Rejected Mate’s Secret Baby

ELIANA.

In the city of New Orleans, there was a princess. The thing is however, I wasn't just an ordinary princess, I was also a slave to my pack. You see in every story there's a blissful beginning but this isn't one of those stories. It's hard to even pinpoint exactly where mine begins.

My life had been hell ever since I came out of my mother's womb literally because she died the night of the full moon that I was put to bed. News spread like wildfire of the child who had taken the life of her mother.

That child was me.

Everyone had their version of the story, some claimed that she died when I had come out, and others said that she died before. All that mattered to me was the fact that she died at all. I had to grow up being labeled as the murderer and monster who brought darkness into the entire pack.

And for that, I was loathed by everyone, including my father, Gerald who could never forgive me for taking the life of my mother, his Luna. He lost everything that night and all he saw now when he looked at me was the striking resemblance I shared with her.

Her bright blue eyes and that smile. He hated that I took after her so much and in his grief, he married another woman. Sienna was as evil as stepmothers come, she hated me just like she hated my mother. But at least she bore two other kids for my dad.

For most of my life, I spent it in a dark dungeon when I wasn't tending to the needs of everyone else, either washing the stack of plates or cleaning the entire castle from each post to corner while enduring the insults and abuses from everyone.

"There she is!" They usually gossiped and pointed without any regard, most of them even going as far as dashing me a slap across the face or punching me in my belly. I had so many scars to attest to the maltreatment but I had no other option as I had nowhere else to go.

And being an omega rogue would get me killed faster out there than in here. I lived my entire life alone with my father's resentment growing so much over the past twenty years that he never desired to see me.

To say that I hated my life would be an understatement but I had no other choice.

I retired down to the carpet spread across the cold floor and for a moment, my eyes stared into the darkness. Today was one of the days it hurt even more. I was bleeding from the soles of my feet from standing all day and I had served food until my hands grew numb, that they could fall off at any time now.

But at least, it was the end of yet another day. I closed my eyes, knowing tomorrow would not be any different. I wasn't far gone when suddenly, my door barged open and I arose, knowing what time it was.

"Eliana" My stepbrother, Jaxon sang my name and almost immediately, the stench of alcohol slapped me in the face. I folded myself into the corner of the room, quivering with dread. "Where are you?" He whistled.

I saw his gleaming eyes far before I saw the rest of his body. Jaxon had a chain in his hands which he suddenly used to lash my back. I fell to the ground, groaning in pain but I couldn't dare look up.

Jaxon was always like this each time he had something to drink.

He would sneak down to the dungeon where he'd tie me up and hold my lips shut as he took advantage of me. Each time, it grew more and more aggressive and painful but there was no end to this torture. He'd become far too demanding like I was nothing but a chunk of flesh to him.

My eyes welled up with tears as I felt his presence behind me. His hands groped through my inner thigh and I could feel him breathing down my neck. My skin crawled with disgust and my insides twisted into a knot.

This was my dreadful life.

The pungent stench of liquor oozed from his lips as he battled to unbuckle his belt. He let the bottle down which he'd only realize later was his biggest mistake.

"Ouch!" I groaned in pain as he took me by my bleeding feet. My whole body ached with the most brittle bones but Jaxon was merciless.

It felt like today was the day I would finally die in his arms and a bolt of panic flashed across my face. He turned me over as I watched his pants fall to the ground with a thud, revealing the hard rod of flesh between his legs. When Jaxon leaned forward, I wedged against him.

"Stop!" I struggled from beneath, nowhere near the weight of his entire body which pressed into me. He began to move but I wasn't about to give up. "Do you want me to get the ropes?" He darted me a glare cold as ice and a shiver went up my spine.

"Fuck off!" I spat into his face and Jaxon restrained my hands in a second. His grip was so tight that I could hear my bones cackle. He let out an exasperated grunt before standing up. At the corner of the dungeon was where he kept the ropes so when he turned his back, I didn't even know what suddenly came upon me but I couldn't do this.

Not tonight, not when I was in so much pain.

And so I grasped the bottle of vodka in my hands, slamming it into the side of his head. The glass shattered into a million pieces and my eyes dazed from the blood that soaked my palms. I trembled as Jaxon turned to me, a shard of the glass bottle sticking out of his head.

