Todos los capítulos de The Rejected Female Alpha : Capítulo 11 - Capítulo 20

The floorboard came loose while I was searching for a place to hide my money, and what I found beneath it made me question how much Mara Quinn had told me about the woman I had become.I had spent the morning helping Mara clean the clinic's storage room, hoping that keeping busy would stop me from thinking about the strange changes in my body. My hearing had grown so sharp that ordinary sounds sometimes overwhelmed me, and the occasional fever left me weak enough to abandon whatever task I was doing. I had also begun noticing scents that seemed to carry information I could not explain, especially the earthy, unmistakable smell of wolves whenever the wind shifted from the woods.Mara had insisted I rest upstairs after I nearly dropped a tray of medical supplies. I agreed reluctantly, but once I entered my room, I found myself searching for a better place to keep the little money I had left. The loose floorboard near the bed had caught my attention the previous evening, when it creaked

The first sign that my escape had become more than a family dispute was the way Mara stopped leaving me alone near the windows.She never explained the change directly, but I noticed her checking the road before opening the clinic each morning and pausing whenever a vehicle slowed outside the fence. After the two men had come looking for Elena Vale, she had begun locking the back entrance even during daylight. I understood her caution, yet it unsettled me to see it reflected in someone who had offered me shelter without asking for my history.My own body had not settled either. The strange sensitivity to sounds and scents continued, sometimes becoming so intense that I struggled to concentrate on ordinary work. I had also been more careful since the cramping episode, taking breaks when Mara insisted and eating even when worry made food difficult to swallow. I could not afford to lose the child, and I could not afford to let fear prevent me from protecting us both.I was cleaning the e

The frost on Mara’s clinic windows had formed patterns that looked almost like branches, twisting across the glass despite the warmth pressing against the building from outside. I stood beside my bed, staring at them, with my fingers wrapped around the blanket I had dragged from the mattress. The dream of Adrian calling my name still clung to me, leaving an ache beneath my ribs that had nothing to do with the pregnancy. I touched the cold glass, then snatched my hand away when a sharp sting ran through my fingertips.Something was wrong with me, and pretending otherwise was becoming harder with every passing day.I had barely returned to bed when the fever struck. Heat swept through my body so suddenly that I gasped, and the room tilted as I reached for the bedside table. My knees buckled before I could catch myself. I crawled back onto the mattress, pulled the blanket away, and tried to breathe through the dizziness, but the air felt thick and heavy, as though the clinic had been sea

The black vehicle had been parked across the road from Mara’s clinic since breakfast, and by noon I was certain its occupants were watching me.At first, I tried to convince myself that it belonged to a traveler passing through the borderlands. The vehicle was old enough to blend in with the delivery carts and farmers’ wagons that used the road, but its windows were dark, and nobody had entered or left it during the hours I spent tending to the animals. Whenever I approached the clinic windows, I caught the faint impression of someone moving inside. Each time I looked directly, however, nothing happened.By late afternoon, the uneasy feeling had settled beneath my skin. I had grown accustomed to being watched in Blood Moon, where Rosalie and her friends treated every movement I made as an opportunity for ridicule, but this felt different. The people inside that vehicle were not waiting to laugh at me or remind me of my place. They were waiting for something, and I suspected that somet

The first contraction struck before Adrian had left the clinic, and the pain was so sudden that I nearly cried out loud enough to expose my hiding place.I clutched the edge of the storage shelf, struggling to breathe as the pressure tightened across my abdomen. The pain eased after several seconds, leaving me trembling and cold despite the warmth of the room. I had known the pregnancy would eventually bring me to this moment, but I was not prepared for it to happen while council agents questioned Adrian in the reception area and someone outside watched the building.I pressed both hands against my stomach, willing the discomfort to disappear. It returned before I could stand upright, stronger this time, forcing me to bite down on my lip to keep from making a sound. Something was wrong. I was not far enough along for the birth, and the fear that seized me was sharper than the pain itself.When the contraction finally passed, I slipped out of the storage room and hurried toward the rea