Rejecting the Alpha

That last remnant of my old pack ran up the stairs, Jason, Kain, and the others quickly out of my sight. I was truly alone in Stonemason now.

I hurried after them. By the time I got to the top, they were already outside. I hurried back towards the pack house on the off chance I could get away with what I had done.

Howls came from the distance and I prayed that they would survive and escape. I reached the main house with a breath of relief, but my relief was short lived.

"Where were you?" my mate snarled.

"I was—"

"Don't lie." His wolf flashed and his face contorted in anger and he gripped my shoulders painfully. My heart pounded frantically. "You helped the prisoners escape." Before I could say anything, he thrust me at a burly pack member. "Lock her in my room."

My struggles did nothing as the pack member obeyed and I was shoved back into confinement, the lock closing with a resounding click. I curled up in a ball on the bed and tried to talk to him through the link. "Alpha, please, let them go. I don't want them to die. Please."

He either was blocking me out or refusing to respond. There was no way for me to tell which.

"Please. I'll do anything." I meant it. If he could have mercy on them, I could stop fighting him.

My pleading continued, but it fell on deaf ears.

Food was brought to me by Marie at intervals and it was night by the time he came to me. His anger had vanished, leaving only that coldly emotionless void.

"Did any of them get away?"

"Four of them. We're still searching." I was surprised that he even answered, so I kept asking.

"What happened to the others?"

"They're dead."

I sniffled. Was it my fault? No. It was better than if I had done nothing.

"Are you happy now?" His voice was flat. If any of my emotions were getting through the bond he knew otherwise. I was a mess.

"Happier, yes." Happier than seeing all of them die, certainly.

"You betrayed Stonemason." His eyes were dark, flickering somewhere between black and gold and navy.

I scowled at him to hide my fear. "You betrayed your mate."

"Are you actually pregnant or did you lie about that, too?"

"I'm carrying your pup."

"Are you going to run?"

"How could I? Your wolf will hunt down my child wherever I go." I didn't want to face it, but it was the horrible truth. I could reject him, I could flee, but with his heir in me his wolf would not let me go easily, and there was no affection in the man that might put what was right for me before what he wanted.

But at least most of the survivors were free. The rest were gone and I could do nothing for them, but I had done everything I could for the others from my pack. Now, I only had to look out for myself. Myself and my little one. I would protect it from its father. My stomach was heavy.

"You're right."

I nodded. "Can I see the bodies?" I asked him. I did not want to, but then I would know who survived.

"No."

"Please."

"You'll leave this room only in my company going forward."

"So I really am your prisoner?"

"You don't have Stonemason's best interest at heart." His face was blank, like usual.

"There's nothing else I could possibly want to do against your pack."

"Our pack, Luna."

"Our pack." Did he believe my lie?

He reached forward and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards him.

I tried to pull away. If he wanted a prisoner he would have a prisoner. "Let me go."

"I'm your mate."

"You don't act like it." I knew there was nothing I could really say to change him, but now there was no one left he could hold over my head. They were all dead or gone.

He did not bother to answer, just looked down at me sternly. "What do you want from me?"

"My freedom and the freedom of my people. Stop hunting the last four."

"No."

It was like bargaining with a brick wall. I had done everything he had asked and still he would barely give ground. All the concessions were on my side. What did he even think a couple of survivors could do to his pack? Other packs wouldn't get involved. They could report him to the Alpha Assembly, but they were notorious for being ineffectual. They could try petitioning the hunters, but hunters were as likely to kill rogue werewolves as they were to help them. And as for other species, well, they would not put themselves at risk to interfere in werewolf affairs.

The survivors were on their own as much as I was. I yanked my hand away from him while I tried not to sink into despair.

He glowered, but he did not make any attempt to regain his physical control over me. "Come here."

"No." I doubted he would hurt me since I was carrying his pup, and that baby was quite possibly the heir to his precious pack.

"Mate."

It was finally enough. Tears began to spill and I couldn't stop them. "Don't call me that. I'm more than just some title that cruel fate forced on me. Ever since I've met you everything has been forced! You stole everything from me!"

"This is not about—"

"Just stay away from me!" Everything I had held in during my attempt to free the remainder of my people began to flow out of me, a breaking dam.

I hated him so much. That mildly puzzled frown on his handsome face, the way I knew he could make my body betray me, the way I had given into him and now I was carrying his baby, the way he had trapped me time and again.

"Is that what you really want, Mate?"

That word again! "Yes. That's what I want."

With a nod and not a single word, he left.

The night was uneventful. Alpha Gavriel never returned and I slept fitfully.

I was locked in his room the entire day, with only Marie bringing what I needed and occasional checks by the guards to break my solitude.

I didn't see him all day.

Nor the next couple.

I truly was his prisoner.

Only my new and plaguing nausea broke the monotony of the days. The doctor came to me for a checkup, and prescribed me something, but even that was given to Marie to distribute as if I could not even be trusted to take my own medication. Trapped in his room, I really had been reduced to a functional breeder. My hatred for him only grew paralleled to my wolf's longing for his presence.

Maybe, just maybe, with time we could have found a way around all the problems he had caused, but not after what he did that night. That night, he killed what was left of our mate bond.