My Alpha Refused My Dying Rejection

No.1

Aline POV

The scent of antiseptic and drying sage was the first thing to assault my senses, a sharp contrast to the numbness spreading through my chest. I sat on the edge of the examination bed in the Pack infirmary, my legs dangling like a child's, though I felt ancient. Withered.

I am sorry, Aline, the Pack Healer, an elderly woman named Martha, said softly. Her voice was heavy, laden with a pity I didn't want. She pushed a piece of paper across the scratched oak desk. "The pup... its soul has returned to the Goddess."

I didn't cry. I think I had forgotten how. My hand rested instinctively on my flat stomach, cold and empty.

It was the bond, wasn't it? My voice was a rasp, like dry leaves scraping over stone.

Martha nodded grimly. "A pup needs the strength of the Mate Bond to survive the first trimester. Yours... yours has been starving for three years. Your inner wolf is fading, child. We can perform the procedure to remove the physical tissue so you don't succumb to infection, but the spiritual necrosis from your rejected bond will keep spreading to your heart. If he doesn't claim you soon, you will die."

Die. The word hung in the air, devoid of terror.

My phone buzzed in my lap. It was a notification from The Alpha Tattler, the pack's gossip feed. My thumb moved automatically, a habit born of masochism.

The screen lit up with a high-definition nightmare.

A MATCH BLESSED BY THE MOON: ALPHA KADEN AND HIS TRUE LOVE, CORI MULLINS, RETURN!

The photo was taken on the private airstrip. Kaden Warren, the Alpha of the Black Moon Pack—and my secret, fated mate—was descending the jet stairs. He looked magnificent, radiating power and vitality. His hand was possessively placed on the small of Cori Mullins' back. She was beaming, looking up at him with adoration, and he was looking down at her with a softness I had never, not once, seen directed at me.

While our child was dying inside me because of his neglect, he was playing the perfect partner to another woman.

A bitter laugh bubbled up in my throat, choking me. "He looks happy," I whispered.

Aline... Martha warned gently.

I picked up the pen. The ink flowed black and permanent as I signed the consent form for the D&C procedure. I was signing away the last physical tether between Kaden and me.

Do it, I said, my eyes fixed on Kaden's smiling face on the screen. "Cut it out. I want nothing left of him inside me."

The procedure was a blur of clinical pain and cold metal, but it was nothing compared to the hollow ache in my chest. An hour later, I stumbled out of the recovery room, my body feeling light, too light, as if parts of my soul had been scraped away along with the pregnancy.

The corridor outside was dim, the stone walls radiating a chill that seeped into