Page 45 of Pregnant, Rejected and Exiled By the Lycan King (Forbidden Alpha Kings #45)

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Rhea

The earthy scent crept into my dreams first, turning comfortable darkness into uneasiness.

I surfaced from sleep slowly, fighting against heaviness that wanted to drag me back under.

Beside me, Damon’s breathing had gone too deep, too even, not natural sleep but chemical.

My wolf growled beneath my skin uneasily as the musk intensified, coating my throat with each breath.

The bedroom door opened without a sound.

Only the sudden draft of cooler air alerted me, that and the foreign scents that shouldn’t exist in our private space.

My eyes wouldn’t open properly, weighted down by whatever filled the air.

Shadows moved at the edge of my vision, multiple figures in dark clothing, faces hidden behind masks.

“She’s fighting it.” A woman’s voice, muffled by fabric but familiar. “Increase the dose.”

More scents flooded the room. My lungs burned with it, each breath pulling me deeper into drugged compliance. I tried to reach for Damon, to wake him, but my arm moved like it was trapped in molasses. A weak sound escaped my throat, not quite a word, not quite a whimper.

“Shh.” Gloved hands touched my face, almost gentle. “Don’t fight. It’s easier if you don’t fight.”

“D-Damon...” His name came out slurred, barely audible.

“He can’t hear you.” Another figure approached the bed, larger, movements careful and professional. “He won’t hear anything for hours.”

Hands slid under me, lifting with surprising ease. My body wouldn’t respond to commands, limbs heavy and useless. My head lolled against someone’s shoulder as we moved through the compound. No alarms sounded. No guards challenged our passage.

Whoever had orchestrated this had inside knowledge, had planned every detail. The scent followed us, ensuring I stayed compliant, but underneath it I caught other smells, rogue wolves, gun oil, expensive perfume.

Fresh air hit my face as we exited the building. The night was cold, sharp enough to cut through some of the drug fog. I forced my eyes wider, trying to memorize details, anything that might help later. A van waited in the service area, engine running, back doors open like a hungry mouth.

***

Consciousness returned slowly, like swimming up through thick honey.

My head pounded and my mouth tasted of copper and chemicals.

The first thing I noticed was cold. Metal chains around my wrists, concrete floor beneath me, air that carried dampness and decay.

My eyes wouldn’t focus properly, everything was blurring at the edges.

The twins’ movement felt sluggish, and panic shot through the drug haze.

I tried to sit up but the world tilted violently.

Wherever I was, it wasn’t the compound. No familiar scents, no sounds of daily life.

Just dripping water and the scratch of small creatures in the walls.

An abandoned building, probably at the territory’s edge where even patrols didn’t venture.

My throat burned when I tried to call out, the sound emerging as barely a croak.

Someone had drugged me, taken me from Damon’s bed while he dealt with pack politics.

“Finally awake, are we?” Lucinda’s voice floated from the shadows, cultured tones at odds with our surroundings.

“What... where am I?” The words scraped past my raw throat.

“Somewhere no one will think to look. My people are very thorough.” She remained hidden, only her voice giving away her presence.

“Damon will find me. He’ll...” The protest died as another wave of dizziness crashed over me.

“Damon is too busy saving his political career to notice you’re gone. I made sure of that.” Satisfaction dripped from every word.

The chains rattled as I tried to move, testing their strength.

Professional work. Whoever had installed them knew what they were doing.

My wolf stirred weakly beneath the drugs, unable to mount any real defense.

The twins shifted slightly, their movements far too sluggish for my comfort.

Whatever cocktail Lucinda had used was affecting all three of us.

I forced myself to focus through the chemical fog.

The warehouse stretched around me, vast and empty except for concrete pillars disappearing into darkness.

Boarded windows let in slivers of light.

Enough to see by but not enough to determine time of day.

The air tasted of rust and abandonment, the kind of place that had been forgotten by everyone except those who needed shadows for their work.

“Why?” The single word was all I could manage, but it encompassed everything. Why take me, why this elaborate scheme, why the hatred that radiated from her even hidden in darkness.

“You need to ask?” Her laugh was bitter, echoing off concrete walls. “You’ve taken everything from me.”

