On our third anniversary, I found out I was pregnant with Alpha Graves’s heir, a miracle for my wolfless body.
But when I went to the Grand Hall to share the news, I found him tenderly holding his “dead” first love, Davina. He declared I was just a useless placeholder to appease his grandmother and prepared to sever our mate bond.
He immediately moved Davina into our estate and ordered our marriage portrait torn down. He treated me with absolute cruelty, forcing a toxic herbal brew down my throat that could kill my unborn pup, and even watched coldly as a rival Alpha physically harassed me at a dinner. The entire Pack mocked me as a soon-to-be Rogue, while Graves used his Alpha Command to trap me.
“If you dare leave before I officially complete the Rejection, I will make your home Pack pay.”
I gave up my entire life and my design empire to be his devoted wife, only to be thrown out like garbage the moment his true love returned. If he ever found out about the Lycan heir growing inside me, he would surely lock me away and tear my child from my arms.
I won’t let him destroy us. I secretly destroyed the pregnancy report and called my best friend. I am accepting his Rejection, taking my baby, and returning to the top of the fashion world as Sloane Todd.
Rejected By The Alpha, Carrying His Secret Pup Chapter 1
Aurelia POV
The crisp medical paper in my trembling hands felt heavier than a silver blade.
Positive.
I stared at the word until the sterile, chemical scent of the human hospital faded from my memory, replaced by the rushing pine breeze outside my car window. I was pregnant. Against all odds, my wolfless body was carrying the heir of Alpha Graves Buchanan, a man whose veins burned with ancient Lycan blood.
Today was our third Union Anniversary. When Graves’s Beta texted me an hour ago, ordering me to the Grand Hall, my foolish heart had fluttered. For three years, our political marriage had been a cold, silent cage. But as the car approached the Pack’s center, I saw the Grand Hall draped in magnificent black banners and expensive white lilies.
He remembered, I thought, pressing a hand to my still-flat stomach. Maybe this pup is the miracle we need. Maybe today, he will finally look at me as his Luna.
I stepped out of the car, my chest tight with the biggest hope I had dared to harbor in years. The heavy oak doors of the Grand Hall stood open, spilling golden light and the overwhelming energy of hundreds of shifting wolves into the twilight.
But as I crossed the threshold, the smile died on my lips.
This wasn’t an anniversary celebration.
The air was thick with a sickeningly sweet scent—crushed poppies. It cut through the musk of the Pack, suffocating and familiar. I froze at the edge of the red carpet.
There, in the center of the room, stood my husband. Alpha Graves was a god among mortals, his broad shoulders straining the fabric of his tailored suit, his aura commanding absolute submission. But he wasn’t looking at the door waiting for me. He was looking down at the woman tucked intimately against his side.
Davina Stewart. His first love. The “savior” who had supposedly died years ago.
She wore a stunning red dress, her cheeks flushed as she leaned into Graves’s chest. When a clumsy warrior bumped a table, sending a glass of champagne toppling, Graves moved with lightning speed. He pulled Davina behind him, his arm wrapping protectively around her waist, his chest rumbling with a low, possessive growl that sent shivers down the spines of everyone nearby.
The look in his eyes as he checked her for glass shards—it was a tender, consuming fire I had never, ever seen directed at me.
Because I was wolfless, I couldn’t hear the Pack’s Mind-Link. But I didn’t need to. The hushed whispers of the Warriors standing near me were loud enough.
“The real Luna is finally home,” a burly guard muttered.
“Thank the Goddess. That wolfless Fitzgerald girl was just a useless placeholder to appease Elder Cecelia anyway. It’s embarrassing having her around.”
Every word was a silver bullet tearing through my chest. The joy of the life growing inside me turned to ash. Graves hadn’t summoned me to celebrate our union. He had summoned me to witness my replacement. He wanted me to see exactly where I stood so I would quietly step aside.
I couldn’t breathe. The scent of her poppies and his storm-and-leather aura intertwined perfectly, mocking my very existence. I turned on my heel and fled.
I didn’t know how long I walked. The sky broke open, unleashing a torrential downpour that soaked through my thin dress, chilling me to the bone. I welcomed the freezing rain; it numbed the tearing agony in my soul.
By the time the towering iron gates of the Alpha’s Estate loomed in the darkness, my tears had dried. This massive, empty house was a prison built on a transaction. Graves had his true love back. It was time for me to take the only thing that truly belonged to me—my baby—and leave. I would perform the Rejection.
I stood in the driveway, staring at the marble steps, gathering the shattered pieces of my dignity.
Suddenly, the blinding headlights of a black SUV pierced the rain. The vehicle screeched to a halt inches from me. The driver’s door swung open, and heavy boots splashed onto the wet asphalt.
