Page 9 of Rejected and Pregnant by the Alpha (Forbidden Alpha Kings #52)

Hannah

A snarl startles me awake just as my body is thrown out of bed. I land on the floor with a loud thud, the air knocked out of me, and pain radiates from my shoulder due to the way I landed.

“Your whore!” A hand snatches my hair, pulling me roughly to my knees. Before me is a furious King Julian, his green eyes slowly turning black with rage.

“Where the fuck is she?” he demands, spit flying from his mouth.

“Where is who?” I ask, suppressing the whimper of fear and pain threatening to spill from my lips.

“My mate, you gold-digging bitch!” he roars. His nostrils are flared, and his eyes are consumed by rage to the point that I don’t think he realizes I am right here, in front of him.

“She was with me during my rut, helping me through it for the last three days. When I woke up, you were in my arms instead of her! What did you do to her?”

I shiver, unable to control the hurt I feel from his words as tears form in my eyes. I am the mate he is talking about. My sore, bruised body was the one he had pinned beneath him. Hell, my cunt still feels full of his seed that his knot kept from leaking out.

“I am her!” I finally manage to squeak out. “I am your mate!” I say a little louder this time, staring into those rage-filled eyes of my mate.

“You are not her!” King Julian shouts, throwing my body onto the floor again.

My head hits the floor hard, the pain making me cry out as my vision blurs with black dots. My heart squeezes with pain, the feeling of being rejected welling inside me.

“You are nothing but a scheming bitch who has always wanted the luna queen crown since you turned sixteen. You’re a nobody, and if it weren’t for your parents giving their lives for mine, you would not be by my side!

” he continues, his foot connecting with my stomach and sending me flying into the wall.

I cough, unable to breathe from the pain caused by my mate, and I feel the bond shake.

“Julian, I am your mate!” I cry out as tears continue to fall.

“I spent the last three days with you!” I shout this time, only for my face to meet a harsh slap.

“Liar!” he screams back.

“You are a liar! You are not my mate, and I will never accept you as my mate!”

My heart shatters, and the mate bond snaps in half, broken by his blatant rejection of me. My soul feels like it is shattering as King Julian looks at me with disdain.

“I, King Julian Christiansen, banish you, Hannah Cross, from the royal pack. Henceforth, you are a rogue and have twenty-four hours to leave my territory before you are hunted and killed,” he declares, his words another knife twisting into my heart.

“Don’t do this, Julian,” I plead through the pain, praying he will come to his senses and see that I am the mate who helped him through his rut.

“Stop pleading, Hannah. I will never be with a whore like you,” he declares with a scoff, his cold gaze the last thing I see before he storms out of the room to Goddess-knows-where.

I can’t find any of the pack links I once had.

I can’t feel the connection I had to the royal pack anymore.

Despair fills me, and I wonder if I will be able to get away safely without help, but then I feel it.

The link I share with Fabian is deep in my mind, holding on for dear life.

Fabian! I cry out into the link with my friend, praying to the Moon Goddess that it works and he can hear me. Nothing comes, and I muster as much strength as I can to call out once more, feeling the link slowly fade from my mind.

Help me! I plead, curling into a ball, hoping to suppress the pain spreading through every inch of my body from the rejection, the banishment, and the beating I received.

Did King Julian hate me so much because of the rumors that he was blinded by them and could not recognize me as his mate outside of his rut-induced haze?

Fuck, Hannah. I have been looking for you for the last three days. Where the hell have you been? Fabian asks, his voice filled with concern and worry. The link comes back to life, and I sob with relief. I still have Fabian by my side.

In Julian’s room, I answer, my voice a pained whimper, unable to say much more as my strength begins to give out.

Shit. I am on my way, Fabian says, closing the link. Panic takes over, worried that I won’t be able to feel Fabian in my mind, but that panic settles as soon as I feel him still there, warm and bright in my mind.

Time ticks by agonizingly slowly, but the sounds of the door opening and closing, followed by the scent of toasted coconut, make me smile.

“Fabian?” I whimper, my voice sounding hoarse.

“Here, Hannah. I’m here.” His deep baritone voice is a soft whisper, and my friend scoops me into his arms, holding me tight.

“What happened?” he asks as he rises to his feet with me in his arms. He carries me away from King Julian’s room, and I whimper, sadness seeping into every part of my heart.

“I thought you said you found your mate?” Fabian continues, his question making me sob harder. He isn’t judging me, just trying to understand what happened from the night of my birthday to this morning.

“It’s him,” I sob out, my fingers curling into Fabian’s shirt.

“My mate is King Julian, and he rejected me. He didn’t even recognize my scent, all because of those rumors.

” The familiar scent of my room reaches my nose.

Fabian doesn’t say anything; he just holds me tightly while I cry as he sits on my bed.

“I… I am so sorry,” he whispers as I cry harder, letting out the pain and sorrow I feel.

Pain because of the rejection. Pain because of the banishment.

Pain for the beating I received because King Julian believed I was lying.

But most importantly, pain because of the rumors that circulated, causing all of this to happen in the first place.

Suddenly, Fabian stiffens, his body shaking with anger. My crying slows, and fear creeps inside me. Fabian gently sets me on the ground, his eyes fixed in a grim glare.

“He just linked the pack, forbidding everyone from talking about you to him,” he says through clenched teeth.

“The order goes into effect as soon as you leave the pack territory, so we only have twenty-four hours left,” Fabian adds, making me whimper.

Without warning, my friend storms out of my room, declaring he will be back in an hour and for me to lock my bedroom door until then and start packing. Unsure of what is happening now, I carefully climb from my bed, limp to my door, and lock it securely.

With little strength left, I find myself sliding down the wall beside me, curling up once again as pain ripples through my heart.

I need a moment to breathe, to let the pain settle before I can pack up my life.

Fabian said he would be back in an hour.

For what? I do not know, but I do know he is planning to help me in any way he can.

Taking a few deep breaths, I push myself onto my hands and knees, pausing to breathe again.

My body wants to give up, to fall over and wallow in despair, but I need to move.

Gritting my teeth, I push myself off the floor and stand, leaning against the wall for support.

Suppressing a whimper of pain, I carefully limp toward the bathroom, needing to wash away the scent of my mate from my skin.

He doesn’t want me. The man who waited so patiently for his mate doesn’t want me. So, I will wash away every trace of him from my body before I begin to pack my things and be gone before the twenty-four-hour time limit is up.