Rejected By The Alpha, Carrying His Secret Heir

I woke up reborn, my hands frantically searching my stomach to confirm my unborn pup was still alive.

Not long after, my fated mate, Alpha Julian, walked into the bedroom.

He asked me to temporarily give up my Luna crown and perform a fake rejection.

He wanted to give my title to Elara, a traitor's daughter, just to save her from being cast out of the pack.

In my past life, I hadn't even had the chance to tell him I was pregnant.

I cried, begged, and eventually compromised to help him.

But when Elara later faked her death in the snow to frame me, Julian went completely mad with guilt.

He locked himself in his study, and when I tried to comfort him, he violently shoved me away.

My back slammed into the stone fireplace, and I bled out on the floor, losing our baby.

He didn't even stay to help me. He ran into the mountains to search for Elara's remains, leaving me to rot in misery until I died.

I could never understand how a man's pity for a liar could completely destroy a sacred mate bond and his own flesh and blood.

This time, looking at his guilty face, I didn't shed a single tear.

"I, Aria, reject you, Julian, as my mate."

The ancient words left my lips without a tremor, and I turned to pack my bags.

Chapter 1

Aria POV

I woke upon the four-poster bed, a colossal thing of dark, carved wood that stood like a mausoleum in the ancient stone castle of the Northern Pack.

My lungs were a pair of empty bellows, labouring to draw a breath that would not come.

My hands flew to my stomach, a frantic search for the warm, wet stickiness of my own blood.

There was none.

Instead, a faint, rhythmic pulse, a flutter like the wings of a trapped bird, beat against my palm and confirmed the impossible.

My pup was still alive.

I had been reborn.

The heavy oak door groaned on its iron hinges, its complaint breaking the funereal silence of the gothic bedchamber.

Julian walked in.

He was the Alpha of the Northern Pack, the supreme leader who held absolute power over all of us.

He was also my fated mate.

The Moon Goddess, the deity who created our kind, had tied our souls together.

But the scent of him, once a clean fragrance of pine and winter snow, was now soured with the damp, earthy odour of guilt.

He stood at the edge of the bed, refusing to meet my eyes.

"Aria," he started, his voice thick with a hesitation that grated on my ears. "I must ask you for a favour of some magnitude."

I sat up slowly, pulling the heavy fur-lined blanket over my knees.

I knew exactly what he was going to say.

"My mentor was executed for treason yesterday," Julian said, his jaw clenching. "His daughter, Elara, is about to be cast out of the pack."

I stared at his handsome face, feeling absolutely nothing.

"If she is cast out, she will become a Rogue," Julian continued, his eyes pleading with me. A Rogue was a werewolf without a pack, a feral and mindless monster that roamed the wild until they starved or were hunted down. "I owe her father my life," Julian said, running a hand through his dark hair. "I begged the Royal Pack to let Elara stay as the lowest-ranked wolf in the pack."

"But she refused," I said softly, finishing his sentence.

Julian looked surprised, but he nodded.

"She threatened to take her own life rather than live in servitude," he explained. "She wants a title. She needs the protection of the Luna title."

The Luna was the female leader of the pack, the mother of all members, and my rightful position.

"So," I said, my voice eerily calm. "You wish for me to relinquish my crown."

"Just temporarily!" Julian rushed forward, stopping just short of touching me. "We just need to perform the Rite of Separation-an ancient ceremony that temporarily suspends a title without severing the mate bond. It will strip you of the Luna title for now, and I can give it to Elara to save her life. Once the danger passes, we will reclaim it."

The Rite of Separation.

In my past life, those same words had sounded like salvation-a clever loophole that would let us both play the heroes. I had believed him.

In my past life, I had been about to tell him I was pregnant with our first pup. Instead, his words, like a dull saw, had begun to tear apart the small, tightly-held vision I had of a nursery and a cradle, reducing it to a pile of splinters at my feet.

In my past life, I had cried, begged, and eventually compromised.

I had performed the rite. I had stepped aside.

And Elara had not been grateful. Three months later, on the night of a brutal snowstorm, she had vanished from the border cabin where Julian had hidden her. A guard had delivered a wooden box to the castle-inside, a single bloodied winter rose and a letter professing her undying, tragic love for Julian. She had "died" in the snow, and the letter made it clear: it was my fault for forcing her to the borders.

Julian had gone mad with guilt. He locked himself in his study for days, and when I forced my way in to comfort him, he had looked at me with eyes that no longer saw a mate-only an obstacle that had cost him someone "pure."

"If you had just accepted the rejection, Aria!" he had roared. "If you had just stepped down, she would not have died in the snow!"

