Rejected and Pregnant by the Alpha King (Forbidden Alpha Kings #4)

29. Aiden

29

Aiden

The day Constance and Camden head out for their journey, a sudden feeling of dread settles in the pit of my stomach.

I’m not one to believe in superstition, nor am I the kind of alpha who needs complete control over a situation such as sending my two closest confidants away on a reconnaissance mission. I trust them, more than I trust most in this pack.

Yet, the moment they disappear into the dark thicket of the forest surrounding our town, I’m left with that sinking feeling that refuses to go away no matter how much work I drown myself in.

I want to believe that this is a symptom of them being away from me so soon after the Raine incident. Not even Camden knows what exactly happened, just that I met a female during the ball, had a brief affair, and then found out she’d been trying to baby-trap me.

Only Raine and I know of our fated connection and truthfully, I’d like to keep it that way, even if the thought of never seeing her again still haunts me.

But what am I to do with a mate like her? Even if I were to go to her packlands and bring her back here, how could I ever trust her again?

Her alpha had been clear when he’d come to visit and handed me the letter and the pregnancy test, telling me how he’d found out her plans and had immediately come to tell me the truth—or rather, show it to me.

I didn’t want to believe it, even as I’d read the letter. I still don’t. The words replay in my head so often that I can recite them with perfect clarity.

I’d shoved both the letter and the test back into their package and stuffed it in one of the locked drawers in my office. I couldn’t bear to look at it anymore, but I didn’t have it in me to burn it either.

That letter and test, as devastating as it’d been to receive them, are the only two pieces of Raine that I have left to prove what we had together was real—that I hadn’t simply dreamt of her and ended it all in a nightmare.

A frantic knock at my office door has me turning around right as the door whips open.

Just as I’m about to reprimand him for entering without me telling him to, he says, “Sorry, sir. There’s uh…I think you better come see.”

My brows rise. “See what?”

He, Darius, swallows visibly. “There’s a situation going on at the border: a female trying to get in. She says she knows you.”

My heart thunders in my chest.

Raine?

Instantly, I push away from my desk and get to my feet. He leads me out of the estate and down to the courtyard, both of us shifting at the same time to take off for the border. I’m led to the one heading east, my heart picking up as I realize that’s where Raine mentioned she came from.

In the rare moments we had together that hadn’t been us frantically creating our bond, she’d mentioned bits and pieces about her pack back home, out east where it was colder and rained so much that her mother had named her after it.

Now, whenever I see cloudy gray skies, I grow resentful of being reminded of her.

Funny how right now I’m almost excited—elated even.

To my surprise, we come upon the scene quite a bit into our packlands and not at all near the border like where I thought they’d be. My enforcers, four of them, are gathered around the female in question, one of whom has her pinned against the ground with her face pressed into the dirt.

My wolf lets out a nasty snarl, triggered by the instinct to protect his mate from being manhandled like this.

“Your Grace,” one of my enforcers says, all of them instantly straightening up. “She is attempting to cross the border—”

I shift immediately. “Let her up.”

The enforcer on top of her quickly backs up, putting some distance between him and her. She grunts and pushes herself up from the ground, her long silky brown hair falling forward to cover her face from view.

Confusion fills me as I stare down at her. Her hair isn’t the same dark color as Raine’s, nor is her body the same size. As she stands slowly and her hair parts from her face, it’s not Raine’s either, but someone else entirely.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

“Who are you?” I demand.

She’s breathing hard, eyes wild as she stumbles away from my enforcers. How the hell she managed to get this far past my border is something I’m going to need to discuss with my patrols, because that’s simply unacceptable.

When her eyes focus on me, her body visibly sags in relief. “Your Grace—”

I hold my hand out to her when she starts to head toward me, stopping her right in her tracks. “Who. Are. You? I don’t appreciate anyone coming onto my land unannounced.”

“I’m sorry, it wasn’t intentional.”

“She blew through the border without stopping,” one of my enforcers says. “We could barely keep up with her, she was so fast.”

“I had to,” the female blurts out. “I had to get—Your Grace, please listen.”

“If you are here to beg me for something, then you should have come through the proper channels.” My anger is already starting to boil over, my shame from getting excited over the possibility of seeing my traitorous mate now catching up with me.

How could I want her back, after all she’s done to me?

She needs to be banished from my mind.

The female holds her hands up in submission, lowering her head down. “Please…I came to talk to you…it’s about Raine.”

My heart stutters.

“Who?” one of my other enforcers mumbles.

Taking two steps forward, I grab onto the female’s arm and drag her with me as I head for my estate. She stumbles with me, her short legs struggling to keep up with my long strides. Where do I recognize her from? She looks too familiar for me to accuse of lying.

“Your Grace!” I hear my enforcers chasing after me.

“Stay at the border!” I snap back over my shoulder. “If there’s any more on their way, stop them .”

“I’m sorry,” the female says to me as soon as we’re out of earshot.

My grip on her arm tightens. “You are going to tell me exactly who the hell you are and how you know that name once we get to my office.”