Forsaken By One Alpha, Claimed By His Rival

Aria POV:

"Cleo..." Dominik groaned huskily, his heavy, bourbon-soaked body pinning me to the mattress as he violently tore at my dress.

At that exact same fraction of a second, I blurted out, "Dominik, I'm pregnant."

The words collided in the tense air. We both froze.

"What did you just call me?" I trembled, my fingers clutching the positive pregnancy test in my pocket. "You are forcing yourself on me, and you call me her name?"

The drunken heat vanished from his deep gray eyes in a split second, replaced by a chilling, predatory glare. He pushed himself off me in disgust. "What did you just say?"

"I'm pregnant," I repeated, my heart pounding frantically.

Dominik sneered, running a cold hand through his messy hair. "Get rid of it. We are getting a divorce."

My mind went blank. For two long years, our marriage had been a peaceful facade. We were intimate, and I had foolishly believed I was happy. I never expected I was just a cheap replacement, a temporary placeholder keeping his bed warm until his true love returned.

"Just because of her?" I asked, my voice breaking. "Because of the woman whose name you just called? Two years... and you can just throw me away without a second thought?"

A dismissive, arrogant scoff escaped his lips. "Aria, you are so pathetically naive. Cleo is back. I never loved you. Even in bed, it was never you I was thinking about."

The brutal honesty pierced my chest, but the heartbreak was instantly swallowed by a sharper, more urgent panic. A chilling realization washed over my mind, instantly sobering me up. The brutal truth was, Dominik Steele was the man who murdered my father. I never loved him initially. I only married him, offering my body to my sworn enemy, to gather evidence and find a chance to ruin his empire. If I were kicked out of the pack territory now, my two years of silent endurance would be completely wasted. I would lose all access to his secrets. I absolutely had to stay, at any cost, to finish my revenge.

Swallowing the bitter taste of humiliation, I forced myself to play the role of a desperate, heartbroken wife. "Please, Dominik," I begged, lowering all my pride, letting my tears fall freely to mask my true intentions. "I can be a servant to you and Cleo. I can do the laundry, scrub the floors... I just want to stay... don't make me leave you."

His gaze remained as absolute and cold as a glacier. "No. Sign the divorce papers. And as for that unexpected mistake in your belly... you will get rid of that child. The doctor will handle the abortion tonight."

My breath hitched. He wanted to kill the baby. I had always been so incredibly careful, taking strong abortion pills on time after every single night we spent together, terrified of carrying my enemy's spawn. But fate played a cruel, twisted joke. The Alpha King's potent, domineering bloodline had somehow overpowered the drugs, planting this unexpected seed in my womb. I had thought he might care for his own flesh and blood, but I underestimated his monstrosity.

Despite our bitter blood feud, despite the fact that this child shared his cursed blood, a fierce, primal maternal instinct flared within me. This tiny, fragile life was innocent. It was half of me. I couldn't just let him murder it.

Just then, the bedroom door was pushed wide open. A woman in an elegant, custom-made maroon dress walked in, utterly unbothered by the intimate setting. Cleo Rivera. The daughter of a powerful political ally, the woman who had vanished two years ago. Her long, smooth hair cascaded down her back, and a confident, possessive smile played on her red lips.

"Cleo is back," he repeated to me, stating it like a fact that had absolutely nothing to do with me.

Cleo walked right past me and leaned intimately into Dominik's chest, smiling at my disheveled state with the condescending pity and scorn of a victor. "Dominik, don't let these little things trouble you. Tonight is our night to celebrate."

He nodded, then turned his emotionless gaze back to me. He moved his lips, but no sound came out. Instead, a powerful, irresistible force slammed into my brain.

"Get rid of that bastard child," his voice echoed directly in my mind through our mind-link, laced with an absolute, crushing Alpha authority. Because of the toxic suppressants I had swallowed for two years to hide my true Alpha bloodline, my chemically weakened body was utterly defenseless against a King's command.

My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the freezing bedroom floor, gasping for air.

Then, he spoke aloud, his voice formal and merciless, each word a rusty nail driven into my coffin. "I, Dominik Steele, Alpha King of the Steele Pack, hereby reject you, Aria, as my mate."

The Rejection. The cruelest severance a wolf could perform. Once spoken, it meant our soul-bond would be forcibly, violently torn apart. An unbearable agony erupted from the depths of my soul, as if a thousand unseen hands were ripping my heart and lungs apart from the inside. A choked, bloody sob escaped my lips.

"Take her to the Pack clinic. Ensure the termination procedure is completed before morning," he issued one final command to the guards through the mind-link, completely ignoring my agonizing screams.