"What did you do?!" His eyes pumped with rage as I took a step back. "Don't take a step closer!" I whimpered beneath my breath and a cackle escaped his lips. "Or what?" He asked, ripping the glass tip from his skin.

I should have known better than to attack him, Jaxon was one of the strongest wolves in our pack. He wasn't an omega like I was, in fact, he was directly linked to becoming the Alpha of Blood Hounds one day. I cringed at the thought of that day ever happening.

And I knew in that moment that I would rather be dead.

"You'd scream?" Jaxon quizzed, inching closer to where I was until my back was pressed against the wall. I was defenseless as my eyes began to shimmer in tears. No one knew about this, or about Jaxon's malevolent behaviors. He was nothing but an angel in everyone's eyes.

They would've never even believed me if I had come forward to tell them everything Jaxon had been doing to me. He'd made it clear that it was his word against mine. If anything, I would even bring more hatred on top of my head for trying to 'incriminate' the next Alpha. But I'd done way worse stabbing him in the head. His blood was on my hands so no, I couldn't scream unless I wanted to never beat the murderer allegations.

"Please, Jaxon" I only started to beg as he came to a halt barely meters from my face. "Please you don't have to do this." His face was distorted with anger and bloodlust filled his eyes. "You're going to have to make it up to me when I bend you over!" He grasped my waist and I screamed.

"Shut up!" Jaxon landed a slap across my face, digging his nails into my neck as he shoved me into the wall. My back broke as I fell to the floor, coughing up blood but he didn't care. Rather he growled out of more anger, kicking me mercilessly in my stomach.

My life flashed before my eyes, I might as well have died.

"I said shut up! If you don't want to end up like your useless mother!" He sparked in an outrage and there was a piercing sound that rang through my ears. I couldn't die by Jaxon's hands. If my fate was to end up dead now, I might as well run away. Being rogue didn't seem so bad.

Garnering my last strength, I drew up a deep breath through my nose and when he leaned in again, I managed to get a kick right through his shin. Jaxon's knees knocked him over and he wedged himself against the wall. In the flash of a second, I got up from the floor.

"You fucking bastard!" He cussed beneath his breath as I gathered a few of my things to leave. "If I get you, it's over you slut!" I staggered my way towards the door, not in any way better shape than he was. I'd broken a rib and my feet, mouth and arms were bleeding. But I had just one option and that was to make it out of the door.

Otherwise, I'd be dead meat in here.

I heard him clamoring from behind. "I would kill you," I could smell his wolf crawling to the surface. It wasn't good, for both of us. He knew.

I dragged my feet tirelessly through the door but the gates were still meters away. Jaxon threw himself from one wall to another. "Fuck off, Jaxon!" I kept glancing over my shoulders to measure how close he was.

And with each second, he was drawing closer. I shut my eyes in agony, I couldn't move any faster.

"Come on, Eliana. Come on" I muttered as the gates came into sight. Up until that moment, I didn't realize what I was truly doing. I was leaving—I was leaving the pack for good. As soon as I crossed that gate, I knew there was no coming back.

"I swear to God!" Jaxon cussed as I fell to the ground, my knees were growing weak and could no longer carry my body. He was close enough to grasp my ankles but the injury to his head was slowly starting to take its toll. When he drew me underneath him, I dug my fingers into his eyes and around the pieces of glass still in them.

Jaxon groaned in excruciating agony but I was able to buy myself some time. I pushed him off, staggering my way through the gates and forever locking it behind me. Only then did it truly dawn on me.

"You!" There was a vicious crack in Jason's voice. "You better never step foot back into this pack or I will kill you" He gritted through his teeth as I finally stood up. My eyes met the full moon gleaming in the sky full of stars. The wind was cold, running through my gritty hair.

I started to run, headed towards nowhere in particular but I didn't stop running. All that mattered was what I was leaving behind me. After about an hour, I was sure I'd finally lost Jaxon and I fell to my knees in the center of a dark alley.

Deep breaths escaped my lips as I threw my head over my shoulders.

I couldn't believe I made it out. Maybe this was only the beginning of my story, I thought. But alas, I thought wrong. I had no idea that what was ahead of me was no better than what I left behind.