I had reached for him. His hands had met my shoulders and shoved.

My back had slammed into the stone fireplace. The crack of bone. The hot gush of blood. The death of our unborn pup on the cold floor.

And Julian had run. Not to get a healer. Not to hold me. He had run into the mountains to search for Elara's "remains," leaving me to rot in misery until I died.

The memory burned through me now, a cold fire that calcified every soft feeling I had ever held for this man.

This time, I did not shed a single tear.

I looked directly into his dark eyes.

"I, Aria, reject you, Julian, as my mate."

The ancient words left my lips without a single tremor. Not the rite. Not a performance. The true, irrevocable rejection vow.

Instantly, a violent tearing sensation ripped through my skull. The mind-link, the telepathic bridge that connected our souls and allowed us to speak in each other's minds, snapped in half.

Julian stumbled backward, the blood draining from his face so swiftly that the blue veins at his jaw stood out like stark, grey rivers on a map. His eyelids retracted, exposing the blood-shot whites of his eyes as he felt the bond shatter. The air he meant to inhale caught in his throat, producing a wet, rasping sound, like a punctured bellows.

"Aria! What are you doing?" he gasped, clutching his chest. "I spoke of the Rite! The temporary ceremony! Not this!"

"You asked for a rejection," I stated coldly. "Now accept it."

Julian was trembling, the muscles along his spine beginning to spasm violently. A second, phantom heart hammered against his ribs as the beast within him fought against the cage of his reason.

But his wolf could not resist the ancient law. A rejection spoken with full intent demanded a response.

He gritted his teeth, forcing the words out.

"I, Julian, accept your rejection," he choked out.

The remaining thread of our soul bond turned to ash and blew away.

The cartilage in Julian's knees gave a sickening pop, and his legs, as if suddenly drained of their marrow, could no longer support his weight, sending him crumbling to the floor in a graceless heap.

"It is done," he whispered. His voice cracked. "But it was not supposed to be true..."

"Yet it is," I said.

He thought I was lost in grief, acting out in pain. He thought this was a storm that would pass.

He had no inkling that I had just scoured his name from my heart forever-and that by nightfall, I would be gone.

Aria POV

The moment the rejection vow was completed, a strange lightness washed over my soul.

The sensation of iron wire cinched around my lungs was gone. I drew a deep breath and found my chest was now a hollow chamber, so empty I could hear the echo of each beat of my own heart.

I looked down at the man kneeling on the cold stone floor.

He was breathing heavily, trying to soothe the raging beast inside his head.

I remembered how this scene played out in my previous life.

Back then, my Inner Wolf had howled in agony at the mere thought of a fake rejection. I had lost my mind with grief. I had grabbed the silver goblets from the bedside table and smashed them against the walls. Silver was lethal to our kind, and the metal had burned my skin, but the physical pain was nothing compared to my broken heart.

I had slapped Julian across the face.

He had taken the hit with a guilty look, and then he had used his Alpha's Command. The Alpha's Command was the absolute vocal authority that forced any lower-ranking wolf to obey. He had forced me to calm down, forced my knees to bend, forced me to listen to his lies.

I had cried and asked him if he really wanted to throw our bond away.

He had sworn to the Moon Goddess that it was only temporary.

When I had packed my bags to return to my family's manor, he had panicked and blocked the door, shouting that he would rather let Elara die than lose me.

I had been foolish enough to believe him.

But now, standing in the same room, I felt nothing but a profound and chilling indifference toward him.

Julian slowly stood up, rubbing his chest where our bond used to be.

He looked at my calm profile, and a deep frown formed on his face. A low, guttural vibration rumbled in his chest, a sound of profound unease from the beast beneath his skin.

He took a step toward me, reaching out his hand.

"Aria, are you alright?" he asked softly. "We can still fix this. There are ways to reforge a bond-"

Before his fingers could graze my arm, I stepped away. My stillness was a wall of ice he could not breach, and it made him freeze in his tracks.

I closed my eyes and reached out to the only mind-link I still had access to. As a member of a high-ranking noble family, I had my own personal mind-link with my loyal servants.

Pack my bags, I commanded my personal maid through the telepathic link. Everything.

I opened my eyes and looked at Julian.

"You should go," I said, my voice flat and emotionless.

"Go where?" Julian asked, looking entirely lost.

"To the dungeon," I replied. "You need to release Elara before she freezes in the damp cells."

Julian blinked, clearly expecting me to fight him or demand his affection.

"I do not want to delay the birth of the Northern Pack's new Luna," I added with a polite, empty smile.