“I didn’t take anything. I was chosen as Damon’s mate. And you know as well as any other wolf that we cannot choose our mates.”

“Spare me your lies.” Finally, she moved into view, and I had to blink several times to reconcile this woman with the perfectly composed matriarch I knew.

Lucinda stepped into the dim light filtering through boarded windows.

She looked nothing like the composed matriarch who’d presided over pack functions.

Her usually perfect hair hung loose around her shoulders, silver strands catching what little light existed.

Her designer clothes had been replaced with practical black.

Pants, boots, a jacket that could hide weapons.

But it was her eyes that chilled me. Completely lucid, utterly cold.

This wasn’t grief-driven madness. This was calculated hatred given form.

She began pacing, each step measured and deliberate. The warehouse floor was scattered with debris but she navigated it without looking, suggesting familiarity with the space. How long had she been planning this? How many times had she walked this route, perfecting her scheme?

“Two weeks,” she said, as if reading my thoughts. “Two weeks since my son stood in front of the pack and admitted to killing his brother over you. Two weeks of planning every detail while he destroyed everything our family built.”

“Damon told the truth. That took courage.”

“Courage?” She whirled on me, perfectly composed mask cracking. “He confessed to being a kinslayer! Do you know what that means for our bloodline? For our legacy?”

“He confessed to protecting me. To give me back my honor.”

“Your honor?” The laugh that escaped her held no humor. “An omega’s honor isn’t worth the dirt beneath my shoes. You destroyed my family with your very existence.”

She resumed pacing, and I caught glimpses of the woman who’d raised Damon. Controlled, methodical, always ten steps ahead. But now that intelligence was bent toward my destruction.

“First, you corrupted Laziel with your wiles. He was obsessed with you, convinced you were meant for him instead of his brother. Then you made Damon kill him in jealous rage. And now?” She gestured at my swollen belly with disgust. “Now you carry spawn that will dilute the pure Kildare bloodline. Mongrels with omega blood polluting centuries of alpha heritage.”

“They’re your grandchildren,” I protested weakly, hand moving protectively over my bump.

“They’re nothing to me. Just like their father.” The casual dismissal hit harder than any physical blow. “I loved Laziel. He was my true son. Damon was just... an obligation.”

“What are you talking about?” Confusion cut through the drug haze momentarily.

But she was already moving on, her rant gaining momentum.

Every word painted me as some kind of succubus who’d enchanted both brothers, destroyed their family through calculated manipulation.

The twins moved weakly in response to my distress, and fresh panic shot through me.

Whatever drug she’d used was affecting them too, making them sluggish when they should be active.

“The guards you had reassigned? All my people. The food that tasted different? Small doses to build tolerance for tonight. The political chaos? Carefully orchestrated to keep Damon distracted.” She smiled, cold and satisfied. “I’ve been moving pieces for days while you played house with Damon.”

“You’re insane.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.

Her hand cracked across my face, the slap echoing in the empty space. “I’m a mother who lost everything to your manipulation. Just like before.”

“Before?” But she was already turning away, dismissing my question.

“You think you’re special because you’re his mate? Because you carry his children?” She laughed again, the sound like breaking glass. “You’re just another whore who spreads her legs for power. The only difference is you succeeded where others failed.”

“I never wanted power. I wanted to be left alone.”

“Lies. All omegas lie. It’s in your nature, just like spreading your legs is in your nature.” The venom in her voice could have melted steel. “But I’m going to fix that. Remove you from the equation and let Damon find a proper alpha mate. Someone worthy of the Kildare name.”

“He won’t. We’re fated.”

“Fated.” She spat the word like a curse. “Another nonsense. There’s no such thing as fate, just biology and bad choices.”

Lucinda’s composure reasserted itself as she laid out her plan with the same precision she’d once used for pack social events. She pulled a chair from somewhere, probably staged earlier, and sat facing me like we were having tea rather than discussing my destruction.

“Killing you would be too simple, too suspicious. Damon might actually investigate that, might discover my involvement.” She crossed her legs, settling in for a lengthy explanation. “But you running away? Who already fled once, facing a hostile pack and complicated pregnancy? That’s believable.”

“He’ll never believe I abandoned him.” Even drugged and chained, I knew this truth absolutely.