Alpha Graves towered over me, his expensive suit instantly darkened by the downpour. His jaw was clenched, his dark eyes flashing with an irritation that made my stomach twist. There was no tenderness here. No protective embrace like the one he had just given Davina.
He looked at my shivering, drenched form, his voice a cold, commanding whip that sliced through the roar of the storm.
“What are you doing standing in the rain?”
Rejected By The Alpha, Carrying His Secret Pup Chapter 2
Aurelia POV
“What are you doing standing in the rain?”
His voice sliced through the torrential downpour, sharp and devoid of the warmth he had just showered upon Davina. I stood frozen on the driveway, my soaked dress clinging to my shivering frame.
Graves’s jaw was clenched tight. I could feel the suffocating weight of his Alpha aura—a potent, dizzying blend of impending storm and rich leather—crushing the air out of my lungs. His Inner Wolf was pacing, agitated and restless. I knew it was because his Lycan blood could sense his mate’s profound agony, but Graves, blinded by his own arrogance, clearly misinterpreted the primal itch as irritation at my disobedience.
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Because I was wolfless, I couldn’t use the Pack’s Mind-Link to explain the shattered pieces of my heart, nor could I scream that I had seen him with his first love.
“Stop acting like a fool and get inside,” he commanded, his tone leaving no room for argument.
He didn’t offer his jacket. He didn’t reach out to touch me. His indifference twisted in my chest like a silver dagger, carving out the last pathetic remnants of my hope. I lowered my head and walked past him into the freezing, cavernous estate.
Twenty minutes later, I emerged from the steaming shower, wrapped tightly in a thick robe. The hot water had done nothing to thaw the ice in my veins. As I stepped into the Luna’s chambers, I halted.
Graves was standing by the massive four-poster bed, holding a ceramic bowl that emitted a pungent, bitter steam.
“Drink this,” he ordered, stepping toward me. “Elder Cecelia just mind-linked me. We are visiting the Pack’s healing center tomorrow morning. I will not have you falling ill and embarrassing me in front of my grandmother.”
I stared at the dark, sludgy liquid. It was a specialized Pack Doctor’s brew, potent enough to shock a werewolf’s immune system into overdrive. For a wolfless human, it was harsh. For the tiny, fragile life newly blooming in my womb, it could be lethal.
“No,” I said, taking a step back, my hands instinctively moving to shield my flat stomach. “I don’t need it.”
Graves’s eyes darkened, a dangerous rumble vibrating in his chest. To him, my refusal wasn’t fear; it was a direct challenge to his Alpha authority. He didn’t know about the baby. He only saw a defiant, useless wife.
“I wasn’t asking, Aurelia.”
Before I could run, he closed the distance between us. He lifted the bowl, took a large mouthful of the scalding brew, and dropped the ceramic onto the carpet. His large hand gripped my jaw, tilting my head back as his mouth crashed down on mine.
I whimpered, struggling against his iron grip, but he forced my lips part, pushing the bitter liquid down my throat. The moment our lips locked, the undeniable, electric Spark of Fated Mates exploded between us. It was a sensation that usually made my toes curl, but right now, it only brought a wave of sickening humiliation. I was forced to swallow the poison that could hurt my pup.
The taste of the herbs mixed with his intoxicating scent. The kiss, meant to be a punishment, suddenly shifted. The Spark ignited the ancient Lycan blood in his veins. His grip on my jaw softened, his other hand tangling in my damp hair as a possessive growl tore from his throat.
He shoved me backward. I hit the mattress, the cold silk sheets sending a shock up my spine. Graves loomed over me, his eyes entirely black as his Inner Wolf took control. He reached up, violently loosening his tie, ready to claim what the Moon Goddess had given him.
Panic and a fierce, maternal instinct surged through my veins. I couldn’t let him touch me. I couldn’t let this lie continue.
I planted both hands on his solid chest and shoved him with every ounce of strength I possessed.
“Stop!” I gasped, scrambling backward against the headboard. I looked straight into his pitch-black eyes, my voice trembling but crystal clear. “I want to perform the Rejection.”
The word Rejection hit the room like a blast of liquid nitrogen.
Graves froze. The lust in his eyes shattered, instantly replaced by a storm of disbelief and towering rage. A wolfless weakling, a woman who supposedly needed his protection to survive, was daring to sever the most sacred bond in our world.
He slowly straightened up, the dangerous predator replaced by a cold, calculating businessman. He let out a dark, mocking chuckle that made my blood run cold.
“Is that what this is?” he sneered, stepping closer until his knees hit the edge of the bed. “More territory for your failing Pack? More gold? Name your price for not going through with this farce.”
The insult burned, but it only solidified my resolve. He truly didn’t know me at all.
“I want nothing from you,” I said, lifting my chin. “Only my freedom.”