Julian's face twitched.

"Aria, do not speak like that," he warned, taking another step forward. "You are still my mate in my heart."

"Hearts change, Alpha Julian," I said, using his formal title.

I walked past him, heading toward the heavy wooden wardrobe.

"Go," I ordered, not looking back. "Your new Luna is waiting."

Julian stood there for a long moment, the silence that settled between us a heavy dust, choking the air.

Finally, he turned and walked out, his heavy boots echoing down the stone hallway.

He mistook the finality for a passing storm. He did not realize I was already erasing him from my life.

But as the door closed behind him, I placed a hand on my stomach and made a silent vow to the life within.

This time, I would not be a victim. This time, I would be the storm.

Aria POV

Before Julian could reach the dungeon, a guard knocked on my door.

"My lady," the guard said respectfully. "The prisoner Elara has requested to see you one last time before her release."

I paused my packing. The corners of my mouth drew back, not in a smile, but in the baring of teeth.

"Prepare my cloak," I told my maid.

I wrapped a thick, black fur-lined cloak around my shoulders to block the chill that gnawed at the bones.

The dungeon was located deep beneath the castle, smelling of wet earth, iron rust, and fear. Torches flickered along the stone walls, casting long, dancing shadows.

I stopped in front of the iron bars of Elara's cell.

Elara was sitting on a dirty straw mattress. She wore a thin, torn dress, but the moment she saw me, she jumped to her feet. A sharp, grating laugh scraped the damp air.

"I won," Elara sneered, grabbing the iron bars with her pale hands. "You're losing your crown, Aria."

I looked at her dirty, ambitious face.

Elara was the daughter of a Beta, a high-ranking officer, but she had always craved the ultimate power.

My mind drifted back to the Moon Festival from years ago. It was a sacred tradition where young she-wolves proved their worth to the pack under the full moon.

Elara had wanted to show off her beauty. She had cheated during the drawing of lots, ensuring she got the ceremonial dance while I was stuck with the dangerous hunting trial.

But her plan had backfired. I had used my sharp werewolf senses to track and kill a giant, rogue bear that had been terrorizing our borders. I had dragged the massive beast back to the festival. The Queen of the Royal Pack, who was visiting, had praised my strength and courage.

Elara had been furious, accusing me of trying to humiliate her. Our friendship had ended that night.

But her true hatred for me began on the day Julian inherited the Alpha title.

That was the day of our Recognition. Julian had locked eyes with me across the courtyard. He had caught my unique scent, a mix of winter snow and sweet wild berries.

I remembered the physical surge, the way my blood boiled and my heart hammered against my ribs. Julian's Inner Wolf had roared in his mind, claiming me as his. Mine!

When his hand touched mine for the first time, a violent electric shock had traveled up my arm, sealing our fate.

Elara, who had loved Julian since childhood, had watched it all happen with venom in her eyes.

Now, standing in the dungeon, Elara thought she had finally taken my place.

But something in her expression was wrong. Beneath the sneer, her eyes were too sharp. Calculating. She was studying my reaction, testing for cracks.

This was not just gloating. This was reconnaissance.

In my past life, I had come here weeping. She had seen my weakness and used it. This time, I gave her nothing.

"I would rather become a feral Rogue and rot in the wild than bow to you as a servant," Elara spat, her eyes gleaming with malice. "You always thought your old blood made you better than me," she continued. "But look at you now. A man's pity is far more powerful than the Moon Goddess's mate bond."

Her mouth curved into a smile, but her left cheek twitched, a small, betraying spasm. She fought to keep the tears welling in her eyes, but the muscle just below her cheekbone, pulsing with unrestrained glee, gave her away entirely.

"Julian chose my life over your feelings, Aria."

I stared at her, feeling absolutely no anger. She was so pathetic.

"You think you have won Julian," I said, my voice echoing softly in the damp stone corridor. "But you only won a man who is willing to throw away his soul for a fake reputation."

Elara's smile faltered for a second.

"Enjoy your borrowed crown, Elara," I whispered, stepping closer to the bars. "It will be the heaviest thing you ever wear."

I let my gaze drop deliberately to her hands, then back to her face. "And when it breaks you-and it will break you-remember this moment. Remember that I did not lift a finger to stop you from walking into your own grave."

I turned around, my black cloak sweeping across the dirty floor.

"Wait!" Elara yelled, rattling the iron bars. "You're just jealous! I'll give him the strongest pups!"

I did not stop walking.

But I heard it-the tremor beneath her rage. The first hairline fracture in her confidence.

She knew something had changed. She just didn't know what.