Chapter 3: Pregnant and Rejected

DEXTERA

"Thank the goddess!" Valeria’s figure swam into focus as she sat beside my bed, worried. "I can't believe you made it."

It took a moment for my sight to adjust, to my new environment and my body ached terribly as I tried to move. The scent of fresh linen and faint traces of something musky, something undeniably Kestrel, clung to the air.

I glanced around, my pulse quickening. "Where is this?" My voice came out hoarse and strained.

Valeria steadied me as I struggled to sit up. "We're at the pack’s special courtyard," she said carefully.

A slow, creeping unease curled in my stomach. My fingers clenched the sheets beneath me as the realization hit.

I panicked. The special courtyard was sacred; meant for the Alpha and his Luna alone. No one else was permitted here.

"Why are we here?" My breath quickened. "We can’t be here, Valeria. If we’re caught..."

Valeria gripped my arm, keeping me in place. "Dextera, calm down. Alpha Kestrel brought you here himself."

The words sent a sharp jolt through me.

"Kestrel?" My throat went dry. "Why?"

"You passed out last night," she murmured, almost in a whisper. "The doctor said the next few hours would determine if you’d even make it. Your body was shutting down." She exhaled shakily. "I'm just... so grateful you made it through the night without killing or maiming someone."

The memories rushed back all at once; Kestrel’s chains, the unbearable pain, the overwhelming surge of power. And then, his hands, his mouth, the heat of his body against mine.

My stomach twisted at the remembrance.

Kestrel had touched me. He had laid with me. On a feral night. Why?

I recalled the female voice that had cut through the chaos, urging Kestrel to do something—something other than brutalize me into submission. Who was she?

Valeria snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"What's got you thinking so hard?" She frowned. "You should be worrying about your condition, Dextera. What do you plan to do about it?"

Her words rang in my ears. My condition. A chill ran down my spine with the way she said it and I forced myself to meet her gaze.

"Wait... what condition are you talking about?"

Valeria looked at me, searching my eyes. Then, slowly, her eyes dropped to my stomach. "You're pregnant, Dextera."

I literally stopped breathing in that moment.

Pregnant.

The word echoed in my skull, rattling around like a death sentence. I shook my head, gripping the sheets beneath me as if they could anchor me to reality.

"No," I whispered. My throat was dry and my lips, numb. "That’s impossible."

Valeria exhaled, her eyes filled with...pity? Worry? "You’re six weeks gone, Dextera. The doctor confirmed it while you were unconscious."

Six weeks.

I felt blood drain from my face. My mind spun, trying to grasp onto anything, any logic that could explain this away. But there was none.

This was real. Everyone automatically knows whose child it was. Only Kestrel had the audacity to sleep with me as I was the pack's greatest sinner.

"What... what am I supposed to do?" I trembled as I looked at her, searching for an answer I wasn’t ready to find.

"You tell me," Valeria said softly. "Are you going to keep it?"

Keep it? Her question had me thinking. This wasn't just any child, it was Kestrel’s. Alpha Kestrel’s.

The same man who had hated me for the greatest part of my life. Who had always bowed to my step sister's wishes in a bid not to offend her. Who had only ever seen me as a threat, never as something to protect. Who had clearly rejected me and made my parents hate me alongside.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I have to talk to him."

Valeria's brows shot up. "Talk to him? You really think the Alpha is going to support you on this?"

I hesitated. The truth was, I had no idea.

Kestrel wasn’t like other Alphas. He ruled with cold logic, not emotion. He saw weaknesses and erased them.

Would he see this child as a weakness? Would he strip it from me the way he had stripped away my freedom and my happiness?

"I don’t know," I admitted weakly. "But I have to try."

"You will do no such thing," Adira's voice interrupted. I turned, my pulse hammering as she strolled in with her maid trailing behind her.

I stiffened.

Adira.

Her presence alone sent unease slithering down my spine. She was the last person I wanted to see right now.