Silence stretched between us, heavy and suffocating. Graves stared at me, his eyes narrowing as if he were looking at a stranger. He didn’t yell. He didn’t command.
I gripped the edges of my robe, my heart pounding against my ribs as I asked the one question that had been haunting me all night.
“Why? Don’t you want to reject me, Alpha?”
Rejected By The Alpha, Carrying His Secret Pup Chapter 3
Aurelia POV
Graves stared at me, the silence in the Luna’s chambers stretching so tight I thought it might snap and take my head off. The mocking amusement vanished from his face, replaced by a terrifying, glacial fury. His Lycan blood and Alpha pride were bleeding, insulted that a wolfless weakling was the one demanding to sever our sacred bond.
I could feel his Inner Wolf thrashing beneath his skin, howling in an agony he clearly misinterpreted as pure rage.
“Fine,” his voice dropped to a lethal, vibrating whisper. “You want the Rejection? You’ll have it.”
He stepped closer, and the sheer force of his Alpha aura—a suffocating, heavy wave of impending storm and rich leather—crushed the air from my lungs. I pressed my back hard against the headboard, refusing to look away.
“But know this, Aurelia,” he sneered, his eyes entirely devoid of the man I once thought I loved. “When this is done, and you are out there with nothing, do not expect my mercy. You will regret this. And when you come crawling back to my territory, begging for scraps like a banished Omega, I will step right over you.”
He didn’t wait for my response. He turned on his heel and strode out of the freezing bedroom. The heavy oak door slammed shut behind him with a deafening crack that rattled the floorboards.
The moment his scent began to fade, the last of my strength evaporated. I collapsed onto the cold silk sheets, pulling my knees to my chest as violent sobs tore through my throat. The mate-bond was already fracturing, bleeding out into the dark. I pressed a trembling hand to my flat stomach. He will never know, I promised the tiny life blooming inside me. I will protect you from him.
The next morning, the atmosphere at WorldLink Group’s headquarters was suffocating.
Graves’s grand welcome for Davina Stewart had already spread through the Pack’s Mind-Link like wildfire. As I sat at my desk outside the Alpha’s office, acting as his “personal assistant,” I was completely shut out of their telepathic chatter. But I didn’t need a wolf to understand the smirks and the blatant disrespect.
A group of female Pack members clustered near the water cooler, their cheap perfumes mixing into a nauseating cloud.
“Is it true he’s moving Davina into the east wing?” one of them asked, her eyes darting toward me with malicious curiosity. “You must know something, Aurelia. You’re right outside his door.”
I kept my eyes on my monitor, the sting of their exclusion burning my chest. “I don’t know.”
“Oh, please,” another scoffed, leaning against my desk. “Stop acting so high and mighty. We all know who the real Luna is.”
I slowly looked up, meeting her gaze with a cold, detached authority I didn’t know I possessed. “Your job is to work, not to gossip about the Alpha’s affairs.”
They recoiled, momentarily stunned by my tone. But as they scattered back to their cubicles, their hushed whispers reached my ears. Useless wolfless bitch. Once Davina is officially Luna, she’ll be tossed out like garbage. She’ll be a Rogue by the end of the week.
I clenched my fists under the desk, swallowing the bitter pill of my reality.
By the time evening fell, the sprawling office had emptied out. I stood alone by the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the city lights flicker to life. My human cell phone buzzed in my hand.
It was Blake Giles, my fiercely loyal best friend and the daughter of the Silver Creek Pack’s Beta.
“Aurelia,” Blake’s voice crackled through the speaker, tight with anxiety. “My brother just told me about the Black Moon Pack’s little welcome party. Tell me it’s a lie.”
“It’s true,” I said softly, leaning my forehead against the cool glass. “But it doesn’t matter anymore, Blake. I asked him for the Rejection last night.”
Blake gasped. “Are you insane? Where will you go? What about…” She paused, lowering her voice. “What about the baby?”
“He doesn’t know, and he never will,” I replied, my voice steadying. “I’m leaving him, Blake. I’m resigning tomorrow. And I’m bringing her back.”
Silence hung on the line for a long second before Blake let out a breathless laugh. “You mean…”
“Yes,” I said, a spark of genuine fire igniting in my chest for the first time in three years. “I gave up my entire life, my design empire, to be a good little wolfless wife. No more. Sloane Todd is returning.”
“Hell yes,” Blake cheered fiercely. “I’ll get my contacts ready. We’re going to take the fashion world by storm again, Aurelia. You won’t need him.”
“Thank you, Blake.”
I lowered the phone, a fragile sense of hope finally taking root in my heart. I turned around to head back to my desk, but my breath hitched in my throat.
A massive shadow filled the doorway of my office, blocking out the hallway light. The suffocating, intoxicating scent of impending storm and rich leather instantly flooded the room.