Despair washed over me, a suffocating, black tide. But at the very edge of that darkness, my resolve hardened into a roaring flame. I have to run. For the one precious thing that is truly mine, I have to escape this hell at any cost.

Aria POV:

Two tall guards flanked me, their hands like iron clamps on my arms, dragging me from the study. The heavy door clicked shut behind me, sealing away the sound of their laughter and the two years of my life I had just lost to a lie.

The agony of the Rejection was a constant, tearing scream in my soul. I forced myself to stay lucid through the blinding pain.

My goal was simple: escape. I couldn't let them take me to that clinic. I was not the fragile, submissive Omega they all thought I was. The noble, dominant Alpha blood of the Kensington line flowed in my veins, a secret I had guarded with my life. But years of swallowing toxic suppressants to mask my scent and hide my true identity from Dominik, combined with the devastating spiritual trauma of the Rejection, had completely locked my power away. Right now, my body-chemically weakened for so long-was hopelessly trapped in this broken, disguised shell. My wrists were heavily bruised under their brutal Gamma grip, a stark, painful reminder of my temporary powerlessness in this Alpha-dominated territory. A direct fight was suicide; I had to use my wits.

My mind raced through the manor's blueprints. I remembered a ventilation shaft in the service corridor leading to the back garden. Its security sensor was ancient and prone to malfunctioning. It was my only weak point to exploit.

I let my body go limp, collapsing to the floor with a pained, convincing groan. "My stomach... it hurts so much..." I clutched my abdomen, my face pale.

The guards exchanged a hesitant, panicked look. The Alpha's command was to take me to the clinic, but they couldn't risk me miscarrying on their watch. They would be held personally responsible by the Alpha King if I bled out right here in the hallway.

One of them knelt to check on me. The moment he tried to lift me, I threw all my remaining weight into him, shoving him hard into his companion.

They stumbled into a tangled mess. I scrambled to my feet and ran like my life depended on it, because it absolutely did.

Angry shouts echoed behind me. The piercing, deafening shriek of the manor's alarm blared, a terrifying sound that signaled the brutal hunt had begun.

I ducked into a narrow servants' passage. I navigated the dim, dusty corridors, finally finding the service entrance hidden behind a stack of unused furniture.

I heaved the heavy steel door open and slipped inside. The sounds of pursuit were getting closer. I crawled on my hands and knees, feeling my way toward the vent. My beautiful white dress tore on unseen snags, collecting grime and dirt, but I didn't care. Freedom was just ahead.

Finally, my bleeding fingers brushed against the metal grille. I pushed it open. A blast of freezing, snow-laced air hit my face, reviving my fading senses.

I climbed out into the back garden. The snow was falling heavier now, a thick, freezing blanket that would hopefully cover my tracks.

I ran for the perimeter wall. I knew it had a three-minute maintenance window every night at midnight.

It was ten minutes to midnight. Running in the deep snow was exhausting. My lungs burned like they were filled with acid, and my legs felt like lead weights. The cramping in my lower abdomen was becoming sharper, a terrifying warning from my fragile body that I was reaching my absolute limit. Every step was a monumental effort, a desperate battle against my own failing physiology.

But the thought of the tiny life inside me fueled me. He was innocent. He was all I had left in this cruel, calculating world.

A long, terrifying howl echoed in the distance. Patrol teams. They were already releasing the tracker hounds. I could smell the faint, metallic scent of bloodlust in the air.

I desperately tried to summon my hidden Alpha strength, to shift into my true, powerful wolf form for speed. But the trauma of the Rejection had completely severed my connection to her. The majestic white wolf of my true bloodline was suppressed, trapped in the dark, bruised recesses of my mind, unable to break through the years of suppressants and the fresh agony of a broken mate-bond. I was hopelessly trapped in this weak human shell, completely at their mercy if caught.

Finally, I saw the three-meter-high wall. I checked my watch. One minute to midnight. I hid behind a large oak tree, my heart pounding against my ribs like a trapped bird trying to break free.

I could hear the crunch of heavy boots and the vicious barking of hounds getting closer.

Then, the blinking red lights on top of the wall went dark. Now.

I bolted, using the last of my strength to scale the wall. The rough, icy surface scraped my palms raw, leaving bloody smears behind, but I felt nothing but the pure adrenaline.

Just as I hauled myself onto the top, a searchlight beam swept across the grounds, trapping me in its glare.

"She's there!" a guard roared.

I leaped from the wall, plunging into the dark, unknown forest. Would the darkness of the woods swallow me whole, or would it be the bloody path to my only salvation? Whatever awaited me, it had to be better than the cold-blooded Alpha I left behind.

