บททั้งหมดของ Rejected and Pregnant: The Alpha King’s Forbidden Heir : บทที่ 251 - บทที่ 260

The root gate lunged at Kael with Aira’s voice and the newborn cried out in his arms.Aira felt the sound rip through her body so hard it nearly made her knees buckle. The blackness at the edge of Kael’s eye surged once more, hungry for the shock, for the fear, for the split second the root gate had forced between them. She did not let it take him. She slammed both hands over his back and shoved herself deeper into the bond with everything she had left, every memory of him, every time he had held her through terror, every promise made in blood and heat and desperate love. “Kael,” she whispered, trembling but fierce, “stay with me. Do not answer it. Hold the baby. Hold on to me.” His breath came ragged and torn. The tiny hand in his palm twitched once and then stilled. The child in his arms cried again, and Aira felt that cry strike straight through her chest like a knife. The root gate smiled at the sound, and that smile was the worst thing she had seen yet because it knew it was clos

The newborn’s mouth opened wider, and for one awful heartbeat Aira thought it was about to cry again.She moved before fear could finish taking shape. Her whole body went cold and hot at once as she reached for the baby through the rain, through Kael’s arm around her, through the bond that was still burning between them. “Liora,” she whispered, her voice shaking but fierce, “look at me.” The child in Kael’s arms stilled for a fraction of a second, tiny face turning toward the sound of its name, and Aira felt her own chest crack open with relief so sharp it hurt. Kael was still beside her, one arm wrapped tight around the baby, the other braced in front of her as if his body alone could keep the dark from reaching them. The blackness at the edge of his eye flickered hard, but when Aira shoved warmth into the bond again, every memory of him, every fierce moment when he had carried her through terror, every promise made in blood and heat and desperate love, it thinned by a breath. “Stay

Aira took the baby back from Kael with shaking hands and held the child against her chest like the only thing keeping the world from breaking apart.Kael did not want to let go. She felt it through the bond before she saw it in his face, the fierce refusal, the fear, the desperate need to keep their child close where nothing could touch it. The blackness at the edge of his eye thinned only because she shoved warmth through the bond with everything she had left, every memory of him, every fierce moment when he had held her through terror, every promise made in blood and heat and desperate love. “Kael,” she whispered, trembling but fierce, “stay with me. I need you to trust me.” His breath came ragged and torn. The tiny hand in his palm twitched once, then stilled. The baby in her arms gave a tiny frightened sound, and Aira pressed her lips to the damp forehead and held on. The rain was cold. The grass was cold. Her whole body was shaking, but the child was warm and real and alive again

The root gate lunged for Aira, and she did not run.Kael shouted her name the moment she stepped forward, but she was already moving, already closing the distance between herself and the thing in her mother’s body. The rain slapped her face, cold and sharp, and the bond between her and Kael flared so violently she thought it might tear her in half. She felt his fear, his fury, his desperate need to reach for her, and she shoved warmth back through the bond with everything she had left. “Kael,” she whispered, trembling but fierce, “hold Liora. Do not let her cry. Do not come to me.” His breath came ragged and torn. The blackness at the edge of his eye surged hard, but the tiny hand in his palm twitched once and stilled as she pushed harder through the bond. The newborn in his arms gave a small frightened sound, and Kael tightened instantly, wrapping both arms around the child as if his body alone could keep the dark away.Aira reached her mother at the same moment the root gate struck.

The root gate was still screaming inside Aira’s chest when her mother stepped forward through the rain and laid both hands over her heart.Aira gasped so hard the pain nearly dropped her to her knees. The thing inside her had already started to spread, cold and hungry, pushing at the edges of her ribs and trying to climb higher, looking for the child, looking for the breath, looking for any opening left in her body. Kael shouted her name behind her, and the sound ripped through the bond so hard she almost lost herself in it. She would not let go. She pressed one hand over her own chest and the other against her mother’s wrist, and for one awful heartbeat she felt everything at once. The rain. The blood. Kael’s terror. Liora’s tiny, frightened breath against his shirt. The root gate twisting inside her like a cold hand searching for a throat. “Kael,” she whispered, voice shaking but fierce, “hold her. Do not let her cry.” He was already doing it. She felt it through the bond. His arms