“Won’t he?” Her smile was cruel. “You spent four months in exile rather than face him? Who carries twins that could kill her? Who faces daily hostility from pack members who blame her for their prince’s death? Running would be the smart choice.”

“You’re forgetting one thing. I came back. I chose to return.”

“Because he dragged you back. But now, with the pressure mounting, with his position crumbling, with assassins potentially targeting you?” She shrugged elegantly. “Self-preservation is also in your nature.”

“What did you do?” Dread pooled in my stomach.

“I’ve been busy. Notes in your handwriting, forgeries of course, expressing your fears.

Money transferred from accounts you didn’t know you had access to.

Tickets purchased to border towns. A trail of breadcrumbs leading away from here.

” Her satisfaction was palpable. “When Damon finally surfaces from his political nightmare to notice you’re gone, he’ll find evidence of a carefully planned escape. ”

“The guards will tell him.”

“My guards? They’ll swear they saw you leave voluntarily. Some might even mention hearing you talk about needing to get away, about the pressure being too much.” She leaned forward, eyes glittering with malice. “I’ve thought of everything.”

“Except one thing.” I met her gaze steadily despite the drugs still clouding my system. “Damon knows me. Really knows me. He’ll see through your lies.”

“Does he? He believed you murdered Laziel easily enough.”

The truth of that stung worse than her slap. He had believed it, had condemned me in front of the entire pack without questioning, without investigating. Would he do the same again? Would he see my disappearance and immediately assume betrayal?

“That was different. He was in shock, grieving.”

“And now he’s overwhelmed, fighting for his political life, facing challenges from every direction.

” She stood, smoothing invisible wrinkles from her clothes.

“The evidence will be overwhelming. Even if some small part of him doubts, what can he do? Chase after an omega who clearly doesn’t want to be found while his kingdom crumbles? ”

“You’re insane. This won’t bring Laziel back.”

“No, but it will take from you what you took from me. Everything.” She moved toward the shadows again, her voice floating back.

“You’ll disappear into the trafficking networks.

Sold to the highest bidder. Some alpha will use you as breeding stock, those twins ripped away the moment they’re born.

You’ll spend your life in chains, producing litter after litter until your body gives out. ”

Horror washed over me as the full scope of her plan became clear. Not just separation from Damon but a living nightmare. The twins kicked weakly, as if protesting their grandmother’s words.

“The buyers specialize in pregnant omegas. Premium prices for those carrying alpha offspring. Twins?” She made a pleased sound. “You’ll set a record at auction.”

“No.” The word came out stronger than I’d managed since waking. “I won’t let you.”

“Let me?” Her laugh echoed off the walls as she returned to view one final time. “You’re chained in an abandoned warehouse, drugged and helpless. Your mate thinks you’re safely asleep in his bed. No one knows where you are except the rogues I’ve hired. What exactly are you going to do?”

“Survive,” I said simply. “I’ve done it before.”

“Not this time.” She checked an expensive watch, a surreal touch of normalcy in this nightmare. “The buyers will be here within the hour. I suggest you make peace with your situation.”

“Wait.” Desperation crept into my voice. “What did you mean about before? About Damon being an obligation?”

But she was already at the door, her heels clicking against concrete. “Some secrets die with their keepers. Others...” She paused, silhouette framed in the doorway. “Others destroy everything they touch, just like omega whores.”

The door slammed shut, leaving me alone with the sound of dripping water and the truth of my situation. In less than an hour, I’d be sold to human traffickers. Damon would wake to find me gone and evidence of betrayal. The twins would be born into slavery.

Unless I found a way out.

I tested the chains again, feeling for weakness. The drugs were metabolizing faster than they’d calculated, my omega healing accelerated by pregnancy hormones and maternal instinct. The twins moved stronger now, responding to their mother’s determination.

“We’re not going anywhere with those buyers,” I whispered to my belly. “Your father will find us. We just have to survive until then.”

The warehouse settled around me, waiting. Somewhere in the shadows, rogues likely watched. Somewhere in the city, buyers prepared for their newest acquisition. And somewhere in the compound, Damon slept on, unaware his entire world had already been stolen.

“The buyers will be here within the hour.”