Suddenly from the corner of my eyes, I saw a shadow in the dark and my heart skipped a beat. I sharply stood up—Who was that?

ELIANA.

It was well into the dead of the night. Darkness circled me as I carried on along the streets of Oakland.

My feet were bleeding and numb, my whole body ached. There was no stopping until I got out of here completely. Even as I was sure I'd lost Jaxon, I still unconsciously threw my head over my shoulders. I was breathless from my lips, finally coming to a halt beneath a shady tree.

Across from me was the bordering signs of Oakland and Tombsdale. I couldn't believe how far I'd gotten on foot. But I knew well enough than to cross over into that town. The wind coming from Tombsdale was cold and eerily quiet, driving a chill up my spine.

I could hear the howling of hungry wolves from a distance who I was sure couldn't wait to devour me. Unlike everyone else, my wolf was still yet to rise to the surface, so I didn't stand a chance of being rogue. Turning back around was an idea that flashed in my head but alas, I continued further.

I'd rather die in this cold forest than at the hands of Jaxon.

However, when my feet crossed in Tombsdale, I perceived a dark presence lurking suddenly around me. I'd heard a lot of his dark town, so many things that people had to say preceding a warning to never step foot in it. It was ruled mercilessly by one of the most ruthless Alphas, Denver who was also a sworn enemy of my father.

I came to a sharp halt, seeing a shadow form right behind me. A bolt of panic impaled shock through my body and there was a slight rumble in the skies. I could tell a wolf was close but this was unlike anything I had ever scented.

Was this it?

Was this the end of my life?

The first thing I noticed in the darkness was a pair of silver eyes glowing back at me before a huge creature strutted from behind the trees. My heart lumped in the back of my throat as I faced him. Dark, long hair tied up in a bun. Sharp, sculpted features like his jaw. Rock hard stones for muscles with a brooding shoulder.

Alpha Denver was nothing short of what they described, his surmounting presence alone filled me with fear and dread. "What are you doing here, little one?" His voice was deep and decadent, slicing through me with an intense gaze but I couldn't dare to speak.

Behind him lunged forward an entire army of wolves growling with impatience to rip my body apart. Without much thought, I picked up my pace away from them. Maybe this was a terrible idea.

Breathing heavily from my lips, I launched myself forward as I pushed harshly through the leaves. I didn't care that I was injured, I just kept running with the primal desire to survive.

Was this my whole life now, always running from something?

I threw myself in the opposite direction but I wasn't so far off that I heard the Alpha's voice thunder behind me. "Bring her to me!" He ordered his guard of betas. My heart was pounding heavily in my chest as I ran towards the nearest place of safety.

Everywhere was pitch black ahead of me, the only time I could see somewhere was when the lightning struck but with the lightning, came the rain that immediately started to drench my entire body. I didn't stop running until I was forced to. My legs hooked behind a branch and I fell with a thud to the ground.

When I looked up, I saw him but only for a split second before my world went dark.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was in someplace warmer with a candle burning at a distance from me. I jolted up from what seemed to be a bed but I had no idea who it belonged to. I thought I was alone in the room until I heard the sound of his voice again.

"You thought you could run away from me?" Denver's words were laced with a threatening tone as he crept forward into the light. His hands were tied behind him and across his lips was a dark grimace. His mere presence filled me with so much anxiety that I backed myself into the corner.

Clutching my knees to my chest, I cowered my gaze. As much I'd heard those stories about Tombsdale, I had heard even worse about their Alpha. A blood-thirsty, war-seeking Alpha that he was, leading an army of the most dangerous troupes. Denver killed anyone that got in his way without wasting a second but he was quite patient with me.

"I'm not going to hurt you" He whispered but I jerked backward when his arms stretched out. "I can read through your mind, you're scared. You also have nowhere else to go!" He said. I pushed a hard lump down my throat as he groped my sore ankles.

His hands were just as callous yet they were warm. I could feel him inside my chest, a glow rooting from the chambers of my heart. My skin sizzled where he touched and there was a chill that went up my spine.

What was this overwhelming feeling each time I looked into his eyes?

