Pregnant by the Alpha Who Rejected Me
That child is not mine. I reject this claim, and I reject you.
Luna Hartley grew up as the orphaned daughter of traitors her parents accused of selling pack secrets before their mysterious deaths. Raised on the fringes of the Silverpine Pack, she learned to be invisible, to serve without complaint, to never expect anything, especially not from Kael Thorne, the future Alpha whose dark eyes followed her everywhere but whose mouth only spoke cruelty.
When the mate bond snapped into place on her twenty-first birthday during the Blood Moon Festival, Luna felt the world shift. For one perfect moment, Kael's walls crumbled. He kissed her like she was his salvation, touched her like she was precious, and whispered her name like a prayer.
Then dawn came, and with it, reality.
In front of the entire pack, Kael declared her unworthy. A future Alpha cannot be bound to a traitor's daughter, he announced coldly, severing their bond with ancient words that left her soul bleeding. I, Kael Thorne, reject you, Luna Hartley, as my mate.
The rejection should have killed her. Instead, it awakened something fiercer.
Luna vanished into the human world, building a life where her bloodline didn't define her worth. She became a successful wildlife photographer, traveling the world, finally free from the pack that never wanted her.
Until two pink lines changed everything.
Werewolf pregnancies are rare, dangerous, and impossible to hide from the father the mate bond may be rejected, but biology doesn't care about pride. When Luna's symptoms reveal the truth, pack law drags her back to Silverpine. She's forced to face Kael and deliver the news.
His response shatters her all over again: That child isn't mine. I don't know who you've been with, but you won't pin another man's bastard on me.
The pack court demands a paternity trial, but werewolf DNA testing takes months. Kael's Beta and childhood friend Sienna ensures everyone knows Luna is a liar trying to trap their Alpha. The pack that raised Luna turns into her prison, questioning her morals, her loyalty, her truth.
Kael watches her with those same dark eyes, but now they're filled with suspicion and something that looks dangerously like regret. He offers her money to disappear, threatens legal action, builds walls of ice between them.
Luna makes him a promise: When this baby is born, and you see the truth, I'll be gone before you can beg me to stay.
She plans to endure the pregnancy alone, prove her truth, take her child, and vanish forever from the pack that broke her.
But Kael's wolf knows what his pride refuses to admit. As Luna's pregnancy progresses, his protective instincts betray him showing up at her medical appointments uninvited, threatening anyone who speaks against her, placing guards at her door for the child's safety.
You rejected me, Luna reminds him. You don't get to play protector now.
I'm protecting pack interests, he lies. Nothing more.
The truth detonates in the delivery room, witnessed by pack elders, medical staff, and Kael himself: the new born shifts in Luna's arms, tiny silver fur erupting across her daughter's skin the unmistakable mark of Alpha bloodline.
Only a true mate bond produces a shifter baby. Only Kael's child could carry his Alpha gift.
As pack law falls at his feet and his daughter's golden eyes exact mirrors of his own stare up at him, Kael Thorne realizes he's destroyed the only thing that ever mattered.
But Luna Hartley isn't the broken girl who begged for his acceptance anymore.
And some rejections can't be taken back, no matter how powerful the Alpha.