"Excuse me?" My voice came out sharper than I intended, but I didn’t care.

Adira took slow, deliberate steps toward me, her eyes gleaming with a twisted kind of amusement. She stopped just short of my bed, tilting her head as if I were some fragile little thing she could snap between her fingers.

"You must have lost your mind," she mused, brushing an invisible speck of dust from her sleeve. "You actually think telling Kestrel will change anything?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "He deserves to know."

Adira let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "Deserves?" She leaned in, her voice dipping into a venomous whisper. "He hates you, Dextera. You’re nothing to him. Less than nothing. And now, you're carrying a child that shouldn't exist. A sinful child, born from an Omega. Not just any Omega, but one who murdered his grandfather."

"That wasn't..."

"Save it," she cut in, waving a dismissive hand. "You think truth matters to an Alpha like Kestrel? To his people? They will never see you as anything more than a monster. And your child? A disgrace."

I swallowed hard on nothing. But I refused to let her see me break.

I lifted my chin. "I don't care what they think. This is his child too, and he has a right to know."

Adira sighed as if she pitied my foolishness. "Do as you wish then." She straightened, smoothing down her gown. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

She turned to leave, then paused at the doorway, casting me a knowing glance over her shoulder.

"I do have a deal for you," she said smoothly. "Something far more... favorable than whatever miserable future you're delusional about."

"I'm not interested." I replied without hesitating.

She chuckled. "Oh, Dextera. You haven't even heard what it is yet."

"And I don’t care. Whatever it is, the answer is no."

She smirked, as if she had expected nothing less. "Well, when you change your mind, which you will, you know where to find me."

With that, she strolled out, leaving behind only the scent of her perfume and her suffocating words.

Minutes later, I forced one foot in front of the other, my body still weak, but with strong intent. I had convinced myself that I could do this, that I had to do this. No matter how much I feared Kestrel's reaction, I refused to cower.

I found him in his private garden, sitting with a man I didn’t recognize. From the tense atmosphere, one could tell they were discussing something very important.

As soon as Kestrel spotted me, his cold blue eyes locked onto mine.

"A minute," he said to his companion before rising to his feet.

He strode toward me slowly, raking his gaze over me like I was something unpleasant he had to tolerate.

"I need to speak with you," I managed to say as shivers ran down my spine.

"You’ll do away with that filth inside you, Omega."

My knees buckled, my body instinctively stepping back. I had prepared myself for indifference, maybe even resentment. But not this. He didn't even allow me speak.

I didn't expect this level of cold, calculated disgust from him. From the look of thing, he already made up his mind.

"What?" The word barely escaped my lips.

"You heard me." He stepped closer in his suffocating stance. "You will not birth this disgrace in my pack. There is no way I will accept a murderer’s child as mine."

A murderer.

The accusation landed like a blade to my chest, cutting through every fragile hope I had clung to.

"It’s your blood, Kestrel," I whispered, searching his face for any crack in his resolve. "How can you..."

"I don’t care what you call it. That thing is a fucking mistake that should have never happened."

A mistake.

I felt nauseated immediately. I wanted to argue, to make him see reason, but the way he turned his back to me, to his own child, told me all I needed to know.

I opened my mouth to convince him, but he raised a hand, silencing me before I could even try.

"Enough," he said. "As soon as you leave here, you’ll go to the hospital. Dr. Mira knows what to do."

I felt myself swaying. My feet were so heavy, it took everything in me to drag them away.

"Leave. Now." His tone brooked no argument.

Humiliation burned my skin, but nothing compared to the sharp, unbearable ache in my chest. I turned away, forcing myself to move and to breathe.

"One more thing, Omega." He stopped me in my tracks.

"Don’t try anything foolish," he warned. "Or you’ll regret ever going against my orders."

I sucked in a sharp breath, brimming with anger.

"I can’t deal with two monsters," he added coldly. "I already have monthly disasters to prevent."

I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood, walking away without another word, totally hurt and pained.