It was as though my heart was no longer pounding and was suddenly at peace. Like I trusted him or I was supposed to, even though I didn't want to. Like he was my mate...no, I shook my head off these repulsive thoughts. Denver was as monstrous as they came.

I sharply pulled my legs away from him and a deep scoff escaped his lips.

"I could have hurt you by now if I wanted to, you know" He drew away to the single table in the entire room, only to pour himself a glass of wine. My mind tumultuously flashed back to Jaxon as he took a sip of it.

"You're badly injured, it's why you passed out in the forest. Your entire body is also pumping with as much wolfsbane that I wonder how you're still alive" Denver added, darting me a glare as cold as ice.

Ah, the wolfsbane that Jaxon had been poisoning me with each night over the last seven years. Sometimes, I even think it was the reason I never came fully into my wolf.

She'd been subdued and starved down my entire life.

I was weak, harmless and the pain ravaging my body was even more severe now. He abandoned his drink, walking back to my bedside. Denver's hands swept through my hair and then across my face.

"What happened?" His gaze thoroughly assessed me like I was nothing more than a thin sheet of paper to him. "Let me go" I finally brought myself to say when I finally gathered the courage but my voice was barely even a faint whisper. "A thank you would suffice" Denver scoffed.

"I'm not this very lenient with trespassers" His eyes darkened. "I know you're a Blood Hound, more so I know you're Gerald's daughter. You can't really hide anything from me, can you?" Denver gritted through his teeth.

"However, what I don't know is what you were doing in the forest at that time of the night, severely wounded and on the cusp of breathing your last—" Could I tell him the truth? Could I actually trust him?

Maybe Denver could save me from my stepbrother's wrath?

"Speak up now, little one!" He commanded a tone that sent shivers up my spine and I was so much afraid that I couldn't lie. Denver's eyes were harrowing and haunting, he was so powerful that no one dared to ever say no to him. The ones that did were rotting six feet below by now.

"I was lost" I wanted to tell him the truth but for some reason, a lie came out. "Don't lie to me!" Denver sparked with outrage. "I know when you're telling the truth, little one." He warned, running thin on patience.

"I ran away" I sharply blurted out. "I ran away from my family, I no longer belong to them—" I added and my eyes shimmered with tears. His hands slowly drew across my wounded skin with tender. "Did they do this you?" He asked and it was the most emotion I'd seen in his face.

I nodded my head slightly.

"Who?" How could I tell him it was everyone? "Doesn't matter, as long as I don't return there, I'm safe" I whispered. "Eliana" My name suddenly escaped from his lips and my whole body reverberated. "You're Eliana—the girl whose mother died when she was born." I did say the news spread like wildfire but I never expected it to reach Tombsdale.

I never expected the Alpha to ever know who I was.

"I didn't kill my mother, I swear" I suddenly trembled out of the fear that now that he knew who I was, my fate would be no different from what I had to endure back at Blood Hounds. But then, Alpha Denver rested a hand across my shoulders. "I know." He muttered.

As soon as I lifted my eyes to him, our gazes locked.

"Please don't harm me" I pleaded and a dull pain set behind my temples. But Denver reached to hold my little hands and they were nowhere near the size of his. All of a sudden, my heart started to hammer against my rib cage and my stomach started to flutter.

I could feel the mate bond, it was something inexplicable and harrowing that I wasn't sure how much longer I could turn away from the truth. It was the moment I knew Denver was my mate, it showed my wolf was not so far gone but alas, I don't think he realized it himself.

Some Alphas would've spent their whole life looking for a mate, only to find one when they aren't looking anymore. But for someone like Denver, it was clear that he had no intention to belong to another. His eyes were void of any human emotions and that showed his incapacity to love.

So of course, he didn't know. Although he was tender to me at that moment, I had to remind myself of the monster he still was. "I won't harm you" He whispered in a hoarse voice. "Rather, I'll save you. You don't have to return to your pack, little one."

"If you stay here, I'll be able to protect you from evil" My eyes widened at him. I could already tell there was a catch. "But you will owe me." He whispered. "What could I possibly have to give the Alpha?" I asked.

"Soon enough, you'll find out." He withdrew his hands to walk out of the room. "You just get better now, you're in safe hands" The door closed behind me and the room was dark and empty, was I truly in safe hands?