

Tiredly, I walk towards the kitchen, where other Omegas are working, I lean towards the counter, my body tired.

"Hello." I see a brunette woman standing in front of me, she’s smiling at me. "I am Juniper, Juni for short."

I smile weakly, "Nice to meet you, Juni."

She bristled with the pans in her hands, her shoulders slumping before she placed it on the counter, she turned and faced me. "Have you seen the two new insanely hot Alphas?"

I don’t think she knows about me, and even if she does, she does not make any attempt to tell me or point it out.

"I have met them." I say simply, and one of them is punishing me by demoting me to be an Omega, anger bubbles in my veins again, and my wolf threatens to be let out. I calm her down and turn to face the pots and pan.

"You didn’t hear?" Her brown eyes itched for gossip, "Since two people can’t be the Alpha, one of them has to earn the power by giving birth to a very powerful heir."

I froze on my steps, that was why he wanted me to birth his heir, because of my bloodline and his, our child will make a very powerful heir and he can secure the Alpha’s position.

I breathe in heavily, my hand tightening around the kettle’s handle.

"Not only that, but the other Alpha, Alpha Logan, is going to pick one from the Omegas to bear his child."

"What?" I swirl to face her, blood rushing through my ears.

"Unfortunately, that’s the responsibilities of an Omega, to spread our legs for the Alpha and bear his pups." I feel a sickening feeling down my gut.

"Oh!" She says, "I have to go. I am the Beta’s personal maid, and I have to prepare his tea." She gives me a weak smile and leaves the kitchen.

Some Omegas are bustling around, some are huddled in groups having the early morning gossip, I sigh, before picking the tray of the Alpha's morning tea.

I walk through the hall, Juni’s words lingering in my ears, he could pick anyone, I presume that they are in a competition, fighting over the Alpha position- which originally belonged to me.

I couldn't seem to find the Alpha’s room, so I approached a woman.

"Sorry to bother, but do you know where Alpha Zeke’s room seems to be?"

She eyes me under those long lashes of hers and says. "Do I look like a billboard to you?"

I apologized quickly before hurriedly ambling down the halls, I saw the dark frame of the door, it seems to be his room. I say a silent prayer to the moon goddess before pushing the door open.

The room is dark the first moment I step in, I don’t see anyone present, it smells of masculinity. I spot a tiny table and place the kettle of tea on top of it.

When I walked out of the room, a pair of hands pushed me to the wall, his hands tightening around my neck.

I don’t need to be told to know it’s him, under the light, I can see his eyes sparking at me, those dark irises pulling me into another world.

"Astrid." My name rolls out his mouth like fire, his breath comes in contact with my skin and I shiver, my arms spread around the wall. His breath snakes up my neck until it reaches my ear. "Have you decided?"

"I will not bear your child!" My voice shakes even at my throat. "Never."

"Like I said before, you don’t have a choice." He pushes me towards the floor and crouches down to my position, my hair blurs my vision, and I push in the tears, "Don’t mess with me. Surely, you don’t want to get burnt. Now, run and never look back."

I gather myself off the floor and without waiting. I dashed out of the room.