Chapter 5 Realization

CHAPTER 5

LUNA MOONCREST

"Umm.. of course not. I'm fine, I guess." I replied, rather hurriedly.

The receptionist shot a repulsive glare at me, his eyes quizzing with doubt. "Are you sure you are fine, Princess?" He asked in a more concerned tone.

"Yes, I'm fine! Like I said before, I am fine. I just have to leave here right now."

"But you haven't returned our room's keys yet." The receptionist reminded me, taking a closer shot at me.

My eyes narrowed in awe and I quickly threw my eyes away from him, avoiding his questions completely.

"The door is still open. You can retrieve the keys yourself." Saying those words, I turned to the exit of the bar and began to walk away.

I retreated back into my cabin amidst all the mocking faces staring at me and throwing all sorts of insults at me.

***

Throughout the night, I couldn't get my mind off the last experience with the mysterious stranger from the bar.

We had just engaged in a one night stand and he suddenly disappeared like a speckle of dust. How's that even possible?

To think that the receptionist had confirmed to me severally that he never saw anyone leaving. Could I have possibly lay down with a ghost?

I quickly shook off the feeling and tried to occupy my mind with other thoughts.

Amidst the torment going on in my mind about the stranger, I could vividly hear Delia's voice in my head as she mocked me repeatedly.

This was enough torture already, when was I ever going to have this feeling completely off my mind?

Delia didn't look like she was any happy with me, despite the fact that she had succeeded in claiming my mate to herself.

I heard a loud bang on my cabin which suddenly jolted me to my feet. Before I could open my mouth to ask any question, the door was pushed open and two guards walked in.

They crossed their arms behind their backs, with their legs spread wide apart. Their sudden presence created a lot of tension in the room, leaving me to wonder endlessly about the supposed reason for their sudden visit to my room.

"What do you want?" I managed to ask, throwing them a confused glare.

The guards exchanged puzzled glances with each other. As if that was not enough, they burst out laughing. They stopped suddenly and exchanged glances with each other for the second time.

"The beta sends for you. He has ordered us to fetch you." One of them finally spilled, returning his face to its normal expression.

A sigh of disbelief escaped from my lips. His voice dropped like an unbelievable bang in my ear.

Why would the beta ever be asking me to see him? I could vividly remember that there was just one beta who saw to the wellbeing of the pack, and that was no other person than Ryder, the same person who had humiliated me publicly before everyone.

I spat out in annoyance as my eyes traveled back to the guards. "Why does your beta want to see me?"

"We wouldn't know, princess. He only ordered us to fetch you, he never explained his reasons to us." They chorused in unison.

My brows arched into a frown as I took in their words. "Well, tell your beta I will be with him shortly."

"That is not possible, Luna Mooncrest. The beta ordered us to come back to him only when we have you with us." They muttered with a tone of conviction.

With the way they sounded, it was obvious that they were not going to leave after all unless I went with them.

I didn't understand why Ryder would decide to see me all of a sudden, after all he did to me. But for the sake of my life, I succumbed to the guards' order.

I hissed to myself and saw them off out of the cabin.

The moment Ryder saw us approaching, he got to his feet. "You may leave." He said to the guards, waving his hands at them dismissively.

The instant they were out of sight, he turned around and buried his eyes into mine. For a while, he said no single word.

Meanwhile, I was getting tired of the unusual silence between us. "What do you want?" I decided to ask since he chose not to say a word.

His face heightened with a smile as he pinned one hand on the wall, directly above my head.

"How have you been coping all this while?"

"Well, I guess that should be none of your business anymore. I don't think I am answerable to you since you chose to despise me before the public." I countered boldly, avoiding his mean face.

"Alright, that's fine. I see you don't want to speak to me, but that's not the reason why I sent for you." He paused for a moment as he stared into blank space. "Well, I called you here to inform you that you would have to remain in my abode henceforth until I say otherwise."

My mouth hung up in suspense. This is unbelievable! How was I ever supposed to cope living in the same room with him? Why did he choose to keep me in his room when he had clearly rejected me before everyone?

Before I could utter a word of disapproval, the guards marched out of their various positions and held me on both hands.

They led me into a dark room without uttering a single word.

***

Living with Ryder was a whole different turmoil on its own.

Nonetheless, I soon got used to life with him, not until I suddenly began to notice some unexpected changes in my body.

I was adding on a lot of weight out of the blues and I experienced a lot of feverish mornings of vomiting and frequent urination.

These were all symptoms of pregnancy. My mind skipped in fear, but I decided not to conclude until I had confirmed that I was indeed pregnant.

I snuck out of the pack house one night when everyone was fast asleep. I walked into the pack doctor's hut and described the whole symptoms I had been experiencing for a while.

After some moments of chanting and reciting weird words, he turned his gaze on me, his face engulfed in a smile.

"You are pregnant."