Aria POV:

The three-meter drop from the perimeter wall sent a violent shockwave of pain through my battered body. My ankle twisted with a sickening, audible crack. I scrambled up, ignoring the blinding pain, and plunged deeper into the dark forest.

The noise of the pursuit from the manor was growing louder. The winter cold gnawed at my limbs, turning my lips purple and my fingers completely numb.

The cramping in my belly intensified into a brutal tearing sensation. I ran with one hand pressed tightly against my lower stomach, a desperate, futile gesture trying to hold my fragile baby in place.

Suddenly, my foot slipped on a patch of hidden ice. I tumbled violently down a steep embankment.

My head slammed against a thick tree trunk. I felt a warm gush of liquid between my legs, staining the pure white snow beneath me. The red was shockingly bright, a horrific contrast in the moonlight.

No... my baby.

My consciousness dissolved into a black void, taking my very last shred of hope with it.

I don't know how much time passed. I woke up to the sharp, sterile smell of medical disinfectant. The soft, rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor mocked my existence. I was lying in a narrow bed, surrounded by familiar white walls. The Pack infirmary. They had caught me after all.

I ignored the throbbing pain in my head and the IV drip in my arm. I threw back the thin blanket and looked down at my stomach. It was flat. I placed my trembling hand on my pale skin, pressing down slightly. I couldn't feel the tiny, warm flicker of life anymore. The protective barrier I had tried to build for him had been shattered.

Tears slid silently down my pale cheeks. My child was gone. I didn't even have the strength to sob out loud. My heart didn't break; it simply ceased to exist, leaving a cold, hollow, echoing cavity in my chest. Everything I had endured, everything I had fought for in that freezing blizzard, was for nothing.

The door opened abruptly. Slade Knight, Dominik's Beta, walked in. His face was a mask of professional indifference, as cold and unfeeling as his master's. He didn't offer a single word of comfort for the mother who had just lost her child. To him, I was just a problem that needed to be processed.

He casually tossed a file folder and a silver pen onto my bed.

"The Alpha's orders. Sign the divorce papers and the Rejection confirmation," he said flatly, treating me like a bothersome chore.

Numbly, I opened the folder. It was the official paperwork severing all our legal and spiritual ties. The black ink on the white paper looked like a death warrant. As I flipped to the final page, my eyes landed on the compensation clause. A check for $100,000 was attached to it.

I stared at the number, a sudden, bitter laugh escaping my dry lips. I looked up at Slade, my eyes devoid of any warmth. "A mere hundred thousand dollars as a breakup fee for the ex-wife of a proud Alpha King?" I asked, my voice dripping with icy contempt. "Aren't you afraid of the entire werewolf world laughing at you? Is this what Dominik Steele's dignity is worth?"

Slade frowned, clearly displeased by my lack of gratitude and my mocking tone. "Getting this check at all is the Alpha showing you extraordinary leniency," he sneered coldly, looking down his nose at me. "If you hadn't pulled that foolish stunt last night and run away, causing such a massive scene, you might have gotten more. This reduced sum of $100,000 is the direct price you pay for your disobedience. You should take it and be incredibly grateful you aren't being thrown into the snow with absolutely nothing."

A sudden, roaring fire ignited in the pit of my empty stomach. Did Dominik Steele really think his dirty money could buy my child's life and my two years of silent humiliation? Did he think he could punish me for trying to save my own baby?

I picked up the silver pen. With a steady, forceful hand, I drew a large, vicious "X" across the entire compensation clause, the nib of the pen almost tearing through the thick paper.

Then I signed my true surname on the dotted line. Aria Kensington. A name I hadn't used in two years, a noble name that carried the heavy weight of blood and vengeance.

I tossed the document back at Slade, letting the papers scatter disrespectfully on the floor at his feet.

"Tell your Alpha to keep his money," I said, my voice chillingly calm and laced with an undeniable authority that made Slade flinch visibly. "Consider this $100,000 my gift to him-his hard-earned 'sowing fee' for his efforts these past years. After all, without his hard work in bed, where would the dead baby in my womb come from?"

Slade's face paled in absolute shock. He stared at me, completely unable to comprehend where a broken, discarded Omega found such terrifying defiance. He opened his mouth to reprimand me, but the sheer coldness in my eyes silenced him.

I swore to myself, I would spare no effort to destroy Dominik Steele as fast as possible. I would avenge my father and my unborn child, and put a permanent, violent end to this ridiculous, hateful romance. My tears were gone, completely burned away, replaced by a venomous, calculating determination.